TBA
United Elevated
Every few years, United throws a really big event for the media, and for some reason, this time around, a bunch of frequent flier friends and I got invited. Was very confused as to why until more details of the invitation showed up; unexpected to me, out of town guests were being offered complimentary hotel nights, and it leaked that there was a media-only event the day before to showcase Starlink onboard United's 737 fleet.
What really sealed it wasn't obvious until the morning of, more than just all of us tallying our invites or meeting media and influencers and United employees the night before, was arriving at United's maintenance hangar at LAX that morning via shuttle buses. The entrance was briefly modest, color-coded lanyards and badges, LED wall partially concealing the shiny new Boeing 787 parked in the hangar, finally to reveal the true scale of United Elevated. Tables/chairs/power outlets for an estimated 450 attendees, plus rows of just chairs in front of and behind the tables, easily another hundred or more. Less we forget the dining area in the rear, behind the port wing, along with the Archer Aviation Midnight eVTOL in the corner, and a whole starboard side that was blocked off til the event got to phase two.
The attendee list read like a who's who of aviation media, aviation influencers, and #AVgeek personalities, along with more United Airlines executives than I've ever seen in one place. @liveandletsfly, @freakwentflyer, @samchui, @laxtoluxury, @ingatylam, @ericrubens, @crankyflier, @mommypoints, @_zachgriff, @seancudahy, @aviatordave, probably at least two dozen others I am missing. United Airlines executives who spoke at the event included David Terry, managing director LAX; Josh Earnest, executive vice president of communications and advertising; Patrick Quayle, senior vice president, global network planning and alliances; Jason Birnbaum, CIO; Grant Milstead, vice president, digital technology; Jennifer Schwierzke, vice president, customer operations, strategy and execution; David Kinzelman, senior vice president of airport operations/chief customer officer; Jarad Fisher, president of United MileagePlus; Andrew Nocella, executive vice president and chief commercial officer; and last but not least, Scott Kirby, CEO.
For the event, United dragged out not the expected one or two or even three airplanes, but four (plus one route extension, ORD-KEF now operating into winter). Two Boeing 787's, one an older 787-8 (N26906), and the other, a brand-new 787-9 (N61101), the first aircraft delivered with the new United Polaris Elevated (nee Polaris Elevate, nee Polaris 2.0) interior as well as the 100 year centennial livery. An Airbus A321neo (N44550), also done in the centennial livery, was parked outside next to N26906. Finally, an eldery Bombardier CRJ200 (N973SW) that is actually the first converted to the shiny new CRJ450 spec, complete with first class, was also in the hangar along with the 787-9.
The CRJ450 had been kept under extremely tight wraps and was a surprise, sporting only 41 seats total-- 7 in first class and 34 in Economy/Economy Plus, along with the overhead bins removed in first class for a more spacious feel, and a storage closet installed instead for the first class passengers' carry-ons. Legroom in Economy Plus in particular seemed quite generous as well, which was a pleasant surprise. Opinion seemed to be unanimous, no one thought the Devil's Chariot could be made to look so good.
The A321neo and A321XLR with new Polaris Elevated seats were not physically there, but they had a mock-up on display (which I somehow never made it to, ugh). Details had made it to the media beforehand, but 20 lie-flat business class seats is a nice increase from the current 757-200 fleet (16 seats), and like the Polaris Elevated seats (also made by Elevate Aircraft Seating, formerly known as Adient) in the Boeing 787, these looked quite good as well. Significantly different design due to the narrowbody vs. widebody, but I will refrain from further comment as I did not experience them myself.
The obvious highlight was experiencing Polaris Elevated inside an actual airplane. Last year's unveiling was mock-ups on stage, inside an airplane is the complete experience. Can't say there were any big surprises per se, but seeing 64 business class (8 Polaris Studio, 56 Polaris) seats inside a 787-9 leaves quite the impression. The reverse-herringbone layout for front Polaris cabin's center seats and the conventional herringbone layout for the rear Polaris cabin's center seats actually works quite well, and while there were some concerns about footwell size in the regular Polaris seats, overall impressions were very positive. Storage and power outlets (3 USB, 1 wireless, 1 AC) in particular are well done.
The Premium Plus (premium economy) cabin located midships is enlarged from 21 to 35 seats; other airlines have done similarly sized premium economy cabins, but this is a first for United, and while it is the same bones as the existing seat (Collins Aerospace MiQ), it has a number of nice upgrades, including privacy wings and improved legrests. Sadly seat pitch is still a bit tight, which is very noticeable in the center seats. Not to be outdone, the 123 seats in economy also got upgrades. Economy Plus bulkhead rows (row 30ABC, row 31DEF, row 30JKL) are definitely the way to go there if you can swing it. As revealed last year, everyone gets bigger 4K screens, USB-C charging (and finally at higher, useful wattage for modern devices), plus can't forget the snack bar for Polaris passengers. Most surprising, at least to me, was that there is also a 48 Polaris seat 787-9 configuration planned for Polaris Elevated, not just the previously-announced 64 seat one; this makes a great deal of sense, but was not something I was previously aware of.
Economy cabin passengers got one more surprise: taking a page from Air New Zealand's Skycouch, United is doing the same thing in up to 12 rows of economy on their 787 fleet. United is calling it Relax Row, complete with special bedding and collectible stuffed animals. Opinions seemed to be split between why-did-this-take-so-long and how-profitable-is-it-really, given ANZ is the only one to have done it so far? However, knowing that ANZ had patented Skycouch in 2011, and only a few other airlines have licensed Skycouch from ANZ, who knows?
The speeches and whatnot themselves were a mix of the usual hype, a ton of fact dropping, even more polish, and both surprisingly/deeply appreciated, some hard questions with effort put into the answers, especially for Scott Kirby. As CEO fielded some tough ones, notably oil prices and political situation, as well as the flight attendant contract situation, and that felt like it made the event all the more valuable. The focus on doing new and cool things every year to improve the customer experience, not just resting on their laurels ("WTC" for "wow, that's cool" was thrown around) from the CEO-down, and was reinforced by all the other executives present. The most familiar executive to all of frequent fliers, senior vice president Patrick Quayle, placed not only special emphasis on growth (although was a bit unclear on some of the metrics), but a long shout-out to one of the best-known inaugural flight chasers in our frequent flier community, Warren, who is famous for coming in elaborate costumes to every inaugural flight. Way cool.
Being an all-day event, breakfast and lunch were provided, and halfway through the day, they opened up not only N61101 for (scheduled) tours, but the starboard side of the hangar, which had custom passport holders (again forgot to get one, oops), Polaris food and drink booths, technology demos, seating mock-ups (787 Economy Plus, 787 Economy with Relax Row, 787 Premium Plus, 787 Polaris Elevated, A321neo Polaris Elevated, did I miss one?), and some seating/history areas that were a very, very nice touch. Plus you could tour N973SW, the first CRJ450, as well as wander outside of the hangar to get photos in front of N44550 (A321neo) and N26906 (787-8). With LAX being as busy as it is, there was also a constant background of airplanes taking off and landing, and several United aircraft in the background taking on cargo. They had still done things well, aircraft noise wasn't bad, and if you looked up, you could even see LED ceiling panels faking clouds.
The day wrapped up with more shuttle bus rides to a reception at Elephante's rooftop location in Santa Monica. More food and drink, including United-crafted cocktails and mocktails, to highlight the social event, and thankfully, only a single speech by Josh Earnest, executive vice president of communications and advertising. The wine game was on-point as well, along with Laurent-Perrier for their champagne. The whole day was quite an amazing experience, even if it was one long, long day. If all of us frequent fliers were tired, it had to have been even longer for the United employees and media, for whom this was a three day event (!).
Less it not be obvious, or perhaps too obvious already, as an inaugural flight chaser, frequent flier, and #AVgeek , I deeply appreciated being invited to United Elevated. As a passenger, even an #AVgeek one, I know we only see a tiny fraction of what goes into making an airline work, and all of this is way cool beyond words. As a frequent passenger through LAX, one last thanks to David Terry, managing director LAX for United, since it seems like LAX base never gets anything cool, and this was amazing.