Originally Posted by
ianlin
Last time I was at United Club at EWR, my experience can be described as dismal at best. I am not anxious to repeat the experience. I am flying transcon out of EWR again next month. I am looking for alternatives. Does United transcon passengers have access to the new Polaris Lounge?
Absolutely not. Polaris Lounge access requires flying either UA in Polaris across an ocean (i.e. EWR > LHR) or departing from a *A airline in J/F going across the ocean (i.e. SFO>NRT on NH). However, if you are a UA Gold or above member you have access to several non-UA lounges at EWR, namely the LH and SK lounge at Terminal B. The former has an excellent selection of food but tends to be crowded. The latter has meh food (albeit slightly better than UC EWR IMHO) but has tons more space due to it not being crowded. You can access Terminal B either by taking the United shuttle bus to Terminal B or by walking to Terminal B landside and clearing security there. If you do the latter, skip the line and keep walking towards security on the right hand side. You'll eventually see a sign that say Business/First. Use that line (since you're a *Gold) and you'll be in the terminal within 30 minutes or so. Keep in mind, you'll need to add time to get back to Terminal C since there is no bus airside to bring you back there. In that case use the Premier Access and/or TSA pre line (supposing you have the latter), whichever is shorter. From my experience it takes no more than 10 minutes to clear security using either lane.
Safe Travels,
James