United to fly its new(ish) Polaris business class seat on all London to New York flights

Anyone who is impatient to try out the new British Airways Club Suite should hope that it doesn’t go the way of United’s Polaris.

Back in 2016, the American carrier announced a completely new business class concept featuring a brand new seat design as well as lounge refurbishments and soft product

Polaris was widely welcomed as a step-change improvement in United’s business class offering. Unfortunately, it was a slow roll out. Delays at the seat manufacturer meant that in the first few years very few Polaris-fitted aircraft were flying.

Things have improved since then. Looking at it today, Polaris is fitted on 68% of the long haul fleet. The goal is to have the new business class seat on all aircraft by the end of 2020.

The Polaris seat is based on the Optima product designed by Priestmangoode. It is an angled seat in alternating configurations, meaning that some seats are more private than others due to the location of the side table.

Here is a PR photo from United:

The good news is that United actually flies many of these aircraft to London. The transatlantic market is one of the most competitive in the world and London-New York is the only billion dollar route. Whilst American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have joint ventures with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic respectively, United flies alone. This means that in order to compete, United needs to offer its most competitive product.

United retrofits 767s in premium configuration

To achieve this, United has been retrofitting 21 of its Boeing 767 aircraft into a super-premium configuration, increasing the amount of Polaris business class seats and introducing a premium economy cabin.  At the same time, it is cutting back sharply on standard economy seating.

In total, the aircraft will have:

46 Polaris business class seats

22 premium economy seats

47 extra-legroom economy seats

52 regular economy seats (very, very small)

Here is the seat map, which makes it obvious just how premium-heavy it is (click to enlarge):

From the 15th September:

United will introduce a 5th daily flight from Heathrow to Newark

You are guaranteed to get the new Polaris seat on all five of them

Across the five flights, United will operate the most business class seats of any US airline between the two cities.

Conclusion

United will soon be flying five of these refitted Boeing 767 aircraft daily between Newark and Heathrow, all of which will have Polaris. It will no longer be a guessing game as to what seat you will get.  If you fly United, you will get the same model of aircraft with the same seating configuration on all five flights.

United is also in the planning stages of re-fitting their Heathrow lounge at Terminal 2 in line with other new Polaris lounges in the US. Heathrow is one of only three planned Polaris lounges outside North America.  They need to be careful here, because at present it is easily the best of the Star Alliance lounges in Terminal 2.

If you are wondering what the Polaris seat is like, we are too. Neither Rob, Anika or myself have ever flown the product, although we are keen to review it in the future.

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (December 2024)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review