United Airlines to upgrade Boeing 787s with Polaris business class

Considering both Delta and American already fly jets with 'all aisle access' seats on their Australian services, United have already been left behind.

Having another competitor with decent hard product on the Australia - US route will be welcome, although who knows how long it'll take to get around to the 787s. 

It is surprising they didn't announce a Premium Economy cabin with their 773s. Even if they didn't retrofit a Premium Economy cabin onto the existing 767/787 fleets, they could have easily done so on the factory fresh 773s and future 787-10s - and maybe even gotten around to the 772s later. I feel like UA is famous for 'put 'em in and rip 'em out' though so who knows, maybe they will in a few years' time again? :D

My other question is, yes all the fleet types are gettting the new Polaris seat up front - but is Y getting new seats as well? On the 787s Y is already new (albeit the tighter config), and the 772s if they are going to 10 abreast to match the 773s I assume those will be new seats, but there hasn't been any announcement along that. And the 763s, well, their Y seats are a generation behind now but seeing as AA never redid them either I'm guessing the plan is not?

"..now just waiting for DL."

Waiting for what?  In case U are unaware of what actually happened in the J mkt, DL has been using flat bed with direct aisle access produt std since day1 of LAX-SYD launch 7yrs ago and remained as the only carrier to offer such J std till early this yr.  It's AA and UA playing catch-up to DL in the AU-U.S. Trans-Pcf mkt, not the other way around.

AA and VA matched DL only in recent mths and no timetable yet fm QF and UA.

"..we will never be able to experience a service on par with Pan Am..."

Service-wise, debatable.  Hard product-wise, Polaris and the best intercon J seat of AA, DL, QF and VA today are all light yrs ahead of the best FIRST class seat ever deployed by PA decades ago....similar to how much more advanced+capbale A350(On order by UA) is relative to A300(Operated by PA).

Tnx fr yr xprt analysis FLX but why do U write so weird? Is it really that hard to write 'year' and 'from' and 'market' that you have to write yr and fm and mkt?

Feel free to nit-pick on my typing style instead of the subject matters /contents on hand. 

Agreed.  It detracts from the content of a post when I have to try and decipher it.

Lv the abrevs 2 12yo gurls txtng.

Or adapt to this century and leave the inability to understand abbreviated handheld digital communications to 82 years old retirees?

Let's end the back and forward here as it's not at all relevant to the topic of the article.

FLX: Obvious abbreviations are fine ('&' instead of 'and', for example), but please write in sentences that are easily understood – SMS abbreviations and other jargon are both best avoided.

Now back to the topic, please.

I was talking about DL not yet announcing a new international J product to counter AA and UA.

And my point is that DL won't need to because it's AA and UA which needed to come up with their latest J to counter DL's current.

Before the latest J designs debuted @ AA and UA, they had nothing in the same J product generation /stds as what DL has already launched in 2009.  Both had been too busy playing the mega-merger game(In contrast, DL+NW merger was wrapping-up by 2010) and had no time to deal with J product development.

ant8, no, those will be the domestic configuration which are being 'upgraded' as we speak from 9 abreast to 10 abreast seating in Y and I believe at least a seat cover refresh in J. If you Google "United high-density domestic configuration" you should find articles on that from last month.

"Will they be installed on the 777-200s flying from mainland USA to Hawaii?"

Nope but frankly, ask yourself this question:  Should they?

1.  Polaris is clearly targeted to compete in the intercon J mkt where similar product std used by competitors is the norm.  In contrast, no competitor in the Hawaii-U.S. mainland mkt has EVER deployed(Nor planned to) a premium class seat with direct aisle access on a regular basis.  In fact except HA, a recliner chair is typically the best U can buy for F/J fare in that mkt.

2.  Typical intercon J fare is multiple times higher than domestic F/J fare on Hawaii routes.  Deploying Polaris on those routes are equivalent to commercial suicide by UA.

"Why do I have the feeling..Polaris...will still be in existence into the 2030s.."

Probably because of the followings;

1. U're unaware of (Or refuse to acknowledge) the fact that UA's oldest intercon J design today has been in service for 7yrs and now as reported by this article, will be retired by UA starting with 772ER fleet possibly within 2-3yrs....i.e. maximum 10yrs in existence and 2030 is @ least 14yrs from now.  Interesting contrast:  We can still fly in a Skybed I seat of QF(e.g. SYD-HNL) today which has been in existence for 13yrs.

2. Pre-conceived notion /hard-wired criticism towards anything UA stuck in the mind and remain as a favorite sport regardless of facts.

"Pity they didnt announce this with the delivery of their 787s."

Pity time-machine does not exist so airline leaders can alter the actual sequence /chronological order of events.

1st 787 delivery to UA occurred 3.5yrs ago with J design confirmed @ least 1.5yrs earlier to ensure supplier production capacity was available and on-time delivery for cabin installation.  Typically, airlines commit to buy a single J seat design for multiple(Even dozens of ) airframes of a single type.  Polaris project did not really started until UA confirmed its 77W order only 15mths ago.

So without the benefit of a time-machine, how could UA possibly knew what would Polaris even look like in early 2011(let alone today's UA were 2 independent companies with 2 separate leadership teams until Oct2010) and announced it for 787 back in 2012?