United Airlines

I was flying Chicago - Orange County this morning booked into first class and when I bought the ticket I naturally assumed it includes entry to the United Club lounge at O'hare. Apparently not. I was denied entry and told that first class passengers travelling domestically are not given access to their lounges. I have travelled first class many times with a variety of airlines and have never been denied entry to a lounge when holding a first class ticket. But I guess United is different. At least I hope this will be helpful to anyone else who naively makes the same assumption.

I have flown on United for several years now (in excess of 2M miles) and was a 1K for most of that time. This year I will not renew my lounge membership. Even post-merger the lounges are not well maintained people working the desk in larger airports are not consistently friendly or engaging and with the charging of alcohol that use to be included in membership (don't call it complimentary) it is just not worth it. A few weeks ago I flew Global-First to Sydney and was looking forward to the “First Class” lounge. Reception personnel more interested in chatting amongst themselves and no one in the actual club area to help. The food in this SFO “exclusive” first class lounge had the opportunity to be exceptional but most of the serving dishes were empty. When travelling I almost always look for the alternative carriers’ lounge for a better experience. Letters to United go unanswered.

I traveled on United frequently and am always passing through the United Club Lounge at Narita. What is nice is that it is large has showers and a nice view of the runway. But if you want to work there on the Internet be aware that the Internet speed is awful. It's so bad that if you are Gold you should just go to the ANA Club by gate 42 (which is where I am writing from now). And the food is actually better.

From the outside of the Jakarta Airport one would think otherwise when it comes to the First/Business Class Lounge but the one in Jakarta Airport is a surprise. Not very large but comfortable seats free Wi Fi with the "code" on a little slip of paper on the tables that could be mistaken for a scrap of paper! But this lounge has food like spaghetti the other night assorted fruits drinks and a nice espresso machine that does not require an engineering degree to operate. Simple atmosphere but a nice change and certainly nicer than the UA Lounge in Narita which is sad and really is a major disappointment with snacks and drinks. But for those who drink NRT must be like falling off their booze wagons.

Tokyo Narita Lounge for Star Alliance Business Class is the pits. It is spacious and lots of nice chairs and is natural lit from its many windows but that is where the comfort level ends. While there are many nice chairs to sit in there are precious few power outlets and they are all US "flat blade" type of outlet not the rounded Euro plugs that are used in Asia too. Wi fi is the worst ever in a lounge I have seen. But the worst part of this lounge and I use the word sparingly is the awful food selection. Crackers shortbread cookies trail mix potato chips etc. Pretty poor selection. Now if I were a drinker which I am not I would be happy here. In the two hours I spent at the lounge at NRT the guy across from me had 4 glasses of red wine and at least 3 beers and countless trips to the grab the trail mix by the boatload. It is a shame the lounge is not food friendly because in comfort it has a lot of them beat.

Got in for a brief visit using two passes I got through my UA Explorer credit card. We were flying American and it was a longer than expected trip to the lounge. The lounge itself was fine and clean though smaller and overall more basic than I'd experienced with other United lounges. Basic snacks and hot beverages at self-service stations. It was early enough in the day that we didn't take advantage of the bar. Smallish rest rooms. Not a bad place to pass some time but not one of the better UA lounges I've seen.

Not super great by any stretch but just fine for international departure on way to Istanbul. Food selection very limited but internet not bad.

To be honest - the United Club lounge in San Francisco International is one big joke! Very old and worn-out furnishing and the food (or what one should call it) is just as bad as it can get (crackers lousy cheese and carrots packed in plastic bags). But worst of all - obviously United do not trust their customers so if you want anything with alcohol - you have to go all the way to the other end to a bar - just to realize that if you want more than a flat beer - you have to pay for it! You are better of with a visit to Starbucks. And to all of those airlines (Lufthansa SAS etc) that uses the Club Lounge as part of the Star Alliance - hurry up establishing your own lounge - your customers are used to MUCH better service than what United can do.

I flew business class. I assumed that during my layover in Denver I can simply wait in business class lounge as I am used to. Surprisingly unless you are traveling internationally you have no access to the lounge. Not even with AMEX card. Finally I was able to go there for a fee of $50 so I did. Carrots and packed terrible crackers. Nothing else. Really? Terrible. Whoever runs the lounge should look up any European lounge. International travelers in business class avoid Denver lounge. Also there is a large poster in front of the lounge access offering United Credit Card Lounge Access for $500 a year.

It was very comfortable a good selection of food and beverages. The lounge was tidy. Shower was good with good pressure. They could do with checking the aircon/ventilation as after the shower it felt like a sauna in there. Kind of defeated the purpose of having the shower in the first place. The staff on the counter and in the lounge were pleasant and efficient. Overall a good experience.