Abing

So last week I was traveling through San Francisco and went into the United Club lounge to relax before my flight. When I went to sit down I almost sat in these chairs, which I think are a disgrace to have for customers to sit in.
So i took pictures and sent them to the President of United Airlines with the question would you sit in this chair and would you pay $450 a year for the privilege of sitting in these chairs.
Well today I got a reply from customer service at United which is below, you tell me what you think.
“I’m sorry you didn't have a better experience when visiting our United
Club in San Francisco recently.
We want you to have an enjoyable and satisfying travel experience and
from the pictures you provided it is clear that we let you and all other
passengers that used the same facility down. As a valued Premier 1K and
United Club member your comments are appreciated and will be forwarded
to the San Francisco Manager for review. I know we are in the process
of renovating all of our United Clubs from top to bottom. Thank you for
your candid comments as they help us identify areas that need our
attention.
It's important that we listen to our passengers now more than
ever as we are working hard to be your airline of choice. On behalf of
our United family, we look forward to welcoming you aboard your next
flight and a better experience in our United Clubs.

Gasolin

Maybe you could post the picture of the chair so that we understand what we're talking about?

The response was pretty standard, they didn't put anything specific except the mention of SFO.
So it's hard to think it will improve much but who knows.

Abing

Thanks, I tried to post the picture, but could not figure it out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

exerda

Which one of the SFO clubs, by the way? I assume you mean the old somewhat central one?

There's a reason I'd pay $450 to Amex for their platinum card and access to the SFO Centurion lounge over giving that $$ to UA, FWIW. Of course, it depends on your travel patterns whether or not that makes sense for you.

Kacee

It's the rotunda club. The international and E Terminal clubs have new furniture.

They are definitely do for a renovation in the rotunda. It's also overcrowded a good portion of the day. Like many of the hub UCs.

EWR764

For what it's worth, all of the SFO clubs are in line for work, some more than others, even the new E club (apparently they are looking at options for expansion). The G club is going to be completely gutted/expanded and turned into a Polaris lounge, the G IFL will be renovated and converted to a United Club, and the F club is supposedly going to be fully renovated at some point too.

Obviously it's not enough for the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately traveler, and United has an uncanny knack for letting things get really really bad before they get better, but there's at least some hope on the horizon. I'd argue the lounge situation at SFO is still orders of magnitude better than EWR, which is pretty awful at the moment, and a long timetable for noticeable improvement.

NewbieRunner

Please check this wiki post in the Travel Photography forum. Alternatively follow the instructions in this post.

transportprof

I just recently broke down and got Amex plat for this very reason. Looking forward to a better experience at SFO later this month.

I wonder if the introduction of a Centurion Lounge actually set back United's interest in keeping up the SFO UC? They often retreat in the face of competition.

IainC

I hope all that work on the SFO clubs includes more regular cleaning of the toilets. Without going into the filthy details, the Men's in the SFO international UC is an absolute disgrace and a health hazard most of the time I have been there which is reasonably often.

uastarflyer

I prefer keeping the rotunda club as is. More plexiglass and plastic isn't progress.

Okay swap in some new chairs. A Coke freestyle machine would be nice too.

demkr

Agree with this 100%. I'm tiring of the lounges at SFO. The only one that I like is the intl area lounge when its not crowded, but thats being renovated now too so probably parts of it are closed?

The "new" lounge in Concourse E is an absolute disgrace. It's so small. The seating arrangement was designed terribly. The food is put in a non-central location.

For all the work they've done at clubs nationwide, they've neglected SFO terribly.

I was in SAN today. The UA lounge there is decent, but seeing the Delta lounge beside it..you could see how sleek the DL entrance looked compared to UA's nothingness. No innovation.

samjnz

That SFO rotunda club is pretty gross -- I was sitting there trying to eat breakfast ignoring the food stains stuck on the blinds next to me. It really needs a good deep clean, although it's the only club that isn't completely packed.

pushmyredbutton

I prefer the rotunda club at SFO since the others are just too crowded. I rarely have an issue getting a private cube and bringing my food/drink over there.

Fwiw when I was there on Friday, they were slowly bringing in new chairs to replace some old ones so maybe a renovation is currently taking place

worldwidedreamer

I've always liked the center rotunda United Club. My big wish for UA at SFO is that unlike SQ, Amex, DL and even AA no clubs have showers at the major Pacific hub.

Hopefully with the conversion of the international clubs into Polaris and the First lounge into a UC they decide to at least keep the existing showers.

NikoLGA

The Rotunda Club is looking nice this morning, the Coke Freestyle machine is here, there is some new chairs by the door, but other than that it’s the PMUA furniture and finishes, it’s fairly packed, but the food selection is fairly good, and the staff is friendly. No complaints.