Any advantage of using UA club lounges?
I am flying later this week SAN-LAX-LHR (in Polaris Business) and would be able to use the UA club lounges in both SAN and LAX. (Note the cities I fly so not have Polaris lounges so my opinion may change when there are Polaris lounges.)
I recently used the Airspace lounge in SAN (via my AMEX membership) and found it quieter, better selection of food and available seating so am thinking of using the Airspace lounge again instead of the UA club lounge in SAN.
The UA folks at the SAN lounge are actually very friendly and pleasant, but so were the Airspace folks. One advantage it would seem to me of the UA club lounges would be if they announced flights and early boarding of flights or flight delays but the UA club lounges do not do this.
[You also have a number of people in the UA club lounges who think people want to hear their calls (cell/skype/facetime, etc.) with no consideration for others that may not want to listen to their conversations - although in fairness this happens in other "elite" lounges as it is not confined to UA clubs.]
In LAX, I found the new UA club quite underwhelming and as I have a long layover I will mosey on down to the *A lounge in the International terminal. I actually enjoy a bit of walking before getting on a long flight - keeps the blood circulating.
In LHR these days, I usually go to the LH lounge for a bit of food, and then to the SQ lounge for the peace and quiet before going to my UA flights. I find the UA lounge at LHR quite noisy and crowded although it is much, much better than any UA domestic lounge. I have only been to the LHR GF lounge once when I was in GF and have never been "surprised and delighted" by an invitation although would say it is the nicest LHR lounge and would select it over LH and SQ.
If UA made flight announcements I certainly would see an advantage for using UA lounges, especially when there may be an early boarding of flights, but otherwise I am not sure I see any advantage and in fact they could close the UA lounges and I would not be disappointed and this would be an excellent cost saving measure for UA and perhaps they could reinstate paying GE for 1K members and provide more availability to use GPUs.
It got me thinking what people may think is the advantage of UA lounges vs non-UA lounges.