United has announced its new business class suites, which will appear on new delivery Boeing 787s starting later this year – with passenger service beginning in 2026. The first destinations will be San Francisco to London and Singapore.
I’ve been telling you to expect this since 2022, and have shared more details of suites with doors and even photos in recent months. The airline now makes it official.
Credit: United Airlines
Key details of the new seats:
- The front row (bulkhead) of each business class cabin will be ‘Polaris Studio℠ suites’ which are 25% larger than the rest of the seats and offer an “extra ottoman for companions, 27-inch [OLED] screens, luxury skincare amenities and exclusive caviar and wine pairing.” So it’s not just the seat, but access to an upgraded soft product (like American will be doing with their new front row business class). The ottoman will have a seatbelt for companion dining or visits in just six of the eight seats, however.
- The Polaris Studio will be sold at a premium, include Global services check-in, and also include:
hoodie-pajamas and slippers on all flights, new noise-cancelling headphones powered by Meridian technology, amenity kits featuring clinically formulated Perricone MD Cold Plasma Plus+ luxury skincare products, United-branded playing cards …a plush velvet throw pillow on the ottoman as well as Saks Fifth Avenue bedding that includes a duvet, day blanket, large pillow and cooling gel pillow.
United promotes that Studio passengers will be “eligible for United’s tarmac transfer program” but that’s not a guarantee of a tarmac transfer – it’s the possibility of one especially on tight connections, in competition with other eligible passengers for limited availability.
- All of these new seats will have sliding doors and the bulk of them will have 19-inch 4K OLED screens. The planes will feature StarLink wifi.
- Premium economy seats get “privacy dividers and wireless charging” and coach seats will have the “largest economy seatback screens in the world.”
United will be offering “an Ossetra caviar amuse-bouche service” but this appears to only be for the front row business class product, which will also feature “exclusive entrée options” and “new amenity kits with luxury skincare offerings.”
Caviar is a brilliant way to signal a luxury offering. Qatar Airways offers caviar in business class (to all passengers) and it only costs them about $2 million a year. They didn’t go with the surveyed ‘push button for champagne‘ offering.
Singapore Airlines Caviar Service
Here it’s not a full service, and only for one out of every eight business class passengers, so it’s truly leveraged – United gets to talk about caviar without spending very much on caviar. Combined with genuinely elevated wine offers they’re likely hitting a sweet spot for U.S. carriers.
There will also be new mid-flight meal options including “regionally influenced tapas service.” Economy will have “three entrée choices, new desserts, and an appetizer course.”
The 787-9 configuration will be super-premium featuring:
- 64 business class seats (16 rows of 1-2-1) compared to United’s current 787-9s with 48 business class seats (which is itself a premium-heavy configuration)
- 35 premium economy seats (5 rows in a 2-3-2 configuration)
- 123 economy seats – 33 of which will be extra-legroom economy plus.
Here are the layouts from aviation watchdog JonNYC:
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Future delivery 787s will receive these interiors – “at least 30 aircraft to join the fleet by 2027” – but there is no announced plan to retrofit existing planes to feature this new product.
Most United customers, therefore, will not be experiencing these new seats at least for many years.
Looks like a fabulous way for United to hemorrhage money to which few travelers will be able to afford, which translates to empty seats and lost revenue! Serving caviar increases the risk of a passenger contracting a food borne disease or adverse reaction increasing liability. Secondly, while airlines trim back regular service for economy like less food and no complimentary drinks it’s going to make consumers in tight economic times double think air travel. Lastly, from a safety standpoint these walled off suites make egress twice as difficult in the event of a crash.
How much extra will it cost and will United allow the seats to go out empty?
The new seats and cabins do look nice. We’ll see how long it takes for them to actually get this going (expect delays).
The new, special front-row ‘Polaris Studio’ is interesting. Thankfully, United is not making this as complicated as Lufthansa with like 5 different types of Business Class seats. United adding a temporary ‘Global Services’ designation for those passengers is nice for them (at check-in, boarding, at least), but it also somewhat diminishes actual GS folks (oh well… not my problem.) As far as new amenities, caviar is always welcome, though I doubt United will pull it off with the same elegance as Qatar or Singapore. I’d like to know the relative cost difference between the Studio and regular Business. For instance, on jetBlue’s premium transatlantic routes, the Mint Studio receives a few extras, more space, and it’s $299 extra, usually. We’ll see!
UA HOPES it will have 30 787s w/ this seat by the end of 2027. That is potentially 19 months to have less than 20% of UA’s longhaul widebody fleet – not counting the 777As – with this product.
As I have repeatedly stated, there is not the production capacity for major retrofits on top of new deliveries.
Given that UA says – according to another site – that it will not retrofit even its existing 787s with this product, UA will have a small niche subfleet that they will advertise the heck out of and the vast majority of passengers will receive a far less product.
@Tim Dunn “UA will have a small niche subfleet that they will advertise the heck out of and the vast majority of passengers will receive a far less product.”
Which was largely like the first roll out, except there they’d promised to eventually do a retrofit.
Gary,
of course, they will eventually do a retrofit; plane cabins typically only last about 10 years which means a plane could see 3 sets of interiors over its life.
If the first aircraft with the new configuration arrives later this year, UA will likely not have a fleet anywhere close to DL’s suite equipped widebody fleet before 2030.
Based just on confirmed new deliveries, DL’s suite equipped fleet will be about 100 aircraft by 2030 – and they still have options for 20 additional aircraft.
DL will start retrofitting the A330CEO fleet and will likely have the A330 version of the new product which will be on the A350-1000 -meaning DL could have close to 150 widebodies with suites by the end of the decade.
and the 767-300ERs will be out of service.
yes, UA will take time to ramp up a new product; every airline is facing the same supply chain restraints.
and the 777-200/ER and 767 fleets will time out before there is an opportunity to get a new product on them.
but, on product, UA will tout its new product while the vast majority of passengers will receive far less than that product.
@Tim Dunn – Over promise and under deliver just like Delta huh. Delta advertises “Delta One” like it is a consistent product then you are stuck on an old 767 with a subpar offering
Conceptually, this is great. The place I run into trouble is how this elevated soft product will interact with the extremely spotty levels of service from the in-flight crew. Yes, this only impacts on in eight business class passengers, but I think only one in eight flight attendants are prepared to actually deliver on the experience.
Also… isn’t this basically a refreshed Global First, just not a segregated cabin? Why not just market it as First, especially for partner redemptions? Feels like a missed opportunity.
AC,
The 767-300ER will be used on about 15 flights/day out of DL’s global network – about 10% of its network.
UA won’t reach 90% of network with this new product in even 5 years. It took 7 years for the rollout of the current Polaris product and it will be aircraft retirements that will push up adoption of this product – which are not likely to happen in earnest until 2030.
…. 15 TATL and 1 TPAC and a couple S. America flights. The majority of DL’s 767-300ER fleet will be used on transcons and Hawaii where it competes with UA’s 777A.
and remember UA uses 757s on TATL routes that do not even have direct aisle access in business class.
@Tim Dunn @AC — I’ve griped in the past on here about Delta’s older 763 and a330, which are undeniably dated, but are still lie-flat, so you can’t complain that much about it. Yes, most would prefer the new DeltaOne suites (with or without doors) like on 764, a339, or a350. Still, it’s better than United’s 2-4-2, backward facing 772 seats. Oof.
Whether it’s DL or UA, yes, those 757s are getting super-old, but if it has lie-flat, even in 2-2, it’s still better than a recliner. a321XLR for AA, and hopefully for the others someday, will be the game chanter for medium-to-long-haul narrow bodies. jetBlue has already done this with Mint on the transatlantic a321LR.
So, better things are possible and are coming. We may just have to wait a bit longer for more ‘consistency’ across the fleet. I’m setting low expectations on timing. Years and years…
*game changer (once more, an ‘edit’ button would be nice on here. Oh well.)
I’m enjoying my Business Class travel much more on Turkish than United! So much of this is elitist nonsense.
@ Gary — Caviar on United? They might as well go ahead and cut that.
The headline says six people will get the upgraded seat, but won’t eight get it? Four at the front of each cabin?