Originally Posted by
The Man in Seat 9A
Not to wade too far into the battleground that is commenting on EWR, but...
The OP doesn't say whether they will have lounge access at EWR, either through Polaris or Star Alliance Gold, or... That would make a huge difference. I would certainly pick the Newark connection with four hours in one of the UCs or the Polaris Lounge. YMMV and others on this board would/will strongly disagree with me.
Sorry, should have provided more info.
Prem. Econ. fare on the way back, so no comped lounge access regardless of the route back. We are both peons in terms of status. There's actually a lot of PZ space available even 2+ months out (which is wild to see), but not worth it to us, as we can get quite a bit of solid sleep even in steerage class when flying westward (different story when going the other way, as I tend to exhibit princess-and-the-pea tendencies).
If going through EWR, we'd purchase lounge access for access to United Club.