United Airlines is now struggling to give the services to the customers what they projected for the new business class seat with ultra luxury- Polaris. When they introduced that, they hoped that this will be the new height of airline hospitality services to the business class passengers.
It is a new luxury business class with direct-aisle access seats, special lounges, fresh bedding, meals, and amenity kits.
It was a seminal moment for United Airlines, an airline that struggled with quality issues under former CEO Jeff Smisek, who left the previous year among the serious allegations that he had accepted a flight to benefit a political appointee.
Smisek led United Airlines when it evaluated seats, but much of Polaris took shape after he departed, with the United Airlines choosing the name because Munoz liked the North Star reference.
After the 16 months of its introduction, Polaris class of United Airlines still confuses the customers, a problem that may continue for the predictable future.
United Airlines made a bet that travellers would be smart enough to know Polaris stood for two product types — seats and lounges that would take several years to install and build, and stylish amenities, better food, and new service standards that would come much faster, even on planes with older seats.
The long-haul flight of United Airlines has operated with Polaris service, with Saks Fifth Avenue-branded bedding, improved food, and amenity kits, and, on longer flights, airline-issued pajamas.
The flight attendants of United Airlines even roll out Bloody Mary carts and offer wine tastings.
The seats of Polaris are a different matter. So far, United Airlines has retrofitted only one aircraft, a Boeing 767 that rejoined the fleet in September, with the snazzy blue seats.
A few other planes are undergoing retrofits, but United Airlines has said it will be a several years before a substantial number of existing planes have Polaris seats.
In all, just 15 planes have the Polaris configuration, and 14 are Boeing 777-300ERs delivered with it in 2016 and 2017.
Still, not even all new planes delivered since the declaration have Polaris seats, as United Airlines is still taking Boeing 787-9s with an older-model version.
United Airlines still has more than 30 Boeing 777s with what many flyers say is the worst flat-bed business class configuration on any airline. It is a two seats by each window, and four in the middle. The new 777 configuration has one seat by each window and two in the middle.
