United Polaris Studio: Caviar, Global Services Treatment, Bathroom Odors

As I’ve already covered, United Airlines has unveiled its new Polaris business class. These new seats will be installed on upcoming Boeing 787-9s, which will be in a premium configuration. In this post, I want to focus specifically on the United Polaris Studio concept, which is the carrier’s “business class plus” concept.

Let me recap the basics, and then I want to analyze this product a bit…

Basics of the new United Polaris Studio concept

On upcoming Boeing 787-9s, United plans to introduce Polaris Studio seats, offering an elevated business class experience. While the new 787s will feature 64 Polaris seats, eight of those will be Polaris Studio seats.

United is following the industry trend by introducing a special business class experience in the bulkhead rows (given the size of business class, it’s spread across two cabins, which is why there are two rows of these special seats). The idea is that bulkhead seats have a bit more space to work with, so United is bundling a special experience, in hopes that people will pay extra to sit there.

The Polaris Studio seat is 25% larger than the standard Polaris seat, with an ottoman, and a 27″ 4K OLED touchscreen monitor (compared to a 19″ monitor in Polaris). On top of that, United is offering an elevated soft product. Polaris Studio customers will receive:

• The Global Services ground treatment, from access to Global Reception check-in, to boarding with Global Services members, to surprise and delight tarmac transfers by car
• Upgraded food and beverage, including a caviar amuse bouche, Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé, a premium snack box, and an expanded selection of main courses
• Upgraded amenities, including hoodie-pajamas and slippers on all flights, noise canceling headphones from Meridian, amenity kits with Perricone MD Cold Plasma Plus+ skincare products, United branded playing cards, and a plush velvet throw pillow

The problem with United Polaris Studio seating

I have to give United credit for creating a thoughtful “business class plus” product. The hard product is exactly what you’d expect, while the soft product is a bit more elevated than I was anticipating.

While this all sounds great, there are also some serious downsides to this product. The most significant is that you’re seated at the very front of the cabin, right by the galley and lavatories. On some foreign airlines, that might not necessarily be a huge deal, but:

• US airlines don’t generally have “real” curtains between the galley and cabin for safety reasons (or whatever), so you can expect a lot of light pollution from the galley
• US airline crews aren’t exactly great about keeping their voices down in the galley, and I’d be worried about noise from the galley, whether it’s flight attendants talking, or just loud meal preparation
• Being near the lavatories is never ideal, but especially not on US airlines, given that they aren’t properly cleaned, and these planes will be operating United’s longest flights

So United Polaris Studio might not be a dream product in terms of the sounds, sights, and smells. I mean, just look at the first picture in this post, at how close the seats are to the lavatory. Maybe United hopes that special noise canceling headphones and better champagne will make people overlook that?

The additional issue is just United’s service delivery. Much like American, United has some great flight attendants, but also has some not-so-great flight attendants. The airline doesn’t have a culture of great service (at least not yet), so it’ll be interesting to see how crews do with delivering this elevated service.

I imagine there’s going to be quite a bit of back-and-forth between management and the union over staffing these flights. As we all know, management always wants as few flight attendants as possible, while the union wants as many flights as possible. But if you want flight attendants to actually be able to deliver decent service to 64 passengers, with eight of those being premium seats, you also need to invest in staffing.

What to expect from United Polaris Studio pricing

United hasn’t yet disclosed how much extra it will charge for Polaris Studio seats. So far, the airline has simply stated that “United Polaris Studio will be priced differently than standard United Polaris,” which is obvious.

Presumably this could work in one of two ways (with some minor variations):

• Upgrading to Polaris Studio would be similar to just paying a seat assignment fee after booking any Polaris seat, so you can access the product for a fixed cost on a particular flight, regardless of whether you paid cash, redeemed miles, or whatever
• Polaris Studio could be sold as a separate product from the start of the booking flow, and be priced separately

On the one hand, the former system seems more likely, at least based on the precedent at other airlines. On the other hand, if this could be incorporated into the actual booking process and not be an additional fee, I imagine some business travelers might be able to get away with expensing the product. As we all know, it’s common for business travelers to treat other peoples’ money different than their own.

So, how much could United get away with charging? It’s interesting to note that around a year ago, United surveyed some customers about the concept of introducing a “business class plus” concept, and floated several different ideas. The proposed pricing ranged from $300 to $650. For example, below is one of the scenarios that was presented.

Admittedly pricing will probably depend on the route, and it’ll be different on a San Francisco to Singapore flight than on a Newark to London flight. Let’s use the San Francisco to Singapore route as an example, since it’s the first route expected to get the new seats:

• I could be totally off, but I feel like United is going to try to charge $1,000+ over the standard Polaris experience, based on how many amenities are bundled
• However, I question if that’s realistic, and I think something in the $500-800 range would be more likely to be the sweet spot in terms of maximizing revenue
• Part of the issue is that United has eight of these seats to sell, making up 12.5% of total inventory
• I also wonder how much repeat business United will get for this product, based on the concerns addressed above, about proximity to galley and lavatories

Presumably any leftover seats will go to employees with travel privileges traveling on a space available basis, since they’re entitled to the best available seats, once all other passengers have been processed.

That’s also why I suspect that United will offer pretty lucrative upgrade opportunities for elite members on a space available basis, like with PlusPoints or MileagePlus miles, so that this doesn’t end up being full-on “employee class.”

Bottom line

United is rolling out a new Polaris business class experience. That’s not all, though, as the airline is also introducing the Polaris Studio product, which will be front row business class seats with 25% more space, bigger entertainment screens, and improved amenities.

I’m impressed by the amenities that United is including with this product, as this more of an upgrade than you’ll find on most airlines with a similar concept. The catch is that sitting so close to the galley and lavatories, especially on a US airline, isn’t necessarily desirable.

I’m curious to see how much the airline tries to charge for these seats, and what demand ends up looking like.

What do you make of the United Polaris Studio concept, how popular do you think it’ll be, and what do you think the airline will charge?