I guess it's a Polaris week on FR, as YGeorgeW and ShivPilot posted some fantastic reviews. Seeing as this is the next report in my series, I'll add on to the UA.
Intro
The second to last portion of this great trip around Africa would finally see me leaving back to the USA. For those unaware, I was originally supposed to fly in Polaris from Lagos-Washington, which then changed to Polaris from Frankfurt-Chicago due to a dog bite, which then changed to Paris-Newark due to a family emergency. Talk about a kerfuffle.
This specific leg would see me flying in United Polaris from Paris Charles De Gaulle over to Newark Liberty International on United Polaris. I’ve gotta say, minus the inbound being late, it is always a treat to fly United Polaris. With a fantastic crew, a lovely seat, and decent food on board, I was more than happy on this 8-hour hop over to Newark.
Routing
Flight routing
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- 16UA55- Business- Paris- Newark- Boeing 767-300ER
How I Booked
The booking was a tad complicated for this specific itinerary. My original ticket had me flying from Windhoek to Frankfurt to Chicago and onward to LaGuardia. However, once at Frankfurt and the big kerfuffle happened, United rebooked me into Polaris leaving from Newark. For 40K United Miles total (they refunded 48K Miles), the new itinerary is as follows:
Discover Airlines Business Class A330-330 WDH-FRA
United Polaris 767-300ER CDG-EWR
Honestly, I’m not even sure how the United system allowed this to happen 😉.
Check-In
Arriving in high spirits at the airport, I arrived at Terminal 1 around 1:30 pm. UA55 is usually scheduled to depart at 1:10 pm, but United sent me an alert that morning that the inbound had been significantly delayed.
Thanks to being in Polaris today, I had my boarding pass printed and a sheet to file for EU261. An extra morning and early lunch in Paris+EU261. Heck yeah!
A lot of people complain about CDG as an airport. However, on this day in the height of summer, I was curbside from my Uber to the Star Alliance lounge in 15 minutes flat. I suppose it just depends on the day.
Lounge
Passengers flying on a Star Alliance carrier in business class or with Star Alliance Gold are directed towards the brand new “Salon Lounge.” This is one of the nicest Star Alliance Lounges in the network, that's all I am going to say. Wow!
So gorgeous
Enjoyed the last of Europe for a while
Boarding
Sitting in the lounge, United sent out an email informing us that our plane had been delayed even further and boarding would commence at 4:30. Delays happen (especially on these old birds), but I will say that United kept me informed from the morning up until departure.
4:30 came around quickly, and I strolled over to gate 22, catching a glimpse of our beautiful 767-300, taking us 3,600 odd miles over to Newark this evening.
By the time I arrived at the gate, boarding had already begun with group 2. I strolled through the group 1 line and happily down the jetbridge.
Stepping onboard, I was greeted by a crew rushing to prepare a cabin. We were right on the verge of the 4-hour mark…
The Seat/Cabin
United flies two different versions of the 767-300ER. On premium routes such as ORD/EWR/IAD-LHR, EWR/IAD/ORD-ZRH, EWR-CDG (sometimes), EWR-RAK, and EWR/IAD-GVA to name a few (subject to change). These jets feature a whopping 46 business class seats laid out in a 1-1-1 configuration across 16 rows.
This layout is perfect for solo travelers but has been criticized by couples and families when traveling together in the past as there is no easy way to talk to each other during the flight.
For the perfect flight, I recommend travelers choose the odd number windows (A, L). Due to 1A being blocked off for crew rest, one bulkhead 1L is left. If possible, I would look to secure that, if not you have plenty of options.
Looking around the seat, everything looked fantastic. There was a small cubby on the right featuring the “noise canceling headphones.” Additionally, a countertop is perfect for storing a laptop during the meal, and a lamp finishes up the right-hand side.
On the left of you is where you will find the seat controls. These are exceptionally easy to control, and even shines green when your seat is in “taxi takeoff and landing position”.
Other than the beautiful high-definition screen in front of you, that pretty much completes the seat. Basic, but beautiful (and consistent).
Cockpit Visit
Settling into my seat, I realized we still had a long way to go until boarding was completed. The flight deck had arrived early, meaning everything was ready to go. I took a stroll up to the cockpit, where the flight deck invited me in to take some photos and talk about life.
No pictures of me in the cockpit today, I find it embarrassing ha, but they gave me wings!
Departure
By 5:10 pm, boarding was wrapped up, and the captain came on to announce our flight time of 8 hours and 10 minutes over to Newark that evening. He apologized for the delay and mentioned he would do everything in his power to make up the time.
No pre-departure beverage was offered. I will excuse United on this flight due to the severely late inbound… but there is one flight later this year I took where I won't 😡.
By 5:17 pm (4 hours and 15 minutes late), we pushed and made our way on the long taxi out to 27L for departure.
Almost 30 whole minutes later, we were wheels up, leaving Paris behind in the abyss. Au revoir Paris😞. I'm currently learning French, the only issue is that after 11 years of learning, I still don't know much 😅.
Amenities/IFE
Now that we are up in the air let’s check out the amenities.
Waiting upon my seat during boarding was the classic Polaris bedding. It is some of the best business-class bedding in the sky, if not THE BEST. Considering you can request a mattress pad to go on the bottom, I slept really well on every flight in the 11 nights I spent in Polaris last year.
Additionally, United had just rolled out their new Wrexham collaboration at the time. Thus, they had their new amenity kit present!
Due to recently reviewing the IFE on the outbound leg from Washington to Lagos, I’ll just provide some quick photos. If you decide to go back and read that review, spoiler: the IFE selection is excellent.
During this flight, I had to make some plans for when I would land. Checking out the wifi, I found that a whole flight pass was 25.99. Expensive, for sure, but the speeds were good. United could work on this aspect…
Meal Service
Roughly 40 minutes after takeoff, the cabin crew came around to distribute hot towels to passengers. Applying this to my ears (it’s a thing to help me decompress), I checked out the menu for today's flight. Having already pre-ordered, there was no need to place an order, but with a light cabin load due to the delay, the crew offered me another dish if I wanted.
5 minutes later, the cabin crew came around to distribute drinks. Red wine, Champagne, and sparkling water. Read almost any review of mine in long-haul business, and I have exactly the same every time… (warm nuts were offered, but it’s me, so no…)
Word of advice: this is a large cabin, so if you want your food quickly, either sit near the front or let the FAs know before takeoff that you would like an express meal service.
Sipping on some drinks and watching Zootopia, the cabin crew came around with my main course 10 minutes later. United has long been known for lacking in the catering department, but the food wasn’t bad…
Cheese!
Ordinarily, those flying Polaris would opt for the ice cream sundae. However, for review purposes, I decided to try out the cheese plate. Nothing to write home about, but fine. All in all, the meal was wrapped up in under an hour and a half, which is pretty impressive.
Throughout the flight, United stocks the galley with packages of chips. Polaris passengers also have the option of ordering a grilled cheese sandwich. Greasy, but delicious!
The Bed
Considering I had slept no more than 3 hours in the previous 3 days combined, I placed the seat into bed mode for the remaining 3.5 hours of the flight. Bonk, at least that’s what I felt like, as within a minute, I was passed out. The bed is extremely comfortable, especially when you add in the mattress pad…
The cabin crew had to come over and wake me up as we were on final descent, I must have been that tired.
Arrival
At 7:47 pm local time, we touched down on Runway 4R with an exceptional landing on a fine evening. Sometimes, international flights will land at C gates in Newark, and other times, they will land at B gates. At 8:02 pm (4 hours and 22 mins behind schedule), we pulled into gate 55
Bidding farewell to the crew, it was time to get my skates on. With the last flight of the day to Providence departing at 9:40, I should make it, right?
Well, immigration was a hot mess this evening. Ordinarily, there is a line for US citizens and a line for those with foreign passports. This evening, they clumped everyone together, and 3 agents worked the whole immigration. We had landed on the backend of the Ethiopian Airlines flight, meaning visas upon visas upon visas.
Not that I have an issue with it, but I feel like it should be reciprocated. Almost everywhere I travel has a separate lane for those with passports of that country, and foriegners…
There is a reason I don't have global entry: I have a DHS Trip on my name…
An hour and 20 minutes later, I had cleared immigration…
EWR-PVD
Then it was time to run. With 8 minutes until boarding closed to Providence, I ran like no tomorrow from Terminal B to Terminal C, arriving at 9:30 pm. For the first time in my life, I asked if I could go to the front of the line, and people were very nice, allowing me to do so!
That flight was uneventful whatsoever minus clearing a CPU as a silver and a 48 minutes taxi time 😂.
At 9:40 pm, I somehow made it to the remote gate from which we would be departing, where I heard “last call for Providence, Rhode Island.” My gosh.
Just like that, I landed in Providence and headed straight to the hospital, where I spent 8 hours waiting to get my next rabies shot. Talk about a dramatic life; I couldn’t make it up.
I got to the hotel at 10 am, and I slept until 7 am the next day. LOL. 21 hours straight!
Thanks for the shout out! Really nice review and pictures! That delay sounded annoying, and sorry you had to run when you got to EWR and didn't have time to check out the Polaris Lounge. I agree with you- generally, I think United is the best out of the U.S. carriers about communicating regarding delays.
You got lucky with that Grilled Cheese Sandwich! They are only supposed to cater it on flights that are blocked at over 10 hours- so you had a generous catering crew and flight crew that gave that to you! Otherwise its just your standard chips and snacks and fruit as your mid-flight snacks!
Great review.
Hi Shivpilot, thanks for your comments!
As a fellow UA flyer most of the time, always love your reviews!
I've always been confused by that, as that is what they say, but almost all of my flights have the grilled cheese available. Even ZRH-EWR had it which is blocked in at 9:30 I am pretty sure. When I flew back from London last year, they had it as well. It is a bit frustrating when Polaris XXX amount and they don't offer more than a couple snacks/fruit/cheese plates, but I think UA is on the right track. Especially with their new Dishware (now I hope for catering).
Thanks again for stopping by, and have a nice day 🙂