I spent most of yesterday in the Polaris lounge; came in at 8a for opening and lingered 'till 3:30'ish ahead of a departing flight. Prior to the 8am opening, I hung out in the United Club and helped myself to scrambled eggs, sausage, and other goodies; they've really upped their game with food here. I told a UA agent working the club that I was headed to Polaris and they said they weren't impressed, which I found a bit startling.
But when I got to the lounge, I knew that UA'er was wrong: as with the other Polaris lounges, the LAX one is beautiful.
And while they did add substantial space to the previous F lounge that was there, it is far too small to be a Business Class lounge. The dining room alone is shockingly tiny and staff struggled to keep up with dining room guests. I had no problem at breakfast time getting a seat (only 1 table free) but as more people came in around lunchtime, I was told there'd be a 15 minute wait for a table. 40 minutes later, they told me the only way I could dine is if I joined a stranger at a table (which I ended up enjoying.) But from ordering to eating was an hour!
I asked them if they'd serve dinner at the tables just outside the dining room, and they said they wouldn't since those are for the buffet. There's no way this lounge can accommodate a single Polaris flight cabin eating a meal, let alone multiple flights at around the same time. Based on learnings in Chicago and elsewhere, I'm surprised the LAX team didn't factor in the size of the dining room into their plans...or at least consider doing something different: like serving dinner at any table or at the bar to alleviate their space issue.
The Polaris staff (from Sudoxo) were all extremely warm, friendly, and outgoing. They all remembered first names and used them frequently throughout the lounge. The "mixologists" at the bar were also very friendly and are good at whipping up drinks not even on the menu (i.e.: they have plenty of fresh mint, so you can have a mohito whipped up.)
Food and drink offerings were good and typical of the offering elsewhere.
I had a chance to speak to the Sudoxo person responsible for the Polaris lounges and had a chance to chat with the UA employee getting ready for the new IAD lounge project. I asked about two common points discussed here on FT: food quality at different locations and tipping.
First, I mentioned there's an idea that food quality at SFO is subpar while ORD may have the best....and some have hypothesized here it's due to higher labor costs. They told me that United does give them a per traveler budget to work with and it factors in both perishables and labor, but the budget doesn't sacrifice food to cover labor in more expensive markets. I was also told UA does have different budgets to work with in different cities, so while SFO may have higher labor costs, they also have a higher budget on a per passenger basis to work with. While they didn't tell me which city has the largest food budget, I was told ORD isn't it.
As far as tipping, they have no policy or procedure. I was told that employees are told not to expect tipping, especially in west coast locations where the idea of tipping may be foreign to Asian travelers. There is nothing in writing for guests about gratuities and staff are to never solicit for them. That said, guests are always welcome to tip for good service. I mentioned my experience has been different than that --that at other lounges, staff have requested/reminded me that I should tip them. And in the ORD lounge in the past, I've been given materials that suggest a gratuity should be made. Sudoxo was going to look into that and I suppose do more training around it. I said they should accept credit cards for tips, but because the lounge doesn't sell anything, there's no real interest to put in POS terminals to accept cards.
I also asked the bartending staff at LAX about tipping; what have they been told and what do they expect. They said they were told not to expect any tips but be appreciative of what they do get and quickly pocket them; they don't want loose bills or a tip jar in sight to give the idea that tipping is expected. Two of the bartenders I spoke to bartend elsewhere and said that Sudoxo pays them a higher wage to make up for the difference of being in a non-tipping environment. I asked what they thought of that and they said they liked the job + the pay; the workload is lighter and with a more sophisticated crowd, they thought their pay was more than fair and had no issues with no tipping. I thanked them for the time and the drinks and dropped $10 tips
