US Airlines have long been the laughing stock of the commercial aviation industry. From lackluster products to inconsistent crews, there’s no predicting what kind of experience you’ll have on board a major US carrier. That being said, with the exorbitant prices many of these airlines charge for long haul business class, the experience shouldn't be that bad right? 

One of the most iconic long haul business class products in the US is United’s Polaris. This brand new cabin stirred up interest and intrigue upon its release nearly 10 years ago. However, can Polaris really hold up in 2025? Join me today as I fly United’s top business class from Newark (EWR) to Dubai (DXB) in an attempt to find out if Polaris is still a respectable product or another US airline rip-off. 

United's Polaris Check-in

I arrived late in the afternoon to Newark’s terminal C. Polaris Business passengers should arrive at level three, which is reserved for business class and status holders. Despite a heavy international departure schedule a few hours away, the Polaris check-in area was deserted. 

I was instantly assisted by an agent who directed me to a kiosk for self check in as opposed to helping me at a desk. Though I understand this move from an efficiency standpoint, I still wish United offered live check in agents for business class passengers like most other airlines operating long haul flights. Having someone help check you in and explain the details of the lounge, priority access, and other business class benefits makes the experience feel more premium.

At one point I asked an agent for help changing my frequent flyer number as I couldn’t figure out how with the kiosk. She seemed a bit annoyed by the request and after checking on a computer, she informed me the number could not be updated after check-in. I asked if she could “un-check” me in, to which she said “we do not do that for people wanting to change frequent flyer numbers.” I eventually remedied this by calling United’s customer service and having them update it by unchecking me in, something that they were surprised the check-in agent wouldn’t do. All that to say, aside from the lack of crowds, United’s Polaris check-in experience fell short of other business class check ins.

I also recommend saving some extra time for security at EWR terminal C, especially if you are departing in the late afternoon/evening. My wait time today was about 25 minutes but I’ve seen queues take upwards of 40 minutes before.

The Polaris Lounge

After security, I embarked on a quick walk to United’s Polaris lounge, conveniently located just after the TSA checkpoints. These lounges are infamously exclusive, welcoming only passengers traveling in Polaris on an international flight or international business/first class passengers on other star alliance airlines. There is no way to get in with status, a credit card, or a membership.

The first thing that struck me was the lounge's large lobby, where I was greeted and welcomed in by a kind agent. The space includes a plethora of amenities, such as showers, beautiful seating areas, and a Dining Room restaurant. There is also a buffet offering passengers a lot of choice when it comes to food selection. Despite being such an exclusive space, the lounge was quite busy when I arrived around 4:30pm. Seating options were limited for a while and I was disappointed to find out there was a 35 minute wait for the Dining Room restaurant. 

Though frustrating, I took the wait as an opportunity to explore the lounge in greater detail. As opposed to being just one room, the lounge had several different areas and an interesting hallway layout. The design elements, such as the extensive use of marble and bright lighting, created a classy and luxurious vibe. 

The lounge did quiet down later in the evening (around 7:30) which improved my overall sentiment towards the space.

Once I was seated in the Dining Room, the experience skyrocketed in quality. It's one thing to eat at a nice lounge buffet but its a whole different game to dine in a full service restaurant with incredible plane views. The space is within the lounge but feels appropriate separate, and of course, all the dining options on the menu are free. I really like how United created a single seating setup facing the windows, making it feel like your in your own space since your not looking right at other travelers.

I ordered the Polaris Burger and a cookie for desert, which destroyed my healthy diet but pleased my taste buds. All of the food was fresh, high quality, and remarkably tasty. Service was professional but things did take time to come — roughly 20 minutes for each dish to be served after ordering. I'm a fast eater, but my two course dinner still took about an hour. Considering the additional wait time to be seated and I was glad I arrived at the airport hours before my flight. I recommend you do the same if you want to enjoy this beautiful space.

United's Boarding Process

Polaris customers board in group 1 — but by the time I arrived at the gate 20 minutes prior to boarding time — there was already a huge queue next to group 1 sign. Lining up at the gate way before departure is a fairly standard and annoying aspect of taking long haul flights on US airlines. 

Once our scheduled boarding time of 9:25 arrived, the gate agent made an announcement explaining how we would start boarding in 20-30 minutes due to plane cleaning. Considering this plane had been at EWR for 7 hours already, I’m a little unsure why operations couldn’t have cleaned/prepped it earlier. We eventually started boarding 35 minutes late.

A quick note on United’s boarding process for long haul flights: be ready for anything. Despite being in Group 1 and lined up fairly early, I was probably somewhere adjacent to the 70th passenger on board. As a business class customer, it feels a little odd to board after so many other passengers — which is due in part to a slough of pre-boarders. Unlike nearly all other US airlines, which reserve pre-boarding for passengers with disabilities and families with young children, United lets some of their top elites pre-board as well. This is fine in concept, but with nearly 50 elites pre-boarding on my flight, things got chaotic fast. United also doesn't just limit group 1 to Polaris passengers, enabling most statues holders to board alongside business class customers. I wrote another article discussing United's broken boarding process and how they can fix it so I won't go into anymore detail here.

Pre-Flight Impressions

Once onboard, I was greeted by a kind flight attendant at the door who pointed me to the correct aisle. My seat, 15A, was one of the best seats in the entire cabin for solo travelers due its private configuration. Solo travelers in United Polaris want to select window seats in odd number rows for the best experience. My seat — which upon first impression seemed nice and comfortable — was covered in all sorts of amenities. Maybe United really is competitive on this important route. 

I conducted a thorough seat tour after take off which I will share later, but a few things stood out to me right away after sitting down. One of which was the fairly questionable condition of the seats. There is no ignoring the fact that United’s Polaris cabin is getting old. The airline is working on a refresh but in the meantime, expect extensive signs of wear and tear. Even though we were delayed due to cleaning, my seat still wasn’t that clean. There were crumbs around the seat – and to my surprise – a gummy bear in the seat cup holder. The gummy bear sighting made me laugh but it's important to keep in mind that this level of cleanliness is not acceptable for a ticket of this price. 

Any and all positive thoughts I was having quickly subsided once I experienced the pre-flight service…or the lack there of. There was literally no pre-departure beverages or crew greetings. This is quite frankly unacceptable for a full service airline in business class on a haul route.

This omission left a horrible taste in my mouth as boarding finished. Eventually, a crew member came around to take meal orders, stating without any pleasantries, “choice of meal?” Despite the rough start, things started trending upwards after takeoff (literally and figuratively).

Polaris Seat Analysis

With the throttle of our 777-300ER's engines fading into the background after takeoff, I took the opportunity to analyze the seat. The hardware might be on the older side, but there is no doubting that these are comfortable seats. They are spacious and well designed even though they lack the privacy doors and other modern touches you'd see on many rival carriers. The only time I ever felt cramped was when attempting to enter and exit the seat — which is likely a byproduct of my poor agility and not a reflection on the seat itself.

The faux marble countertop and small lamp next to the seat created a nice barrier with the aisle, and provided a sense of luxury in the process. Kudos to United as well for carrying this white marble theme from the lounge to the plane. In addition to the lamp and overhead lighting, there was a small reading light positioned just above the shoulder between the aisle and I.

This seat scores fairly high in the storage department with a moderately sized cabinet, a thin under-screen storage area and the large countertop. There was also a gap between the wall of the plane and the seat — which I used to some of my bedding. The tray table — which popped out from under the IFE screen — was sturdy and had ample space for working and eating. It also pushed away while extended allowing passengers to exit their seats during meal services.

Speaking of IFE, in terms of 2025 business class seats, the screen itself is starting to fall behind. It's fully functional and more than enough for watching United's large catalog of movies and shows, it just isn't as big or bright as many competitors'. The seat contained a remote for controlling the screen — but I found the screen to be within reach in most positions rendering the remote obsolete. If the IFE system isn't entertaining enough — Wifi was available on-board for purchase and worked well for the first 70% of the flight before becoming spotty. The seat also contained both AC power and a USB A port. I appreciated how United positioned these in easy to reach places — unlike some other carriers who opt to tuck them away in the back of the cabinet.

Amenity Analysis

My oh my — does United know how to do amenities. For a moment, the large slough of goodies I received made the flight indistinguishable from Emirates — the main luxury competitor on this route. When I arrived to my seat I was greeted with:

-Therabody Amenity Kit
-Large Plush Pillow
-Cooling Gel Pillow
-Thick Comforter
-Smaller Blanket
-Headphones
-Plastic Water Bottle
-Printed Menu

United's Therabody amenity kits have always been solid, and this one certainly reaches the mark. The standouts for me were the comfortable eye mask and the inclusion of a pen. The pouch itself is so functional and high quality that I've started using it as a toiletry case on trips.

Mattress pads and United Polaris pajamas are also available on request. The pajamas are a fun souvenir (albeit a little gimmicky) but the mattress pad is an absolute game changer for sleep. I highly recommend requesting both of these during the pre-flight service when your meal order is taken since supply is limited. Mattress pads notoriously run out quickly on long haul overnight flights — and despite some buzz about Pajamas being fully stocked for each passenger — I'd still request both immediately to ensure you aren't left empty handed.

All of the amenities on-board were top notch. This array really makes it feel like United cares about their business class passengers, which is one of the best things an airline can convey.

Main Dinner Service

After seeing how good the amenities were onboard, my expectations were sky high as we transitioned to dinner service — which started about 30 minutes after take off.

Service started with flight attendants bringing around hot towels along with a tablecloth, drink, and a small dish of warm nuts. Unfortunately — things stalled out from here — with the next dish being served over 40 minutes later. Its entirely possible the snarl in service was due to the the cabins massive size with 60 business class seats. Preparing that many meals in a cramped plane galley in no easy feat, but having operated these aircraft for 6+ years, you'd think United would have this straightened out.

When my next course was ready, I was surprised to see the flight attendant walking towards me with my entire meal on a tray. United — likely in an attempt to save time — opted to forgo the multi-course service and served everything at once on the same tray. I can understand why this did this but it was still disappointing when you consider how most competitors on this route give passengers a proper multi-course meal. United advertises express dining (all on one tray) on their menu as an option — which is nice for those who want this kind of accelerated service — but I don't think they should be offering this as the norm for the main meal.

That being said, the tray itself contained a solid array of food. The salmon and salad appetizers were fairly respectable — as was the toast and accompaniments provided. My beef filet was good but far from a home run. The entire dish was floating in a sort of sludge formed by an excess of beef juices and what appeared to be grease from the rutabaga gratin. It certainly wasn't the most appetizing from a looks standpoint. The dish tasted good though — with the standout surprisingly being the gratin. The beef itself, which was quite tiny, was on the tougher side. I would rank this tray and its contents as just "alright," edible and occasionally tasty but below average for business class from a quality standpoint.

Service continued to struggle during the entire meal. Aside from the slow pace, I also found it difficult to get a drink refill at any point. The crew were so preoccupied with serving passengers food that drink refills — even after the long wait — seemed to be ignored. I can't blame the crew for prioritizing meals, but a proper business class experience also shouldn't require customers to constantly request refills by ringing the crew call bell.

I concluded dinner service by crushing my second desert of the evening — one of United's famous ice cream sundaes. I might be biased but this was without a doubt the highlight of the meal for me.

Mid-Flight Experience

Despite the seats age and the strong turbulence that occurred just as bed time was set to begin, the sleeping experience on board was top tier. There was adequate space in the footwell and I didn't feel squished at any point during my remarkable 8 hour plane sleep. A long haul business class seat is really only as good as its bed — and in the case of United Polaris — this element of the seat is worth the money. It should be noted however that sleeping in this seat is more challenging on flights in which United does not offer mattress pads.

The only hinderance I had to my sleep on this particular flight was engine noise. Since the plane is so premium heavy, business class seats extend all the way to the middle of the cabin by to the engines. Our older 777 was quite loud but this wouldn't be a huge issue on modern quieter planes such as the 787. If you're a light sleeper flying on the 777, you'd be best off selecting a seat in the front of plane away from the engine noise.

During one of my middle of the night bathroom trips I walked through the galley and noticed flight attendants had set out a variety of snacks and water for passengers. There isn't much to write home about abut the lavatories themselves though. They were basic — containing a few amenities and minimal decor — but they lacked the overall glitz and glammer that some airlines use in their business class bathrooms. Is this an impactful element of the in-flight experience? Certainly not — unless your a bathroom connoisseur — in which case you might want to scope out a different airline.

Breakfast Service

The pre-landing meal service began roughly two hours before take off and started with flight attendants brining around hot towels. As most know, Breakfast is one of the weakest meals onboard a plane, and I admittedly didn't have high expectations United would defy the norm.

I'm not sure why but I opted for the bread pudding which was served alongside some pastries, a large dish of fruit, and a vanilla yogurt. The entire tray was a blast of sugar that somehow still lacked flavor. The bread pudding was spongy and soggy.

I think United could've gotten away with serving another lunch/dinner course simply due to the timing of the flight. Even though everyone was waking up around this point, the sun was actually setting outside during breakfast since evening had already arrived in Dubai. Maybe they could have catered a brunch style meal offering passengers an option between which meal they wanted?

Final Verdict

Is Polaris still a respectable product or another US airline rip-off? Honestly, it lands somewhere in the middle.

The seat was comfortable and easy to rest in with the phenomenal amenities provided. Throw in the Polaris Lounge Dining Room, which is one of the best pre-flight experiences in the US, and there’s a lot to like here.

The service is another story entirely. No pre-departure service, over 40 minutes between courses, and a crew so busy that providing caring service went out the window. On a 13 hour flight at this price point, that’s simply not acceptable. United built a great business class — they just didn’t staff it like one.

That being said, I’d book it again in the right situation. If you’re flying overnight and your priority is landing rested, Polaris does that job well. Request the mattress pad the moment the crew takes your meal order, grab an odd numbered window seat forward of the engines, and you’ll sleep great.