People like to sleep on long flights, and United Airlines is hoping that people with plenty of money to spend will be interested in napping their way across the country and around the world in comfy isolation pods. That’s the idea behind the airline’s new Polaris business and first-class cabins, which has seats that fully recline and cubicles for napping privacy.
Earlier this week, United took reporters, VIPs, and a bunch of little stuffed polar bears on a ride from Chicago to San Francisco to demonstrate the new cabin, and it began service for paying customers on a route from Newark to San Francisco yesterday morning.
USA Today reports that the airline is hoping that the Polaris rebranding, new layout, and brand-new Boeing 777-300ER planes will draw the interest of “high-yield” customers, or, as one might put it, “business travelers who are not super concerned about their ticket prices.” Those travelers have reportedly been abandoning United since it merged with Continental in 2010.
United has ordered a total of 14 of the new planes, all of which will have the Polaris seats in the premium classes. Economy class passengers will find that their seats will not be nap cubicles or have direct aisle access: Their cabins will be updated, but will still be sitting 10 across in a 3-4-3 configuration.
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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