United 777-300ER With Polaris Seats to Fly San Francisco-Tokyo Route
Despite issues and delays with its Polaris seat manufacturer Zodiac, United's new Boeing 777-300ER's continue to be rolled out on the airline's international routes. The aircraft is already flying between San Francisco (SFO) and Hong Kong (HKG), and United previously confirmed the launch of 777-300ER flights between Newark (EWR) and Tel Aviv (TLV) starting May 5.
We now know the next city pair for the 777-300ER — San Francisco and Tokyo/Narita (NRT). Starting June 14, the new United aircraft will replace the 747-400 currently flying on the route. The schedule shows the flight, designated as United 837, departing daily from San Francisco at 11:45am and arriving at Narita Airport in Tokyo at 2:35pm the next day.
The return flight, numbered as United 838, departs Narita at 5:10pm and arrives back in San Francisco at 10:55am. Since it's highly unlikely the airline would be able to turn the same plane around for the 11:45am flight back to Japan in just 50 minutes, it seems the actual 777-300ER planes will rotate between the Tokyo and Hong Kong routes out of SFO.
Needless to say, saver-level award space is nearly impossible to find at this time, though if you're desperate to fly the Polaris seats using miles, you can pay the exorbitant standard one-way award price of 170,000 MileagePlus miles. But we don't recommend it.
United 777-300ER aircraft are configured without a first class cabin, so first class seats disappear on this route after June 13. Instead, there are 60 Polaris business class seats, 102 Economy Plus seats and 204 standard Economy seats in a rather tight 10-across 3-4-3 seat configuration.
TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig has already flown four legs in the new Polaris seats on the 777-330ER — on the media preview flight, from Newark to San Francisco on a special inaugural flight, on the route between Hong Kong and San Francisco and onward to Newark. He writes that this is his "favorite business-class seat offered by a US airline at this moment," so it's certainly welcome news that the delays by Zodiac don't seem to be preventing United from adding 777-300ER routes for now.
H/T: Routes Online
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month