United Puts Its New Polaris and Premium Economy Seats on Sale — Here’s What You’ll Pay in Cash and Miles

United Airlines just made its most premium aircraft ever available for reservations.

Starting today, tickets are on sale for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with the new Elevated interior. If you’ve been holding onto United MileagePlus miles waiting for a reason to use them, this is worth a close look.

Warning: While the cabins look incredible, you’ll pay for the experience. Here’s what you need to know about flying United’s best seats.

What’s Inside United’s New Planes?

The headline feature of United‘s Elevated interior is the new Polaris Studio suite. There are just 8 of these seats per aircraft, located at the front of each business class section. They’re 25% larger than standard Polaris seats and come loaded with features, including a 27-inch 4K OLED screen (the largest of any U.S. airline), a sliding privacy door*, an ottoman with a seatbelt so a companion can dine with you, wireless charging, and an exclusive caviar amuse-bouche service. On paper, it functions less like business class and more like a first class product — something U.S. carriers have largely abandoned.

*United says the suite doors are temporarily unavailable. We don’t know when those will start functioning, but this happens a lot with airline certification issues for new suites.

Behind the Studio suites sit 56 redesigned standard United Polaris seats, now featuring sliding privacy doors of their own, 19-inch 4K OLED screens, Bluetooth connectivity, and wireless charging. The divider between certain middle seats can be lowered completely, making it a solid option for couples or parents traveling with young children. There will also be a snack section in the cabin.

Premium Plus also gets a nice glow-up: privacy dividers with built-in reading lights, a 16-inch 4K OLED screen, and wireless charging — touches that used to require a business class fare on many carriers.

Even in economy, the Elevated interior delivers notable improvements. Passengers will find 13-inch 4K OLED screens with Bluetooth connectivity at every seat, along with 6 power outlets per row. United claims these are the largest economy seatback screens in the industry.

United plans to operate at least 30 of these aircraft globally by the end of 2027.

New Flights Are on Sale — But Expect To Pay a Premium

The inaugural international flight on the Elevated interior, UA1, departs San Francisco (SFO) for Singapore (SIN) on April 22. A second route, UA901 from SFO to London Heathrow (LHR), follows on April 30. Both are bookable now on United.com and the United mobile app (iOS, Android).

The new product commands a real price premium over United’s older cabins. For the inaugural SFO-SIN flight, Polaris business class on the Elevated interior runs $6,258 one-way. Compare that to $3,646 on an older-configured aircraft on the same route that same day. That’s a $2,600+ difference for the upgraded product. Premium economy shows a similar gap: $2,718 on the new plane versus $1,419 in older cabins. Economy, interestingly, prices out at $834 one-way on both flights.

For those booking with MileagePlus miles, the UA1 inaugural will cost 300,000 miles in Polaris, 200,000 miles in Premium Plus, and 75,000 miles in Economy. These are not bargain redemptions, so it’s worth weighing your options before pulling the trigger.

Final Thoughts

United is making a genuine push to lead U.S. premium air travel, and the Elevated interior — especially the Polaris Studio — is the strongest evidence of that yet. The cash fares carry a noticeable markup over older cabins, so whether the upgrade is worth it depends on how much the improved hard product matters to you.

For miles redeemers, the rates are steep, but the experience looks incredible. Either way, the inaugural SFO-Singapore flight on April 22 marks a notable moment for U.S. aviation.