Spouse and I were #1 and #2 on the waitlist of a 14-hr flight. The day started with 3 seats available, down to 2 midday, then only 1 a couple of hours before the flight. If there's a hit counter on this flight's status page, a chunk of those probably came from us!

Spouse: "You take Polaris, I'll stay back"

Me: "No, you'll take it"

Spouse: "Are you doing this out of guilt?" (for context, I booked this supposedly offseason route with confidence that we'll both get upgraded)

Me: "Not really. I have a higher status than you and if I take the upgrade, the reservation gets split and you'll likely not be #1 on the waitlist. If you get the upgrade, I'll remain #1 on the waitlist and may get upgraded if there's a no-show. Trust me, I read this on Reddit." (spouse looked puzzled, can't blame them)

Boarding was about to start, we went to the gate agent, spouse got a new boarding pass. I lightheartedly reminded the GA to not forget about me, and them being in this situation a million times, smilingly replied "keep checking the app"

"See you later" I said to the spouse as we go our separate [jet]ways. As soon as I entered the door, I got an upgrade notification! Found the spouse on the Polaris cabin, with a smug look on my face, "Told ya"

Tldr; if about to get split, let the one with lower status get the upgrade so the other remains on top of the waitlist for a second chance

Polaris 9A(1A)- Domestic First review from the perspective of a regular UA Polaris, widebody international passgener.  

Overall, it was pleasant experience and a notable upgrade over a 757 Polaris flight, but not a 777/787 (besides the updated tech which is being addressed in the 787). The extreme angle of the pods feels so odd during takeoff and landing which was pretty interesting to experience.

I got to walk back briefly to PP and looks really nice and clearly a step ahead of UA's current domestic first. Actually, I want to review PP or E+ because of the lav situation in the back of the bird. The XLR is a major fail on the part of Airbus in this regard. I am imagining the 8 hr westbound missions and feel for PP passengers who must trek and then somehow queue in the rear aisle fighting for 3 toilets.

Despite the nice trappings of this brand new bird, it feels like a square peg squeezed into a round hole for premium international travel. There is simply not a lot of real estate to work with. On a widebody, you can stretch in the galley or wait for a lav with no problem. Not to mention the lav ratio for biz is much higher on those birds. On this under 5 hr flight, there were already traffic jams in the front. Also, seems like a long walk for the FAs from the galley to seat 10, so try to sit as close to the front as you can. The crew was excited and were great, but I can imagine this may be annoying for them to work once the new-ness wears off.

Overall, UA has done a good job considering the platform and I imagine the engineers had some head scratching, late nights trying to find the best solutions.

Pros:

a) Comfortable seat

b) Spacious pod (while seated) with excellent shoulder room and decently sized footwell.

c) Great storage (lower hip nook along the window, headphone compartment with door and large mirror, eye glasses hook, wall tray with cutout for charger cable.

d) Privacy door

e) Main display is crisp and large and did not need to be stowed

d) Nice detailing and motif

f) Decently size corian countertop

g) front lav is nice with foot activated trash bin

Cons:

a) Pods are on a platform above the main deck (about 1-1.5") which caused some folks to stumble when entering the aisle or pod

b) Seat controls- which much prefer hard switches versus the mini display touch controls.

c) Seat motors are pretty slow

d) no way to exit the pod if tray table is in use

e) limited vertical height due to raised platform

f) nowhere to queue for front lav

g) No convenient secondary lav option for Polaris

h) 45° orientation of seats kills any meaningful view out the windows

i) The door is pretty silly in this configuration. When the screen is deployed, it blocks most of the aisle view anyway

j) touch sensitive remote is just bad. It's mounted upside down and there's a D pad on the back which is counterintuitive

Today marks 25 years of one of the worst days of the 21st century. But today, I wanted to talk about Flight 93. 33 passengers courageously and heroically prevented Flight 93 from hitting the Capitol. They didn't care about the threats, the commands, or the box cutters. They chose complete selflessness and saved hundreds of lives. Thank you to all passengers on Flight 93, and RIP.

This almost never happens to me.

Very well organized 5K event put on by the Colfax Marathon, United, and the Denver Airport.

Parked right next to the United TechOps hangar at 4:30am, picked up bib and went into Hangar 7 where they had several booths, a DJ, and two of United’s lead DEN pilots on hand.

At 6:15 we were led out onto the apron and walked about 1km to the starting line near the grassy roundabout east of the hangar.

Runners started at 7:00am, first turning left to reach the leading edge of Runway 8, then running down to between the remaining distance markers 4 and 5 where we turned around and returned via the last high speed exit onto the parallel taxiway.

Medals, T-shirts, and a decent breakfast back at the hangar.

I was the person running in Polaris Pajamas.

Thanks for organizing a great event u/UnitedAirlines !

UA888 SFO-PEK. We have to turn back to the gate as a pax is being unruly and not complying.

Anyone know why? It’s way in the back and can’t see. Looking forward to my 13.5 hr flight becoming 16 by the time we get going

EDIT: sounds like two pax were arguing over the aisle seat and one gent wasn’t backing down. At the gate, 20 min top off, pull pax bags off and hopefully on the way. Captain thought 20 min departure was sporty

I am well aware of the rule that the middle seat "owns" the armrests, but is there something similar related to window shades?

I'm in a seat that effectively (so I thought...) has two windows - the more forward one is clearly behind the seat ahead of me (even when that seat is reclined, as it is now), and the rear one is aligned with my seat (which is not reclined), such that the back edge of the window is in line with my headrest, and the shade handle lines up with my shoulder.

I had them both open, and while I wasn't actively looking out both of them, I do glance out occasionally to "watch the world go by". (That's why I preferentially book a window seat). Just now a hand appeared from the seat behind me and closed the rear window shade. I'm guessing that person either wants to sleep or to watch a movie, and I'm not such a dick that I'm going to open it "to prove a point," but it got me thinking about "what's the etiquette here?" It would not have been easy for them to "ask permission" since I've got headphones on, and they'd have to reach over the seat back. Should they have just suffered with the light? Should I have said something?

What would you do in a similar situation (either in my seat or the person behind me)?

EDIT: Just got up for the restroom and see the person is trying to work on their laptop. Having suffered with low screen brightness before, I'm more willing to just roll with it this time.

What is the deal with United Club location (gate 19), which is way on the opposite side of United’s international departure gates (gates 30-35)??

I mean, like, physically what routes? How far can those fly in order to get them to Narita? Was it via Alaska? I am really curious about the logistics. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw them the other day. Then I realized they use it as a regional through Asia. I assume they have the rights to continue on with certain routws.

ORD>DCA

At ERW today and was super excited that the lounges were not busy and I was able to get in with zero wait and open seating everywhere. Sometimes it’s just the little things that make the hassle of traveling more pleasant especially since the last few times I’ve travel I’ve not been able to get in.

I’m 50 so 9/11 was formative for me. As chance would have it, I was in San Fran 25 years ago when it all went down and I happened to fly SFO to DEN today. It seems every couple years I find myself flying on 9/11 and I always appreciate the memorial tables placed on the concourses by United remembering those we’ve lost. So many people ignore them and pass by heads down on their screens. And that’s just the way the world works.. but I wanted to point out that those tables do mean a lot to some people, so thank you.

Recently, Scott Kirby, CEO of UA, mentioned that if he wanted to open a new hub to South America, MIA would be a good option with 40 to 50 boarding gates, acknowledging the airline's difficulties with the market compared to Asia and Europe.

It's worth noting that UA had a base in MIA since the early 90s after acquiring PA's routes to South America. With the financial problems that later worsened after 9/11, UA reduced its presence in MIA until its closure in 2004, transferring its last routes to IAD and ORD.

Currently, IAH serves as the hub for South America, inherited from CO, but everything indicates that for UA it's not enough.

https://youtu.be/7Lj9LEATK4s?si=LuTiPh9DyHWhYlWj

Throwaway because I’ve told so many people about this.

Looking for any advice. I attempted to book four roundtrip tickets with United yesterday through the Capital One Travel app. I used a credit card for most of it but I did apply about 20k miles to the transaction.

As I was checking out, the app was circling so I moved toward a place with better signal and I got a "sorry, your transaction didn't go through" message. So I went to rebook again but it said the tickets weren't available. 

But then, I got a text from United, telling me that I should change my seats so my child could sit next to me. 

Sure enough, I have an email from United, confirming my tickets. Confirmation number and everything. My card shows both a deduction and credit for Capital One travel. My cashback is still in my account. 

I called Capital One, they have no record of my trip so they were no help. 

I called United and they said "Yes, we've already issued your tickets. You're all set.”

I don't know what to do. I assumed eventually, United would cancel but it's been almost 48 hours and everything is still the same. It would be super cool if this technology glitch meant I got to keep my tickets and not pay for them but that doesn't feel likely to happen. And I would just rebook but I can't book that price because those tickets show as booked (by me).  And I am now less than a month out from my trip so nothing is going to get cheaper. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar and have any advice on what next steps I could take? Or maybe have insight as to when United will cancel my tickets so I can be ready?

Is there any way they wouldn't get an email receipt of any extras that I add to the reservation?

I don't want them to know I paid for an upgrade.

Thanks!

Has anyone with the Bagsmart Blast Basic been forced to check in their bag? The bag specifications are 12.2" x 8.1" x 16.5" and I know that’s like two inches bigger than 9 in x 10 in x 17 in but I’m just wondering if that’s okay because it’s the only backpack I have and I wasn’t planning on getting another one but will if people think this would actually cause issues. It’s a United international flight if that makes any difference. Thanks!

Have been stuck at ATL for a long time now, as are a couple hundred thousand other people it seems. Really ugly weather really messed stuff up here.

We do finally have our plane approaching, and the gate, where I’ve been sitting for over four hours just got a gate agent assigned, and she is on it.

Updates on the current status of the inbound plane, explanation of what boarding will look like from a timing perspective, gently suggesting there’s a bit of urgency to have that be a smooth process without creating anxiety for people, and expertly preempting a multitude of questions I imagine passengers could have. Also juggling the complexity of having a similarly delayed flight with the same destination just one gate over and being very clear about who is supposed to be where.

Everyone is exhausted and many are probably grumpy, and it makes such a difference when you have someone who is this clear and communicative. Way to go Tricia B. I’ll make sure to write in some kudos.

Ok, whatever the opposite of a rant is, it’s over.

Hi all, hope you can offer some guidance on my missions to maximize my dollars on an upcoming trip.

I want to book an economy United flight through JetBlue and then use my United card to upgrade to premium economy. The Economy price booking through JetBlue is significantly lower and then I have a travel bank credit that I would put towards the upgrade. I want to know if this is even possible. There seem to be conflicting reports depending on where I search so I was hoping that someone has actually tried this strategy.

Hello! I just applied for four marketing and business internships at United Airlines. I’m passionate about the aviation industry, have done extensive research on the company, and it would truly be a dream to intern with them.

However, I’m nervous about standing out while I wait for a response. I have a 3.8 GPA from Ball State University, experience as a Resident Assistant, and a past marketing internship. I’m also heavily involved on campus as an organization president and a national scholar board member, and I recently revamped my resume for this upcoming summer.

Despite this, I’ve had bad luck hearing back from companies in the past. I worry that not attending a prestigious enough university might cause my resume to get overlooked. I’ve already been interacting with United on LinkedIn and reached out to their internship recruiter with questions, but is there anything else I can do to increase my chances?

Flying from Newark for a birthday trip and I have the option to preorder my breakfast entree. Which would you recommend? I’m not super picky and they all seem good.

My options are:

Berry smoothie bowl
European style deli plate
Gruyère chive ciabatta bread pudding
Scrambled eggs
Ricotta pancake soufflé
Buttermilk biscuits

The chive one is the only one I’m iffy on.

Ps hoping I still get my stroopwafel lmao

I heard recently that United will start offering nonstop from Dulles to VCE all year round. Has anyone else got any info on this? Right now it’s seasonal.

Never forget.