PriestmanGoode overhauls United Airlines business class cabin and lounge experience

PriestmanGoode has designed a new premium business class cabin and lounge for United Airlines as part of a new customer focussed end-to-end experience.

It is the latest part of a three-year project by PriestmanGoode, which has developed what it calls a “comprehensive global re-brand for United,” redesigning every aspect of the passenger experience across all other classes.

In the new business class cabin PriestmanGoode created an interiors concept, United Polaris, which will be rolled out across all international flights. Digital media, inflight meal service items and menus have all been reconsidered. United Polaris is being pitched as a premium experience for business travellers.

To conceive United Polaris’ lounge area, Priestman Goode consulted passenger studies to find out how people really use airport lounges. The result is a “zoned” lounge, which has the most active zones in the entrance area, followed by the bar and buffet.

Calmer zones are located further into the lounge, including sleep/rest pods that provide a high privacy area for passengers.

Nigel Goode of PriestmanGoode says the consultancy worked in close partnership with United Airlines to create a journey that’s holistic, refined and human-focused. “The new cabin and brand identity are the physical embodiment of United Airlines’ new philosophy, which keeps the passenger at its heart, and rather than merely move passengers around the world, aspires to move the world forward,” he says.

PriestmanGoode has looked at the inflight experience and designed a series of products for the new United Polaris cabin. The concept called for individual products to be designed as part of a greater whole to create a peaceful cabin environment, and for each element to be intuitive to operate.

There is a completely new premium seat, with features including integrated personal stowage with latching door, headphone hook and mirror, a bespoke reading light, and a large solid surface cocktail table. Passengers now also have greater control of their environment, with intuitive lighting and seat controls that can be operated from any position.

United Polaris will begin to roll out across selected international United Airlines flights from December 2016.

United Polaris from PriestmanGoode. on Vimeo.