United Airlines unveils new Boeing 787 cabins with more premium seats for Australia to US flights

The biggest airline operating between the US and Australia is reducing the number of seats on its new Boeing 787s in a bold bid to attract more premium customers with privacy doors, ottomans and playing cards.

The biggest airline operating between the US and Australia will slash the number of seats on new Boeing 787-9s in a bold move designed to attract more premium customers.

United Airlines has unveiled its cabin configuration for the wide-body aircraft due to arrive by the end of the year, with 99 premium seats and 123 in economy, or 222 in total.

By way of comparison, Qantas 787-9s which have one of the lower density seating configurations can accommodate 236 passengers.

Existing 787-9s flown by United have 69 premium seats and 188 in economy, totalling 257.

Among the on-board changes will be the introduction of eight “Polaris Studio” seats at the front of the business cabin, featuring privacy doors and an extra Ottoman for a guest.

United Airlines’ new Polaris Studio to appear on new 787-9s, comes with an Ottoman and playing cards to help pass the time.

United Polaris seats will also get a door added, and the Premium Plus cabin will grow from 21 seats to 35, all with privacy dividers and wireless phone charging.

As well as the new seats, United is introducing a caviar service for Polaris Studio passengers and a beefed up amenity kit, including a deck of cards.

Larger seat back screens are being installed in the economy cabin which will also have “bottom cradling seats” that move as the seat reclines.

The first two 787-9s to be delivered with the new product on board are among 143 on order from Boeing, with 30 due to arrive by the end of 2027.

San Francisco to Singapore will be the first route to be graced with the elevated cabin product from early next year, due to the strength of demand for premium seats.

Services to London will follow with Australian routes a bit further down the line as more of the new 787-9s come online.

United currently flies between San Francisco and Los Angeles to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will add Adelaide to its network from December 11.

On Tuesday, the airline was not prepared to say how much extra passengers would pay for the Polaris Studio seats which will go on sale in coming months.

United Airlines is adding a deck of playing cards to amenity kits for Polaris Studio passengers, on new 787-9s arriving by year’s end.

United was also not committing to retrofitting existing 787s and 777s, used on trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic routes.

The United announcement came as Bureau of Statistics’ overseas departures and arrivals data showed US travellers were flocking to Australia in numbers only slightly under pre-pandemic figures.

A favourable exchange rate and good airline capacity were helping to drive US visitors down under, in a helpful boost to the local tourism industry.

In fact in March, the US was Australia’s second biggest source of overseas visitors behind New Zealand, with the UK third and China fourth.

Heading in the other direction, the US returned to the top five destinations visited by Australians in March, after tumbling to eighth the previous month.

Although numbers were still below pre-pandemic figures at 55,870 compared to 61,410 in March 2019, the data suggested Australian travellers were still keen to explore the US despite the poor exchange rate and tariff turmoil.

New Zealand remained the top destination, ahead of Indonesia with Japan tightening its grip on third spot, previously held by the US.

The US was fourth and India fifth, followed by Thailand, Vietnam, China, Singapore and the Philippines.

Overseas travel continues to grow at record rates with the March figures up almost 10 per cent on the same time a year ago.

At the same time, inbound travel was flatlining with the data showing almost zero growth in short-term arrivals from March 2024 to the same month this year.

The author travelled as a guest of United.

Originally published as United Airlines unveils new Boeing 787 cabins with more premium seats for Australia to US flights