My short, unexpected / unplanned to South Korea came to an end, and with that I wanted to take the opportunity and try one of those business class, that oddly, I haven’t tried in the pass.

I picked United for my return to US for various of reasons.

I’ve never flew them before
I was curious about a us carrier business class with such a decent fanbase
I had some stash on miles both in UA MileagePlus and Aircanada’s Aeroplan
I was flying to San Francisco, which is a UA hub, with 2 daily nonstop flights to/from ICN it was the no-brainer.

I was fortunate enough to find standard award availability, not without putting the effort, but at the end UA was the only wan having the route I wanted, on the dates I wanted at a time I wanted, and it worked wonderfully.

*One way ICN-SFO UA 787-9 Polaris Business class price*

With recent heavy devaluation on the MileagePlus program and the difficulty to reach status with them I no longer accumulate miles with United. nonetheless Seoul is a difficult airport to fly as there’s not that many airlines / routes to the US, ASIANA tents to be stingy with award availability with partners, and don’t get me started with KoreanAir.

Leaving me with the US carriers, and the recent fiasco of a flight that was Flagship Business with American Airlines, the poor value of redemption with Delta’s Skymiles I was left with only one option.

UA is noticeable for last-minute-award-dump, which means they release a ton of unsold inventory to be booked via their program and partner’s as welll.

As you can see, - and this is a protip - , I made an initial reservation for 116.100 miles, which was a bit more than the standard rate (100.000 miles Business oneway ICN-SFO), knowing that UA releases based fares approaching the date of travel and went ahead and secured my return to the us and kept checking the app every day to see price variations (UA uses dynamic pricing so it can be from 100k to 116,200,300k any given day)

4 days later I found a ton of based fares (I class tickets) so I simply went ahead and rebooked on the same date, same cabin, same route for 16.100 miles less.

Everything went smooth at ICN airport, I had access to both Asiana and Singapore Airlines Business lounges, but they were nothing to write home about, just another lounge, so I went ahead and board the aircraft as soon as I could.

This plane configuration consists in 3 classes, Business, Premium Economy and Economy, with the business section divided in 2 cabins, the seat configuration staggered in 1-2-1 offers a great range of seating options to pick.

The Uneven numbers window seats are closer to it offering more privacy, those on the same row but it the middle of the aircraft offer the “honeymoon” seats which allow travelers traveling together to be super close to each other.

The even numbers are closer to the isle in both the center and the window seats, not the most ideal seat but if you are traveling alone and all the window seats are taken it’d be better to be away from your fellow traveler and pick the even numbers on the center row which are closer to the isle.

*Uneven seat closer to the window offering the most privacy*

Boy Oh Boy!, this was something else. I fly with United often and I am familiar with the service, I even tried their Polaris Jr on the 757s on a route to South America, and their take on narrow aircrafts which doesn’t differ from what the rest of the competitors are offering, so flying an actual Polaris flight and what it came was a surprise.

I’ve read tons of blogs praising the “best bed in the Us” with the Sacks Fifth Av collab, and let me tell you, it does not dissapoint.

First of all, you get, 2 pillows and 2 blankets, and if you ask, -Pro tip-, you can get a mattress pad which is a gamechanger and a set of pajamas.

in comparation, AA only gives you 1 small pillow and a blanket, dear to ask something else, and Delta only offer pajamas to their routes to Shanghai and Australia.

The food was pretty standard but tasty whatsoever, I had the salmon with asparagus and couscous.

the highlight was the famous sundae cart -it was delicious-, with an arrange of toppings and fudge.

The moment of truth!, I turned the seat lie flat, put the mattress pad, the pillows and one of the blankets (it was too hot for the extra one), put my earplugs, the Pj’s and had an amazing 7h deep sleep.

Overall I had an surprisingly awesome experience, In my humble opinion, -and until we see the new AA product on the 787-9P- United is the best of the legacy us carriers so far, the bedding, the Pjs, the seat configuration made it stand out from your regular business class.

United Polaris

Park Hyatt Seoul