United Airlines is preparing for a big announcement tomorrow and all signs point to the unveiling of its next generation Polaris Business Class seat. Photos of the new seats have already started to be leaked online and this should be an improvement over the carrier’s existing product.
United Teases a Major Announcement on Social Media
The Chicago based carrier posted a video on its Instagram account teasing a major announcement on Tuesday May 13, 2025. United currently has an event scheduled tomorrow in Brooklyn and has invited select media outlets and MileagePlus members to attend.
The video shows the text “Be the first to know” scrolling across the screen with hints at what to expect in the airplane windows between each word. The video moves quickly so you can only make out some colors and patterns without pausing it.
Later today, we essentially received confirmation that a Polaris announcement is coming when photos of the event were leaked online. The photo, posted by xJonNYC on X, shows the new Polaris seats arranged in a warehouse.
United is Going More Premium with its New Polaris Seats
The new Polaris seats are expected to be installed on some of United’s remaining Boeing 787-9s on order and will be in an extremely premium heavy configuration. The airline is reportedly planning to outfit its new 787-9s with a whopping 64 Polaris Business Class seats, based on seat maps posted online, this will take up the entire space between the first and second set of doors and most of the space between the second and third set of doors.
Like the new Flagship Suites we saw American announce earlier this month, the bulkhead seats are expected to have more space and will likely be sold as a more premium product for an additional fee. Regardless of how the seats are outfitted, the Polaris screens will put the American Flagship Suites IFE screens to shame (the permanent screens appear to be delayed with temporary ones installed in their place).
United first introduced its Polaris Business Class seats in 2016 and has an extremely consistent product across its widebody fleet. These new seats will cause a bit of a shakeup in fleet commonality but will represent an upgrade for the passenger experience.
I find United’s hard product in Business Class to be perfectly adequate and these new seats should improve the experience. It is expected that the carrier will add doors to these seats but, on my flights on Polaris equipped aircraft, I found the seats to be plenty private, especially seated by the window.
Though we won’t know the exact details until tomorrow, I’m excited to see what the airline has planned for these new seats and whether we will see it added to its existing fleet, especially on the 767 which is much narrower than the 777 and 787.
Summary
United Airlines is preparing to unveil the next generation of its Polaris Business Class seat. The event is scheduled to be held tomorrow in Brooklyn though photos from the event setup have started to be posted online. The new seats appear similar to what American just announced on its new, premium-heavy Boeing 787-9 sub-fleet.