At the beginning of the year, we mentioned that United Airlines gave a timeline for their Boeing 787 to get the new Polaris cabin. At the time, United’s VP of Marketing says the first 787 should be reconfigured in the fourth quarter of 2019. That seems to be happening now without any delay.
Currently United’s first 787-8, N27908, is in Xiamen getting new Polaris seats, which means the new cabin should be in service within a few weeks. The plane flew there on October 3rd.
United currently has 12 787-8s and 25 787-9s in the fleet. They plan to reconfigure all 37 aircraft with the new cabin by the first quarter of 2021. Additionally, the 13 new 787-9s United plans to take delivery in 2020 will have new cabins directly.
According to United, the new configuration of 787-8 will have just 28 Business Class seats, instead of the current 36, and 21 Premium Economy seats. The 787-9s will maintain 48 Business Class seats but will get 21 extra Premium Economy seats.
The only variable about the new cabin, is that we do not know which routes will have these reconfigured planes. Here is what United tells Executive Traveller:
The Polaris configured aircraft will not be allocated to a specific route, however it will rotate throughout the network until all conversions are complete.
Koji Nagata, United Airlines spokesman
Bottom Line
It is great to see United finally giving up the original 2-2-2 Business Class seats on their Dreamliners. The new “real” Polaris seats will provide much more privacy, along with direct aisle access. If you are interested in knowing more about the seat, watch Sam’s review video below on the Boeing B787-10:
What do you think about the new Polaris seats on United Boeing 787s? Want to share your United experience?
When will we know if United will fly round trip to Chicago from Ben Gurion Airport?
Nice job United on the 787-10 and keeping the passenger experience ahead of self profit reminding me of the good old days when the airlines that are no longer with us thought of passenger service first! (Braniff International and others)