United Airlines Polaris Seat (B777)

Introduction

This is my review of the United Airlines Polaris seat, which is their Business Class product. I was sitting in 8A on my flight from Frankfurt to Washington, and there are generally around 15 rows of Polaris seats.

In my case, I was traveling on the Boeing 777-200, but as I understand it, this is the same seat which is offered on all United’s fleet that operate Polaris.

It’s closest comparator is the American Airlines Flagship Business seat, which is what I’ll compare this to – as both products, as well as airlines are directly in competition with each other on transatlantic routes.  

The Layout

The Polaris ‘suite’ is a 1-2-1 in a configuration, meaning everyone has aisle access.

The seat is angled to improve maximum privacy, and it’s pretty private (unlike the Flagship Seat). On this ground the Polaris seat easily wins over the Flagship.   

Unlike the Flagship seats (which have a mixture of forward and rear facing), all the Polaris seats are front facing.

Privacy

The privacy in this cabin was very good, unlike the Flagship seat, I didn’t feel exposed – or awkwardly trying to avoid the glares of the person opposite me!

The Seat

The seat itself is very comfortable for sitting and working.

The seat’s adjustments are on a small panel, and there are a variety of ways you can configure the seat. I really liked the ‘thumb wheel’, which was perfect for making fine adjustments.

Whilst the seat adjustments were great – unlike the Flagship seats, there wasn’t a memory function. This meant after any bathroom breaks, the seat needed re-setting the seat back to how it was.  

When I reviewed me rear-facing Flagship seat, I noted that the seat rocked – this didn’t happen on my Polaris seat, it was very solid.

Table

The table ‘lives’ under the screen and folds out towards you.

I found this table to be smaller than that offered on the Flagship seats.

Like the forward-facing Flagship seats, it is possible to move the table forward to leave to the bathroom.

The table was generally fairly ridged during eating and working.    

Storage

Really, there are three storage places.

The first is the little compartment under the screen. I think the most you’re get in this is a book!

The second storage area is a side console which is perfect for laptop, paperwork, books, phones, etc. It meant when dinner came, I could move my laptop to the side.

The third storage area is the cupboard above the side console, which had a mirror in it. I kind of found this a little useless, it didn’t find anything (other than my Amenities Kit) to put in it.   

Charging/Power

To the left of the side console was a multi-socket offering USB and UK/Euro/US mains.

Under the screen there is a USB charging point as well.

This is the same but different to the Flagship seat.

Air Circulation

Like the Flagship, the Polaris has air conditioning nozzles above the seats. This is not a luxury afforded in BA’s Club Suite however!

Conclusion

Does Polaris trump Flagship, or the other way around?

It’s horses for courses. Polaris offers more privacy and I quite like the seat adjustments. Flagship offers a little more room and the ability to memorise the seat’s position.

Both a comfy ways to travel Europe to the US – and I don’t think on seat alone, I can say which airline wins!