Meeting Polaris. New United Business Class, Part 1: The Seat.

New international United Business Class seats were introduced this week at an event in New York. The big news is that we’ll start to see the new “Polaris” seats beginning December 1, 2016 with many more showing up in 2017 and beyond. We’re told the new Polaris suites are competitive in size with current United First Class (Global First) seating and appear to be a significant improvement over the airlines current intercontinental business class.

Is it About More Than the Seats?

The entire long-haul experience is getting a facelift under the Polaris brand from new lounges to improved on-board menus and amenities. For now, we focus on the features of these new United Business Class seats

The Space is all Yours

All seats have aisle access making it much easier to get up and move around the cabin without bothering a neighbor. Electric dividers provide seclusion for center-seaters so you don’t really even have to SEE who you’re next to (let alone crawl over them when they sleep). An anti-social flyer’s dream.

This Seat is Your Friend With Benefits

Your Polaris by United Business Class seats are fully-flat with full stretch for anyone up to 6’6″ tall. Lie back and watch something on your personal 16″ TV or flip on the “do not disturb” light and get some sleep curled up in your plush Saks Fifth Avenue bedding.

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Places for Your Stuff to Hide and Power-up!

There’s a large surface for setting things and a number of storage spaces around the seat including an under-ottoman storage space that can be used during taxi, takeoff and landing. In between console storage and surface, AC and USB power ports are easily accessible for powering up your gear.

These new Polaris by United Business Class seats will start appearing aboard 777-300ER planes beginning in December 2016 and begin to replace existing business seats on other aircraft in 2017 and beyond.

In our next post we’ll dig into United’s new Polaris lounge experience.

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