Singapore/New York
Late lunch/early dinner at Juliana's Pizza was excellent, with a very substantial salad and an excellent pepperoni pizza. There is a ton of good pizza in New York, and while they may not be the most memorable one, they are always a tasty meal.
Was a decent walk to Duggal Greenhouse after dinner for a new product event by United Airlines. Marketed as United Elevate, the day brought a full on unveiling of a new Boeing 787 cabin configuration for United, including an all-new Polaris (business class) product complete with a business class-plus section in the bulkhead rows (branded as Polaris Studio), a refreshed Premium Plus (premium economy) seat, and an upgraded economy class seat, just to ensure all passengers got a better experience.
United's Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Nocella, was very excited for the new business class seats from Adient; he seems to be oblivious to the fact that at least three of their competitors (American, Hawaiian, and Qatar) all use the same seat. The 64 seat business class cabin is the largest (most premium-heavy) of any 787 currently in the sky or currently announced, and the introduction of an 8-seat business class "plus" product keeps United current with what their competitors are doing. The 27" 4K screens in the eight Polaris Studio seats are the largest in the sky; the 19" 4K screens in the regular Polaris seats are okay but a bit pedestrian feeling by comparison, although 19" is much better than the crappy 17" that their competitor American cheaped out in their equally-new business-class product.
Storage in all of the new Polaris seats is actually very good, the latest Panasonic IFE is nice, and as Adient VP Trystan Perry demonstrated, fallen cell phones are quite easy to retrieve from the seats. Wireless charging hopefully works better than in the current first class (United NEXT) narrowbody seats, and to United's credit, there is 65 watt USB-C charging in every seat in the airplane, which is not only pretty awesome, it might mean United is actually near the front for once vs. being mid-pack at best for power outlets. Two different cabin layouts in the same aircraft - reverse herringbone middle seats in the front cabin paired with herringbone middle seats in the rear cabin - also are an interesting (and so far unique) approach as well; the latter let couples sit closer together, and United actually takes full advantage of it by having the wall go so low you almost simulate having a shared bed. Again, Qatar's QSuites might have had a similar concept first, but it's great to see United at least taking advantage of what their new seats can do.
Not to be forgotten, United's product managers also presented an updated Premium Plus seat. United product managers outright said it was the same as the existing seat, but with some quality of life upgrades including relocating the power outlet from inside the armrest to the front of the seat, making the legrest extendable (finally), and larger privacy wings, plus a screen upgrade from 13" to 16" 4K OLED. And much to their credit, the product managers present were pretty forthright on what they knew for sure vs. what they didn't know for sure about their product, which was not only refreshing but gave a lot more confidence in what to expect when this configuration hits the skies in early 2026.
Economy class seats retain the dumb two AC outlets for every three seats, although this is actually something I can finally forgive with 65W USB-PD at every seat. The under-seat boxes now are also extremely compact, so leg space under the seat in front of you is excellent; I look forward to this vs. the existing seats on United (even some of the existing narrowbody first class seats, which have ridiculously cramped footwells). The bigger 13" 4K OLED screens are also nice, and whatever they did for shaping the frames and cushions meant the 34" pitch in Economy Plus actually felt like an improvement vs. before.
Food and drink, amenity, kits, pajamas, and whatnot also all get upgrades, although am skeptical, especially in economy. Polaris Studio claims an upgraded amenity kit with United x Perricone MD, which is finally an upscale brand, and I think all Polaris passengers get to use headphones from Meridian, which was an upscale home audio/car audio brand that is now sticking their neck out into headsets (!?). The caviar service might be a joke, but will have to see how it is in reality; with 64 business class seats (56 business class and 8 business class plus), not to mention 35 premium economy seats, how United staffs their new 78L configuration is going to have a significant impact on the experience. At least the 123 economy seats (including 39 Economy Plus) is a manageable number?
The new pajamas with a hoodie look slightly nicer than the existing ones, the rest (aside from 3rd pillow in Polaris Studio) looked pretty much like the current product. Did not spend too much time in the electronics area as a 27" monitor is commodity product today on the ground, and the headphones from Meridian are surprisingly poor (thin) in their sound, although maybe they have noise cancelling that works well on the plane? Still, was nice of United to put on this event and invite MileagePlus cardholders to it, and while it seems like some senior executives at United still live in a bubble, it was actually very much appreciated to spend so much time with the middle-level managers and others more directly responsible for execution of the new seats and in-flight service.
For additional reference, aviation news sites such as One Mile At A Time and Runway Girl Network do a solid job covering most of the details with United's press photos.