United Polaris Bears Will Be Available Inflight – Two Days Only

by Gary Leff

Two years ago I took United’s media preview flight of its first Boeing 777-300ER. This was also the first plane equipped with their new Polaris business class seats. (Since I don’t take free flights, but this wasn’t something available for sale, I made a donation to charity to offset. I didn’t want to appear to be accepting something from United, though of course I had to pay to position myself to Chicago, pay for a hotel overnight, and fly myself home too.)

When United first debuted their Polaris soft product, before new seats were available on any flights, they celebrated by giving out ‘Polaris bears’ to passengers.

On the preview flight for the first aircraft with new seats every passenger received a Polaris Bear. United’s CEO Oscar Munoz was with the group, first in the lounge and then on the plane prior to takeoff. He was well aware of the aftermarket for these bears. They were fetching hundreds of dollars on eBay. And I suggested to him that United consider getting out of the passenger business, and just sell bears. The margins are much better. He chuckled and said he’d consider it.

Well Polaris bears are available again! Named Ursa, the bear will be available on US business class departures March 30 and March 31 to celebrate the introduction of the Boeing 787-10 aircraft into revenue service.

If you’re flying United’s international Polaris business class on these days, you should receive a bear. There are even about 3 of you who might consider hopping a flight to collect this bear.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. So cute. Just got a polaris bear on eBay for $25 (including shipping). Thanks for the tip! I flew on Polaris a few months ago but didn’t get a bear.

  2. The bear in the first photo marginally looks like something Walgreens might sell. The bear pictured in the tweet resembles the first one if it had been put in a washing machine several times. Actually, it looks more like dog than anything else.

  3. Oh wow! I was on one of the first flights and gave the bear to my seat mate who had two kids and only one bear… if I knew I could monetize it maybe I would have reconsidered…

  5. Oh my gosh. You can probably find the Chinese manufacturer for these easy enough and get as many as you want for a fraction of the eBay cost per unit

  6. was just made grandma while in training for Flight Attendant wanted to send my brand new grand baby a special something thought that sweet bear would be perfect to set for her and myself a milestone how do I purchase one please advise, much thanx

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