United Plans Premium Heavy 787s: Exciting

Intro

United has been rapidly growing their premium footprint over the past few years, and there is an exciting development on the table for some of the future 787s.

The Details

A leaked memo was displayed yesterday stating that United employees were sent details regarding a new configuration for their 787-9. While UA already has around 80 787s in their fleet, and well over 140 on order, it seems that the airline has decided to configure certain 787s in an ultra premium configuration featuring a whopping 64 business class seats, 35 premium economy seats, and 123 economy seats.

Current United 787-9 Polaris

Interestingly, United has decided that the bulkhead rows will now be labelled as "business class plus" instead of just being a regular seat that anyone can select. How that works will be interesting in terms of costing and who can assign those seats. These business class plus seats will also feature an ottoman (my guess is somewhat similar to AF), allowing for dining with a companion.

A New Polaris Seat

It seems that United really likes offering passengers different options when onboard, for better or worse. While I currently really like the Polaris product, the seats will be becoming more run of the mill, with the first cabin, between doors 1 and 2, featuring traditional reverse herringbone seats, and the second cabin featuring a mix of reverse herringbone and herringbone seats. The window seats will face the window, and the aisle seats will face the aisle.

I actually sort of understand this concept, as it allows couple of be sitting closer together during sleeping or eating in the second cabin, while also maintaining the option for a class reverse herrigbone in the forward cabin. Details are yet to be revealed about exactly what seat it is supposed to be, but perhaps something similar to the Qatar 787-9 Business Class Product.

My Thoughts

Personally, I will be sad to see the current Polaris not being offered on all future flights once these are delivered, and in addition, United won't now offer the same fleetwide consistency across aircraft. However, there are a couple of reasons why I am a fan of this.

1. With 64 business class seats, upgrades will become easier and easier, even with these planes most likely prioritized to Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and other high-yield destinations (SFO-TLV).

2. With the low density, this will open up a realm of possibilities for the airline going forward. As an example, they might be able to operate Houston-Sydney year-round now...

3. It gives passengers options and gets rid of those weird seats that face the aisle in the current configuration. While I rarely end up in them, it can be a pain when I do.

   
   

   Final Thoughts

A leaked but reputable source yesterday came out stating that United has plans to reconfigure some of its upcoming 787 deliveries in an ultra-premium configuration. Featuring a whopping 64 business-class seats, 35 premium-economy seats, and only 123 economy seats, this will open up a world of possibilities for the airline in terms of ultra-long-range flights. Controversially, I would expect to see Singapore be the first route to get this product once these jets are delivered.

All in all: exciting times for the airline since United is my go-to carrier now in the USA. Let's see how this stacks up against the ultra-premium American Airlines 777s.