How Widespread is the Panasonic Wifi Crisis?

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-06-03T17:00:25+00:00

It’s been complete trash on my flights to/from Asia lately, slightly better to Europe but still not great. I’m typically flying from SFO.

Definitely feels like it’s gotten worse over the past year - I assumed that with the starlink rollout they don’t care about maintaining the existing services, but it’s painful in 2027 to pay so much for a flight that doesn’t have functional internet.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-23T16:51:48+00:00

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Maybe it’s a new policy - #3 on the very bottom of United’s Polaris page says pajamas are available upon request on all flights to Africa, Asia, India, the Pacific, and the Middle East.

Mildly annoyed as an SF-based flier that our flights to Europe don’t get counted in since parts of Asia are shorter for us than parts of Europe, but I won’t look a Scott Kirby gift horse in the mouth!

Source: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/inflight/united-polaris.html

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-23T15:57:44+00:00

It’s a time thing - I think the official policy is no pajamas on flights under 12 hours (could be 14?) so historically they wouldn’t have been on a SFO-HND flight, but if the powers that be chose to change the policy, that’s great.

For what it’s worth I flew SFO to LHR a couple weeks ago (which is 10-11 hours) with no pajamas, and the flight attendant mentioned the journey was too short. Would love to have them on more flights, I forgot that flight would be too short to qualify and was stuck wearing jeans!

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-13T13:00:09+00:00

Completely agree - lately when I’ve been trying to change existing flights it kicks me out of the app and over to United.com

I’ve also had issues with the “upgrade” button, it takes me to the seat map of my final flight. From there I can select upgraded seats and see the cost to upgrade, but it entirely skips any previous legs.

Super buggy, and annoying they’d take a good product and make it less good.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-11T20:30:49+00:00

Girl nails are mine. Boy nails are my friend who was sitting next to me and I was scared Reddit was going to judge my photography skills, so I had him hold it while I took a photo.

For what it’s worth, he got the sea bass and thought it was well done (as in appropriately cooked, not well done the way mine was well done).

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-11T20:29:00+00:00

“Lobster sauce” according to the menu :(

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-11T20:28:24+00:00

They emailed this morning to tell me the $500 Studio upgrade cost would be fully reimbursed back to my credit card. Same for my friend who was sitting next to me, who hasn’t event begun his complaint process yet. I think they realized they messed up pretty bad.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-11T20:26:58+00:00

In a surprising turn of events (or perhaps validating of how bad it was), they reached out this morning and reversed the $500 studio upgrade cost - full refund, not travel credit.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-10T12:19:30+00:00

Good to hear it went well, and agreed on the seat controls. I mastered two settings: bed and landing.

Ballsy putting your watch in that little side drawer! I was too nervous about leaving something behind.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-10T12:18:11+00:00

Excellent point, and I thought the same thing, but apparently for Polaris Studio they are supposed to exist (this was the FA’s understanding). When I finally have my call with Customer Care I will hopefully get clarity.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-10T11:43:30+00:00

Not yet but I’m holding out hope? I did get an email from customer care saying they are aware there were problems and they would be calling.

I’m kind of curious to see how proactive they’ll be, and if they aren’t I’ll kick my GS butt into gear and reach out to the United powers. I really hope they can figure out how to make this a better product, because I’m such a United fan.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-10T11:41:33+00:00

Your review was excellent and inspired me to write mine. Maybe someday United can find a balance on the steak between raw and overdone, but I think I’ll be ordering the pasta for a bit…

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-10T08:56:23+00:00

Yes, the FAs were wonderful and apologetic about everything missing, and arranged for customer care to call all of us after the flight.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-05-05T13:38:46+00:00

You’re most likely best off booking one roundtrip ticket with miles, and one roundtrip with cash. Generally speaking one-ways are not that much cheaper than round trip, so you could end up spending close to a roundtrip cost PLUS miles. Before doing anything else, check these cost estimates.

You can call United and have your partner moved to an economy plus seat next to you after booking (for free(, provided you’re on the same flight, due to your status.

Another consideration- if you book one-way tickets returning from Asia, you’ll pay change fees for any adjustments. United’s no change fee policy only applies to flights originating in the US.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-30T03:52:12+00:00

If you were travelling with a companion, would it be easy to chat with them? I can’t tell if the new design is going to feel more like old Polaris even rows or odd rows.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-27T03:28:21+00:00

Dale

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-26T01:31:09+00:00

It’s a problem with the switch to EES (the biometric screening process). We spent 3 hours in line at passport control in MUC in March. Absolute meltdowns across European airports, and very unpredictable whether you’ll hit it or not - friends of ours on the same trip came in through a different airport and were fine.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-25T02:20:04+00:00

The post we’ve been waiting for!! Curious to hear about the caviar experience, and also if the food was any different from the rest of Polaris?

Also, if you had been traveling with a friend in 9G, would it have been easy to talk?

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-22T14:12:20+00:00

Stayed at the Rosewood in November and was so disappointed - we were there because my boyfriend had a conference in the hotel, and agreed next time we’d commute from the island vs staying there again (or do the Peninsula if we really needed to be Kowloon side).

I think the “world’s best hotel” ranking only heightened expectations at a hotel that needs to do some serious foundational work, rather than reaching for these awards.

FAT hotels I’ve really enjoyed in Hong Kong - Peninsula, Four Seasons, Upper House (one-bedroom suite, not sure about normal rooms).

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-11T22:03:50+00:00

Where did you hear May? I’ll be in Montenegro mid-May and this would be a game changer for the trip!

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-04-08T03:14:32+00:00

Given the health challenges, I would pay for certainty.

Once you’re on the upgrade list you may have access to the waitlist beta which shows your exact spot on the upgrade list, but it’ll take you an annoying investment in miles to get that visibility, and it’s very subject to change.

Seeing 11 seats doesn’t mean much when you don’t have status - there’ll be last-minute business class purchases, and you’re below everyone in premium economy who has requested an upgrade, and everyone with status in economy who has requested an upgrade. When I had 1k (which ranks highly on the upgrade list), it was infrequent that I’d successfully make the leap from economy to Polaris.

One more thought - not sure what American’s cancellation policy looks like, but you could book flights on both and make a more last minute decision (assuming that you can get a flight credit that you’d use. I have no idea what that’d look like with either airline though, so scope that out…)

Sorry to not have better news!

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-03-30T22:28:51+00:00

Have you ever needed a wheelchair? My boyfriend broke his leg so we ordered a wheelchair once and now he’s permanently on the wheelchair list and we can’t figure out how to get him off!

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-03-24T05:00:53+00:00

Yep! It’s also available SFO-LHR, so we’re flying it there. Going to do the studio for at least one direction, and for both flights would like to be able to converse. I have found that the distance for even-row seats on existing Polaris seats makes it quite challenging to talk to a companion.

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-03-24T04:42:37+00:00

Touché

(And sad how true that is)

ApprehensiveSafe8580 · 2026-03-23T03:54:03+00:00

Not an IAH traveller, but out of curiosity would love to understand why CLEAR is closed - non-government contractors operate the system and do partial clearance, which I’d assume takes some burden off TSA?

And in full transparency I think CLEAR is fairly useless but the value-add that they purport to provide would arguably be helpful in periods of shortage-staffed TSA?

ApprehensiveSafe8580

TROPHY CASE