United Polaris lands at Saks Fifth Avenue
Story by Lauren Vespoli | Rhapsody, January 2017
On January 11, the Saks Fifth Avenue New York flagship store unveiled a window display that gave “straight off the runway" a new meaning. A replica of a United Airlines Boeing 777 took over 14 of the store's iconic windows in celebration of United's new Polaris first- and business-class experience, which launched on all long-haul international flights in December.
Six of the windows in the display, titled “Now Arriving," offered a detailed look at the United Polaris cabins, including new seats (which debut in February), real United flight attendant uniforms, and luxurious new bedding designed by Saks Fifth Avenue — a duvet, lightweight blanket, and two pillows for each flier — that will come standard in every United Polaris cabin and lounge.
“We wanted people to really understand the level of service and quality that you will be getting when you travel United Polaris," says Mark Briggs, the executive vice president for creative at Saks Fifth Avenue. “The details are really, I think, what make the display." Briggs and his creative team even went so far as to remove the windows in order to install an exact replica of the cabin's galley and the United Polaris seats.
The windows highlighted United's commitment to enhancing international business travelers' sleeping experience, from the new seats, which offer more sleeping room, to the custom Saks bedding and the cabin's cool blue lighting and sleek design.
The “Now Arriving" window display ran through January 22 at Saks' Fifth Avenue's flagship store.
As the COVID-19 crisis has evolved, United's cargo operation has emerged as a critical conduit for getting life-saving goods where they're needed most.
Last week, we helped Flexport.org, the social impact arm of a freight forwarder based in San Francisco, import two shipments of medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) destined for New York and California. The first of those loads arrived in San Francisco from Shanghai aboard a chartered United Boeing 787-9 on Wednesday. It contained 1,000 ventilators, 70,000 goggles and 300,000 masks, all of which were donated by Alibaba cofounder and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and his wife, Clara Wu Tsai. Those items were then put on a United 777 and flown to EWR, where they were distributed to 14 hospitals, medical centers and nursing homes in the New York City region.
The second shipment came into San Francisco the following day containing surgical gowns, hazmat suits and several million more masks for first responders in California. United employees unloaded that aircraft upon arrival and helped get the PPE onto trucks for delivery to Bay Area hospitals.
We are operating, on average, 20 cargo-only flights each day between six U.S. hubs and cities in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. In the process of doing so, we are moving thousands of pounds of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and PPE, in addition to those mentioned above, to help stem the spread of COVID-19 and treat those afflicted.
While travel demand and government restrictions continue to impact our schedule, we know some people around the globe are displaced and still need to get home. We continue to operate dozens of repatriation flights in an effort to get customers where they need to be. This remains a fluid situation, but United continues to play a role in connecting people and uniting the world, especially in these challenging times. Learn more about what we're doing to keep customers and employees safe.
Flights continuing from now into May:
Atlantic
Operating:
- New York/Newark – Frankfurt (Flights 960/961)
- New York/Newark – London (Flights 16/17)
- New York/Newark – Tel Aviv (Flights 90/91)
Pacific
Operating:
- San Francisco – Tokyo-Narita (Flights 837/838)
- San Francisco – Sydney (Flights 863/870
- Select Guam routes, including daily Guam – Honolulu (Flights 200/201)
Latin America/South America
- Houston – Sao Paulo (1x daily)
- Houston – Cancun (3x daily)
- Houston – Mexico City and Monterrey (2x daily)
- Houston – Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos (1x daily)
- All other hub flying to Mexico is canceled.
Caribbean
We are suspending all remaining Caribbean service: NAS (Nassau, Bahamas) through May 3, SJU (San Juan) and STT (St. Thomas) April 7 – May 3 (at the earliest).
Canada
- All flying to Canada is suspended.
To help with the uncertainty around future travel — be it summer vacations, conferences, events and more — customers now have until April 30 to make changes to, or cancel, any travel they have booked through the end of the year without fees. This is in addition to existing waivers already in place which allow customers to change or cancel plans for travel through May 31.
Please visit united.com for more information, or reference our step-by-step guide on how to change your flight, cancel and rebook later.
Domestic schedule
We have taken every opportunity to continue offering service to as many airports as possible through other United hubs as we have reduced our domestic flying. Effective April 8, we will suspend service between the mainland and Hilo, Maui, Kona and Lihue - and we will maintain our daily service between our San Francisco hub and Honolulu, which has been reduced to one flight daily. We will continue to operate daily service between Honolulu and Guam. These suspensions will run through April 22.
We are closely monitoring demand as well as changes in state and local curfews and government restrictions across the U.S. and will adjust our schedule accordingly.
| Hub city | Route suspensions | Remaining service |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Albuquerque, NM Asheville, NC Bismarck/Mandan, ND Bozeman, MT Eugene, OR Fresno, CA Hilton Head, SC Honolulu, HI Jackson, MS Kahului, HI Kearney, NE Palm Springs, CA Panama City, FL Reno, NV San Jose, CA Spokane, WA Valparaiso, FL Wilmington, NC |
DEN, IAH IAD DEN DEN DEN, SFO DEN, SFO IAD SFO IAH Market Suspension DEN DEN, SFO IAH DEN, SFO DEN DEN IAH IAD |
| New York/Newark | Appleton, WI Arcata/Eureka, CA Charleston, SC Grand Rapids, MI Hartford, CT Hobbs, NM Honolulu, HI Jacksonville, FL Kahului, HI Kona, HI Lihue, HI New York, NY (LaGuardia) Santa Rosa, CA Shreveport, LA Syracuse, NY |
ORD SFO IAD, IAH, ORD ORD IAD, ORD IAH SFO IAD, IAH, ORD Market Suspension Market Suspension Market Suspension ORD SFO IAH IAD, ORD |
| Houston | Akron/Canton, OH Boise, ID Grand Rapids, MI Hartford, CT Honolulu, HI Lexington, KY New York, NY (LaGuardia) Norfolk, VA Ontario, CA Palm Springs, CA Reno, NV Richmond, VA San Jose, CA St Louis, MO |
ORD DEN, ORD, SFO ORD IAD, ORD SFO IAD, ORD ORD DEN, IAD, ORD DEN, SFO DEN, SFO DEN, SFO DEN, IAD, ORD DEN DEN, IAD, ORD |
| Los Angeles | Arcata/Eureka, CA Austin, TX Baltimore, DC Bend/Redmond, OR Boise, ID Boston, MA Bozeman, MT Cleveland, OH Colorado Springs, CO Eugene, OR Fresno, CA Hilo, HI Honolulu, HI Kahului, HI Kona, HI Las Vegas, NV Lihue, HI Madison, WI Mammoth Lakes, CA Medford, OR Monterey, CA Orlando, FL Palm Springs, CA Phoenix, AZ Prescott, AZ Redding, CA Reno, NV Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Diego, CA San Luis Obispo, CA Santa Barbara, CA Seattle, WA St George, UT Stockton, CA |
SFO DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, SFO DEN, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, SFO DEN, SFO Market Suspension SFO Market Suspension Market Suspension DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO Market Suspension DEN, ORD Market Suspension DEN, SFO DEN, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN SFO DEN, SFO DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, SFO DEN, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN Market Suspension |
| New York/Newark | Akron/Canton, OH Albany, NY Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Bangor, ME Boston, MA Buffalo, NY Burlington, VT Charleston, SC Charlotte, NC Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Columbus, OH Dallas/Fort Worth, TX Detroit, MI Fayetteville, AR Fort Lauderdale, FL Fort Myers, FL Grand Rapids, MI Greensboro, NC Greenville, SC Hilton Head, SC Honolulu, HI Indianapolis, IN Jacksonville, FL Kansas City, MO Key West, FL Knoxville, TN Las Vegas, NV Louisville, KY Madison, WI Memphis, TN Miami, FL Milwaukee, WI Minneapolis, MN Myrtle Beach, SC Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA Norfolk, VA Omaha, NE Orange County, CA Orlando, FL Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, ME Portland, OR Presque Isle, ME Providence, RI Raleigh/Durham, NC Richmond, VA Rochester, NY Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Diego, CA Sarasota, FL Savannah, GA Seattle, WA St Louis, MO Syracuse, NY Tampa, FL Washington, DC (Reagan National) West Palm Beach, FL |
ORD IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD IAD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD IAD, ORD IAD, ORD IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD ORD IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD IAD SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD IAD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD IAD, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO IAD IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, ORD IAD, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAD, ORD IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO IAD, IAH, ORD |
| San Francisco | Albuquerque, NM Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Baltimore, DC Boston, MA Bozeman, MT Cleveland, OH Columbus, OH Dallas/Fort Worth, TX Detroit, MI Fayetteville, AR Fort Lauderdale, FL Indianapolis, IN Kahului, HI Kansas City, MO Kona, HI Lihue, HI Madison, WI Mammoth Lakes, CA Minneapolis, MN Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Orlando, FL Philadelphia, PA Pittsburgh, PA Raleigh/Durham, NC San Antonio, TX Spokane, WA St Louis, MO Tampa, FL |
DEN, IAH DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD Market Suspension DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD Market Suspension Market Suspension DEN, ORD Market Suspension DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD DEN DEN, IAD, ORD DEN, IAD, IAH, ORD |
| Washington-Dulles | Austin, TX Grand Rapids, MI Honolulu, HI New York, NY (LaGuardia) Portland, OR Sacramento, CA |
DEN, IAH, ORD ORD SFO ORD DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO DEN, IAH, ORD, SFO |
When and where possible, we are working to repatriate travelers who are stranded abroad in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Our teams are working closely with government officials here in the U.S. as well as in other countries where flying has been restricted to gain the necessary approvals to operate service. In regions where government actions have barred international flying, we have coordinated with the the U.S. State Department and local government officials to re-instate some flights. Additionally, we have been operating several extra flights to countries in Central America and South America as we continue to play a role in connecting people and uniting the world.
We have operated more than 85 repatriation flights from Panama City, Guatemala City, Quito, Lima, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and Roatan, bringing nearly 12,000 people home. We will continue working with government officials to operate extra flights to Houston from Quito, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and from Lima to Washington Dulles and beginning April 5, we will begin operating multiple charter flights between Delhi and San Francisco. We continue to review more opportunities for flights between the United States and other countries to bring citizens home.
Video provided by the U.S. Embassy Ecuador of Americans returning home on United.
Additionally, our Customer Solutions and Recovery team is working with customers in the following markets to rebook them on flights back to the United States as capacity allows, either on our aircraft or on one of our airline partners' planes:
- Quito, Ecuador
- Managua, Nicaragua
- Roatan, Honduras
- San Pedro Sula, Honduras
- Amsterdam
- Brussels
- Munich
- Singapore
- Tokyo-Haneda
- Seoul, South Korea
- Melbourne, Australia
We also recently reinstated several international flights back into our schedule to support customers and essential businesses which depend on these routes. As a result, we will be the only airline to offer service between Newark/New York and London, San Francisco and Sydney, as well as Houston and São Paulo, Brazil.
Together, we are facing an unprecedented challenge. United Together, we rise to meet that challenge.
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