So now I was lucky and had two and a half hours to go and explore the Polaris lounge. I didnt take a lot of pictures but what else can be said about this lounge than wow. Its open, airy and inviting. Everything the united club is not. Having heard rave reviews I headed straight for the dining room. I was quickly seated and had a drink of champagne within two minutes. Already the day was looking up.
Welcome glass of Champagne:
Mushroom Risotto:
Shots from the lounge:
I ordered the mushroom risotto on the recommendation of the waiter and it did not disappoint.
It turns out I was hungrier than I thought or maybe the lentil salad was not as filling as I thought. It was gone quickly and not wanting to hog a table i thanked and tipped my waiter and went to check out the buffet. Even here the choices were impressive. I had some vegetable curry over rice and a chicken parmigana. I took my food to the bar to be closer to the champagne.
After spending 30 minutes and 2 very full glasses of champagne i decided I had just enough time to grab a quick shower. Promising the attendant I would not be more than 10 minutes I did an express wash, thanked them and made my way down to C75 for the 1815 boarding of our flight to Venice for an 1855 departure.
However that departure time was not meant to be. Apparently while loading food into the aft galley a cart came iff the platform and dented the threshold of the door. The pikot came out to make an announcement and said it was a minor repair and the techs were working on it now. Sadly the minor repair turned out to not be minor and the plane needed to be taken to the hanger to be checked by engineering. At this point I was nearly convinced I would be spending the night in Newark. A new departure time of 2140 was announced so off I went back to the polaris lounge to drink some more of uniteds champagne.
Sight you never want to see, techs working on airplanes when you are supposed to be boarding:
So at 2100 I decided to head back to the gate to see if the plane had been towed back yet. And to my surprise they were already on boarding group 2. I hopped right in to the Group 1 line and was onboard the aircraft two minutes later settling in to seat 1A with the added bonus of no seatmate!
United Airlines Flight 170
EWR - VCE
767-300
Boarding did not take much longer as many people had found earlier flights or the loads just werent that strong to this leisure destination. In the end the business cabin went out with 8 empty seats.
I was quickly offered a glass of sparkling wine and started to get comfortable for the eight hour flight over to Venice.
The meal service started shortly after take off
Menus:
I will let the pictures do most of the talking on this one. The flight was uneventful which is all you can ask for on a flight to Venice. The food quality was excellent, the quality of the staff high and in the end my expectations were exceeded.
Yet even more champagne:
Starter and salad:
Pork Chop, it was delicious:
Blurry ice cream sundae:
Hot breakfast:
