United Polaris Business Class: IAH ➡️ LIM ➡️ IAH on a 767-300
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, I flew from San Francisco down to Houston on United’s “Domestic Polaris First,” unaware at the time that what I thought was United’s new Polaris onboard product was in fact just a rebranded domestic first class seat, lacking some of the features and amenities that were so widely touted by the airline.
On my most recent trip, on the longest leg of my travels (Houston to Lima and back), I was able to use some of my racked up miles to upgrade myself to the real Polaris Business Class onboard a 767-300.
Booking
I originally booked my flight in Economy with cash, paying $1818.42 for the roundtrip ticket.
I booked my ticket directly through United’s webpage and paid with my Chase United Explorer Card to earn an additional mile with the airline for every dollar spent on my ticket, earning a total of 15,300 MileagePlus points when combined with the miles gained from my flights (a value of $185 using TPG’s guide of points and miles valuation).
Since this trip was for my partner’s birthday, at a later date I contacted United directly through their MileagePlus Premiere help desk to upgrade our flights with my accumulated miles as a surprise birthday present.
I used 75,000 miles plus $500 in taxes and fees (a $703 value per ticket) per person for the roundtrip upgrade. This option was cheaper than paying the slightly over $900 per ticket that United was requesting to buy the upgrade outright in cash.
Ground Experience
It would be unfair to knock United Airlines (or any airline for that matter) for the ground product offered at my home airport of Mahlon Sweet Field in Eugene, OR. The airport is tiny, servicing a little more than 1 million passengers a year (pre-pandemic). By comparison, larger international airports like San Francisco International and Houston IAH see well over 50 million passengers in the same time period. As such, United does not offer any kind of perks on the ground here save for a Premiere Access line at check-in.
There are four United Club lounge locations scattered throughout Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport but only one Polaris lounge which can be found in Terminal E near gate E12. Unlike the traditional United Club where one can buy an annual membership for $650 a year, the Polaris lounge is for the exclusive use of those flying on Polaris Business class that day.
The lounge was modern and clean with plenty of tables and comfortable places to sit and work scattered throughout, and although I didn’t use them there were showers available, perfect for those REALLY long international layovers. The food selection at the buffet was decent but where the Polaris Lounge really shines is The Dining Room, the lounge’s a la carte sit down restaurant which offers guests dishes like maple mustard glazed salmon, piri piri chicken breast, or the Polaris signature burger, all 100% free. Our original plane that was scheduled to take us down to Lima had to be swapped out for repairs so our new plane was coming in from Munich, delaying our flight by almost three hours but honestly I was thrilled as it meant I got to enjoy the Polaris lounge for a little bit longer.
We sadly left the Polaris Lounge and headed to our new gate to board our flight. Our replacement plane was a 31 year old 767-300 bearing the registration N644UA. Five months older than me, this is one of the oldest planes I’ve flown in.
Cabin & Seat
The Polaris cabin is arranged in a 1-1-1 configuration along 10 rows for a total of 30 available seats.
Since I flew on Polaris twice on this trip on planes with identical configurations but in different seats, I figured I’d talk about the pros and cons of each seat. Now, I’m not entirely sure if this would be frowned upon among the “airline travel community” but it’s my blog so I’ll do whatever I want.
On my flight down to Lima I was in seat 3A, a “window” seat on the port side of the aircraft. I say “window” in quotes because, due to the 1-1-1 configuration of the cabin, the window seats on the sides of the plane also have direct aisle access. Meanwhile on my return trip to Houston I was in seat 7F, an “aisle” seat in the middle of the cabin.
Due to the staggered arrangement of the seats to maximize the space used, window seats in odd numbered rows are stuck much closer to the fuselage of the aircraft meaning you get two or three windows just at your seat. The inverse of that though, the window seats in even numbered rows were position further away from the side of the plane and that space is occupied by all the little bells and whistles available in your private suite which means you’re lucky if you have one window to really look out of.
TL;DR: if you like looking out the window, get a seat in an odd-numbered row.
This was my first time flying in what I like to call “pod-style” seating where you have your own little cocoon or suite to travel in relative privacy. Although there are no doors in the Polaris class seats like there are on some offerings from Emirates or Qatar airways, the window seats are still far enough away from the aisle that you still feel a decent amount of privacy.
The seat turns into a fully lie-flat bed at the push of a button with no assistance needed from the flight crew. The footwell in the window seats are a little narrow so if you’re big and/or tall like I am, you may wanna opt to sit in one of the “aisle” seats in the middle off the cabin where the footwell (as well as the seat overall) seem to be a little wider and a little longer.
There was plenty of storage in the pod as well with a small compartment just to the side of the seat where you could find the over-the-ear “noise cancelling” headphones (we’ll get to those in a minute), and where you could store things like small electronics, passports, boarding passes or whatever your heart desires.
Other seat features included a universal power outlet, multiple USB ports, a small reading light, and a hook to hang up your sweater or jacket. In addition to the built in reading light, each seat also has two overhead lights that can be controlled at your seat as well as two air nozzles for you to freeze yourself in-flight like I like to do.
There were only two lavatories in the business class section of the plane but it honestly felt like more than enough for thirty people.
Amenities & In-Flight Entertainment
Every seat in Polaris class is equipped with a crisp, High-Definition screen measuring 15” diagonally which can be controlled either directly from the main touchscreen or via the wired remote that you can pop out from the side of your suite. The IFE system had hundreds of TV shows and movies from around the world to choose from including recent releases like Bullet Train which was a really fun comedic thriller with a great ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, an incredibly meta buddy-comedy starring Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal.
The biggest downside of the otherwise beautiful, high contrast screen is that it does not tilt, making it a bit difficult to watch something while in the fully lie-flat position. One neat feature on the IFE is to get to set your “Do Not Disturb” preferences. If you wanna be completely left alone, you can indicate that from your touch screen, but if you wanna make sure to eat dinner and don’t mind being woken up for dinnertime, then you can indicate that from your screen as well.
One thing that would have been appreciated would have been some kind of seat-to-seat messaging system. The Polaris suites themselves make it so that no matter how many people you are traveling with, you won’t be seeing or talking to them much on this flight…even if you’re sitting in adjacent seats. With the built in keyboard on the back of the wire remote it would be a pretty nice feature if you could just message the person you’re traveling with rather than having to get up from your lie-flat seat.
Since my ADHD rattled brain won’t allow me to just do one thing at once, I was fortunate to find that my flight had inflight Wi-Fi for the entire length of the flight from Houston to Lima and back. Admittedly the price for a full-flight pass of just under $24 is highway robbery…but they also have me by the balls because buying the inflight Wi-Fi would mean I would be able to not just watch a movie, but I could also tweet about it, look up IMDB trivia about it, read about Kevin McCarthy’s upcoming shitshow in Congress, or literally go anywhere else my neurodivergent brain wants to fucking take me.
I purchased the full-flight pass stupid fast and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the speeds were. Now, maybe my speeds were better than expected due in no small part to the fact that my flight was mostly empty and maybe I was the only moron willing to be suckered into paying that much money just to shitpost memes on the internet, but the speeds were good enough to watch some YouTube videos about the demon core or something else like that. Don’t question it. My brain’s behind the wheel. I’m just along for the ride.
The seat also came with a pair of previously mentioned over-the-ear “noise cancelling” headphones and…oh boy…these headphones are no good.
Given the planes’ age, the cabin was loud. I’m guessing sound insulating wasn’t as advanced back when this plane was built. That being said, the very loud cabin would have benefitted from having some good noise cancelling headphones that you could then be able to actually hear your movie or show. Alas, that’s not what you’ll find at the seat in Polaris class. The headphones feel cheap and don’t get particularly loud either. Overall, very disappointing considering some airlines provide their premium class cabins with over-the-ear headphones from Bose for Christ’s sake.
The amenity kit was a cute touch as it came in a small hard-shell case that was made in collaboration with American luggage manufacturer Away and came with all the basic goodies one would expect: soft socks, a toothbrush, earplugs, a sleep mask, and some tissues. I honestly liked the little hard-shell case more than anything that came inside of it. I just wish it came in black so it could match my full-size Away-brand suitcase…but I get why it’s in United Airlines’ shade of blue (known as Rhapsody Blue).
Additionally at the seat you’ll find two pillows, a soft plushy one and a firmer memory foam one, some sheets, and a nice soft blanket all made by Saks Fifth Avenue.
Food & Beverage
I had two different dining experiences on my trips to and from Lima. On the way down to Houston, we were not given printed out menus and had to have our dining options verbally given to us by the flight purser, Taylor. Now, I’m not entirely sure if this had anything to do with the fact that we had to swap planes and were almost three hours behind schedule as a result had anything to do with this but it was just a minor thing I noticed. For dinner we were given a choice between braised short rib with a red wine reduction sauce, mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots or some vegetarian option I didn’t bother trying to remember because I stopped listening after “short rib.”
The dining service in Polaris isn’t exactly coursed out. Shortly after taking your food and beverage order, the flight attendant came back with my desired drink and some warm mixed nuts while they finished reheating/plating the entree.
After the nuts, the attendant dropped off dinner: a small mixed green salad with two mozzarella pearls, one kalamata olive, two cherry tomatoes, and a creamy balsamic dressing that would have been pretty good if the ratio of everything else on the salad wasn’t so out of whack.
The short rib was ok. Could have been a little more tender but overall not bad. My one complaint would be that everything lacked salt but I do concede that I am someone who likes my food on the saltier side and I’m also sure that in order to appeal to a wider-range of people, seasoning must be kept on the conservative side in order to be able to feed those who have to watch their salt intake.
For dessert we were given vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and toasted nuts. Not much to say about it. It was fine. The ice cream was frozen rock hard but after some time it softened to a more edible, creamy consistency.
A few hours later, “breakfast” was served before our landing at 2:00 AM. I got the French toast but it wasn’t much to write home about. It came with a fruit salad, vanilla Greek yogurt and a glass of milk.
On the return flight, things were a little different as this time I was met with a neat little menu at my seat and although this did add a nice little touch of elegance, the food left much to be desired.
I had some reservations about getting a piece of tenderloin in a flight but I figured I should at least give a chance for the 'gram. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I knew better. I knew a par-cooked tenderloin later reheated on a plane wouldn’t be good but nooooo, I just had to try it. The tenderloin was tough and the accompanying items on the plate, rice, green beans, and a halved tomato filled with bechamel sauce and peas. It was just a very confused dish that seemed hastily thrown together with ingredients from a “Chopped” challenge.
Likewise, the breakfast left much to be desired. I got the shredded meat and cheese omelette which was easily the blandest thing on the flight. The meat filling was bland and tasteless. Didn’t even finish it.
