Does International Business Class Worth the Splurge?
You’ve been working hard and very careful with money and saving those precious airline/credit card miles for years. Maybe one day, you’ll use the miles to buy your entire family a trip. Then a potential international trip with girl friends or just with your hubby is on the horizon. You are excited but the long haul flights are not very appealing to you because you are over 50. You are flirting with the idea to fly business/first. After all, you have those saved up airline/credit card miles, and the hard earned money you saved. You know in your heart that your gen Z kids will spend it without hesitation when you are gone.
My experience with Business Class on International Flights
I traveled frequently in my career. I flew on my employer’s dime. This allowed me to accumulate miles with multiple airline loyalty programs for my personal trips. I do cough out my hard earned money sometimes on long haul international flights. when I hit 45, those economy seats didn’t work well with my body anymore. I don’t feel as bad spending my money these days after reading a this article on LinkedIn. We ended up missing out on living well when we are physically able. You should try business class if you are comfortable with the idea of prioritizing yourself. I am sharing tips and experience on booking business class tickets. You will also find my review of the United Polaris class to Hong Kong.
Planning
For international trips, it’s best that you plan about 2-3 months ahead. This would usually get your best business class or any class fares. Although it varies, I would say it’s true 90% of the time. I usually start checking ticket price about 4 months before my trip. When you see a good price, book it and don’t wait. And here is why:
In 2019, I was planning a trip to my daughter’s graduation in Manchester, UK flying from Seattle. I checked the tickets from Seattle to London exactly 3 months and 3 days before the graduation week. The upper class (the name for Virgin’s business class) round trip tickets from Virgin Atlantic was only $1,700. At the time, my daughter’s university hadn’t announced the exact day of the week her school’s commencement. I decided to wait to book the connecting flight from London to Manchester at the same time.
10 days later, there was still no words from the university. I thought that it would be wise to get the flights to London arriving a couple of day early. We would then figured out our way north while there if we had to. I typed the exact trip dates in Expedia as 10 days earlier. The search results showed up, I remembered my head spinning. The round trip tickets for upper class were $4,200. I thought Expedia had a fallout with Virgin Atlantic. I then went to the Virgin Atlantic website, same result… Don’t miss the window, this also applies to points. Long story short, don’t wait when you see a good price.
United Polaris Business Class from San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Recently, I had to go to Hong Kong unexpectedly, and I only had 5 days to plan. Due to the circumstances of my trip, it’d be very taxing to fly coach. I dug deep and paid premium for a business class round trip tickets. With the short planning time, and being on the east coast, there were less flight options to Asia. None of the options were either cost efficient or short flying time. Many options required me to first fly from the east to west coast then direct to Hong Kong. I went with the United Polaris Class round trip itinerary. It was comparatively cost effective and shorter travel time (24 hours to and 32 hours back). Yeah, I know…
Bottom-line
In case you don’t have time to read the entire article, here is the bottom-line. Polaris is by far, an upgrade experience, if:
1) You are a Star Alliance member.
2) You have enough miles to upgrade, or a free international business class ticket.
3) You have never flown business internationally.
If you have flown even domestic business and want an upgraded experience for international business class. I would go with EVA. Of course, if the availability, routes, and travel dates are aligned with your plan. If you have never treated yourself (I think you should), go with EVA. Or look into other Asian airlines, or Delta One. Cathy Pacific just launched their Aria suite business class. I have never been on it but certain looks amazing. I picked a few airlines that I’ve flown business on below with a high level comparison.
| United Polaris | EVA Laurel | Air Canada | Delta One | |
| Loyalty program | Star Alliance | Star Alliance | Star Alliance | Sky miles |
| Lounge experience | OK (shower was great) | Good | OK | Good |
| Seat size & comfort | ~21 in W, 78 in L | ~25 in W, 82 in L | ~20.5 in W, 78 in L | ~22 in W, 80 in L |
| Service | Subpar | Great | OK | Great |
| Food | Subpar | Great | OK | Good |
| Entertainment | Good | Good | Good | Good |
| Other amenities | Standard | Good | Good | Good |
| Cost (varies) from 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
The United Polaris Experience
Polaris Lounge
I started my journey at about 8:30 am. By the time I get to SFO, it was close to 9 pm. Since this is an international flight, I was able to use the Polaris lounge at SFO. I checked out the food quickly, it was not great compared to other lounges. And I didn’t feel like ordering food which is one of the perks.
There was a shower facility at the lounge. It was not busy and the attendant registered me and I got in quickly. I took a quick shower before I get on the 15+ hours flight. The amenities in the shower were great. By the time I was done with the shower, I felt refresh and ready to board. Although I was not impressed with the buffet food, I had a good experience in the lounge. Here is a review of the Polaris Lounge at SFO by milelion.com. It’s more thorough though I don’t agree with 100%.
Pre-boarding experience
United is part of Star Alliance. After pre-boarding (passengers who need extra time), there were 1 or 2 groups of super frequent flyers were prioritized boarded. Then next is the Polaris passengers. I remember flying EVA and Air Canada, the Business/First were boarded with the super frequent flyers. With United, even you pay premium for your tickets, you will have to wait. It’s not a big deal, I’d just like to point this out as a comparison. But once it’s my turn, everything went smoothly.
Before take-off
Flight attendants for international business class are usually very attentive. Flight attendants memorize passenger names of their section. They always say hi to you by your name as you are settling in your seat. They would then offer water, cocktails, and sparkling wine in a glassware before take-off. With the Polaris class, the flight attendants only talked to passengers for meal order who hadn’t done so online. There was really no pre-takeoff drink orders.
A couple of flight attendants walked around with a beverage tray with water and bubbly wine. This is very much like coach service. I was quick enough to grab a water in a plastic cup. If I remember correctly, United Polaris is the only one that serves their drinks in a plastic cup. I’m not being snobbish; I’m just pointing this out as a comparison. This service is standard for international business class. The Polaris service is sub-par.
The seats and controls
My seat was ~21 inches wide and ~76 inches long when recline flat. I’m 5’6”, it’s not a problem for me. If your hubby is over 6’1” or 2”, it would be a tight fit. Other airlines’ business class seats are slightly wider and longer. EVA, is part of the Star Alliance; the Laurel Class (business) seats are more spacious as I remembered. Based on their website, the seats are close to 25 inches wide and 82 inches long when recline flat.
As for the controls of the Polaris class seats, they weren’t great. The placement of the controls were very hard to see. In fact, I thought the controls were broken because I wasn’t pushing on the right place. Overall, it felt more cramped than other airlines’ international business seats. I would say it’s only comparable to domestic first class.
Food and beverages
The wine and alcohol selection was on par, nothing jumped out particularly. For food, the pre-meal snack was a small bowl of warm nuts. Unfortunately, mine was rancid. I pre-ordered the halibut as my main course which was a mistake. The fish was over cooked and tasted like cardboard, I picked at it a little because I was hungry. I should have ordered the meal at the lounge. The roll was cold, and the butter was also cold. Other sides dishes and the salad and appetizer were not great. the salad dressing was in a plastic prepackaged sealed container. In general, the food feels more like domestic first class instead of international business class.
Other amenities and comfort
A mattress pad is provided to put on top of the seat. I didn’t use it because the seat is already t small, I didn’t want anything to take up more space. The comforter was fine, and there was an extra pillow for the passenger’s comfort. The amenity kit was in a fanny pack by Therabody instead of the usual toiletry case. You can also wear it cross body. This type of bag is the “in” thing which I applaud the effort and keeping with the trend. The content is very standard. It contained a dental kit, socks, sleeping eye mask, and personal care items.
Entertainment and accessibility
Polaris has a 16 inch HD screen with a wide array of movies and TV shows. This is on par with other international business class products. The screen position was fixed; you cannot move the screen up, down or sideways. When I lie-flat, the TV screen’s viewing angles was obscured and the pictures became blurred. I had to sit up to finish the movie. I fell asleep mid-way through, and my head dropped to one side. I woke up with a stiff neck. 🙂
