Not since the advent of the lie-flat bed, has a business class offering been more of a gamechanger.
OK, this might only be true if you’ve got as much of a sweet tooth as I do, but hear me out – you’re cruising along at 38,000 feet, feet up on your glorious recliner, full of your gourmet dinner, when something absolutely glorious, and unexpected, comes rattling down the aisle.
An ice cream sundae cart! With all the trimmings! On a plane! I rest my case.
United Airlines is famous for this particular in-flight miracle, which has reached icon status among its passengers.
After your meal, the cart comes along, offering to adorn your vanilla or chocolate ice cream scoop with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, slivered toasted almonds, M&Ms and a cherry on top. If there’s a better food experience on a plane, I haven’t had it.
New cabins
Last month, United Airlines unveiled its new United Elevated interior, which includes sliding privacy doors for all business class seats, and a brand new studio suite experience.
There are eight of the new seats in each upgraded cabin, located at the front of each business class section. They are 25 per cent larger than the standard business offering and offer even more privacy.
I flew from Sydney to LA on the standard Polaris service, here’s how it went down.
Baggage
Like most business class offerings, your ticket includes two free checked bags, up to 32kg (70.5 lbs.) each, which is a challenge I was unable to meet, with my puny 22kg (48.5 lbs.) offering. You’re also entitled to Premier Access, which is essentially a priority check-in lane, and the promise of seeing your bags faster on the other side with priority bag handling.
Lounge
Polaris customers also get access to United Polaris lounges, where they are available (currently there are six, Chicago O’Hare, Houston Intercontinental, LAX, New York Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles). Don’t worry, if there’s no Polaris Lounge at your departure airport, you will get access to a partner lounge of your choice.
I used the Polaris Lounge at LAX. It features deluxe shower rooms with Therabody products, an a la carte restaurant (order the famous burger and the skillet cookie, even if you’re not hungry, trust me on this) as well as a buffet for lighter meal options. If you’re already tired, there’s a private rest area with daybeds, soft lighting and white noise to help you rest and relax
The seats
Like many business class offerings, the staggered 1-2-1 seat configuration means every seat is an aisle seat, but window seats are definitely the pick of the bunch.
But not all window seats are created equal – to enable a full lie-flat experience, the seats are offset, with one being right next to the window, the next being closer to the aisle and so forth. This makes seats 1L or 9L superior choices, as they are both front of their respective parts of the cabin, closest to the windows and with the most privacy and least disturbance from the aisle.
There was lots of legroom, as expected, and top notch extras, including noise-reducing headphones, bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue, premium toiletries and premium mattress toppers available on request (please, tell me, who is not requesting a complimentary “mattress cloud”?).
Food
In addition to the expected champagne on arrival, the meals were excellent on my flight. The main meal is an event, with warmed mixed nuts, a main you can pre-order before you fly (I chose roasted salmon with hollandaise and pearl couscous) salad, bread and the aforementioned sundae.
Still hungry after your movie is over? They offer midnight snacks, including an extremely melty grilled cheese sandwich, available anytime, and a snack bar you can help yourself to.
The app
It can be hard to stand out in a saturated airline market where most offerings are variations on the same thing, but United’s app is where it truly shines.
I’ve never come across such an efficient and user-friendly airline app experience.
You can obviously plan and book using it, but it’s once you arrive at the airport that it comes into its own. My gate changed, no worries, I got a notification. Boarding about to start? told me that too. In-flight I was updated about changes to our arrival time and upon landing, it knew my bag was about to come out onto the carousel before it was visible.
There’s also a terminal guide, meal and seat choices and delay and cancellation options but it’s the real-time notifications, taking some of the stress and uncertainty out of travel, that gets my vote.
The writer travelled as a guest of United Airlines
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