You can experience United’s posh amenities in 360-degrees before they are even built, all while Matt Damon whispers in your ears.
United Airlines has been hard at work designing and building their fancy new business class called Polaris. The new luxury Polaris experience will cradle you in nap pods with custom bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue and let you lay back to watch an episode of Mr. Robot on 16-inch high-definition screens, all while scarfing down your lobster course meal.
United Airlines isn’t stopping at their Boeing 777s either — having created Polaris airport lounges that offer spa-like showers and chef-inspired hot meals as well.
There’s only one problem — the planes aren’t ready yet.
So if you’re United Airlines, then how do you show customers what they’ll be missing just flying coach, especially since the Boeing planes don’t get delivered until December?
A virtual reality tour experience narrated by Matt Damon of course.
United partnered up with digital creative studio Thinkingbox to create a 360-degree 3D virtual tour of the new amenities, both onboard the planes and in the new terminal gate lounges.
The 360-degree video that is now available on YouTube, has Matt Damon take you on a four-minute guided experience, strolling through the gate and boarding the plane. Since Polaris doesn’t quite exist yet, Thinkingbox built the experience from scratch, creating virtual environments from CAD renderings and motion-captured CGI characters. The entire experience was built using Unreal’s 3D game engine.
United will be taking the VR experience on the road, showing it off to the public at events like the The Barclays PGA golf tournament from Aug. 25 to 28 and the New York City Marathon in November.
Back in May, Etihad Airways created a VR experience highlighting first-class compartments with a roughly five-minute short film, letting you tour the aircraft alongside Nicole Kidman.
For those of you who won’t be where the virtual tour is demoed and want to experience the lush life of business class, you can watch the United 360° video below.
Image Credit: United Airlines
