jbb

I'm thinking about booking a business class Avianca flight from EWR. Which lounge does Avianca use at Terminal B at Newark?

Tokyoite

In terminal B, you can use either the SAS lounge or the Lufthansa Senator lounge.
You can also try to use the United Polaris lounge in terminal C, but it is a trek to do the terminal change from B to C (and back)

Repooc17

Does not qualify for PL. Flight must be long-haul.

FlyerTalker70

Avianca departs from Terminal B, per EWR's website. I must warn you, Terminal B security can be an absolute zoo at times. Your best bet when you hit Terminal B, is ignore the crowds and keep walking to the security check point, you'll get dirty looks, but that's fine. There will be a lane close to the actual checkpoint that says Business/First. Use that lane and you'll be through TSA in about 30 minutes.

Technically, it would be the LH Business lounge since they are **only** travelling in J. Senator is reserved for F, Hon Circle, Senators and other FF elites including yours truly . In terms of which lounge to go to it really depends on what you're after. The LH lounge has the better food of the two and is objective the best lounge at EWR for food. However, the LH lounge tends to get very crowded particularly in the afternoon and early evening rush hours. Hence, the SK lounge, which offers more ample seating and generous work areas may be more suitable if that's what you're after. That being said, both the LH and SK lounges are miles ahead of the UC in terms of food & beverage.

Correct and just to clarify what is meant by long-haul per UA's website:
Since AV only flies to El Salvador from EWR, you wouldn't qualify in this instance (even if you're flying them to say EZE, since all the Polaris lounge agents care about is the boarding pass out of EWR).

jbb

Thanks! Its a routing to Ecuador, so the plan is either to depart out of Newark and hub in San Salvador or go out of JFK and hub in Bogota. Newark is much closer to us (half an hour drive) versus 1-2 hours to JFK, but JFK would be a few hundred bucks cheaper which would more than cover the car service costs and the timings are a bit better. Both are on A319/20s so no seat advantage to either.

FlyerTalker70

Why do you make it hard on us ! In that case I'd also look into JFK - AV to Bogota would be departing from Terminal 4 of JFK. There are a couple of lounges you should have access to:

• Air India Maharaja Business lounge - (Near Gate 5 on 4th floor - take stairs/elevator)
• Swiss Business Class lounge - turn right, right after security

Swiss lounges tend to be quite good, having tried their flagship lounges at ZRH and GVA. I suspect they should be comparable to the LH ones at EWR. In fact, the Swiss lounges feature a shower something you won't find at most US lounges. One thing that may be better at JFK is the whole security situation. There is also a LH lounge at Terminal 1 which I hear is .......

I'll leave it to the more experienced travellers to weigh the merits of JFK vs EWR.

Safe Travels,

James

Repooc17

Both LH and LX lounges at JFK are pretty basic and crowded.

jbb

I opted for the JFK via BOG routing in the end. Mainly because the times were a bit better in terms of departure and arrivals. The return flight is also on the A330 which has angled lie-flats instead of the narrow-body cradle seats in Business which we would have gotten coming into EWR. When we went to Peru last year, we flew Avianca out of JFK, so we're essentially doing the same thing this time. On both these trips Avianca has been offering business class for about $1,100 which I think is a great price to get to South America.

Unfortunately, the Swiss lounge in JFK T4 (which I've tried several times - it's also SQs Business Class Lounge) is quite basic and disappointing. It always surprises me that Swiss hasn't invested some proper money into a lounge for what must be one of their flagship routes!

FlyerTalker70

I still think you made the right choice! As much as people want to say EWR is a wonderful airport, it really depends on where you're departing from. Terminal B can be a real gong show and is lack lustre when it comes to the concessions side of things. Put another way, if you aren't departing out of Terminal C avoid EWR as much as possible!

I'm surprised they have showers in that lounge! That's an amenity that's rarely found in *Gold lounges Stateside (the only ones that come to mind are TK lounge at IAD and *A lounge at LAX). The reason why LX and LH don't invest much money in these lounges is they've got their lift spread out between 2 airports in NY: EWR and JFK. It would be one thing if LH solely flew out of JFK but they're contractually obligated to fly to EWR to ensure they connect to UA's route network. One thing you'll learn when lounge hoping is the quality of lounges has nothing to do with airline or airport. For instance, you would think the SQ lounge at SIN for *Gold flyers would have a restroom... nope! Shower? Ohh please! The best UC in the network cannot be found anywhere in the US - you have to cross an Ocean to get there (LHR). It's one of the reasons why I maintain that LHR is the central hub for UA and everything else stateside is just an outstation

Repooc17

What are you talking about? All SQ lounges in SIN have restrooms.

FlyerTalker70

This is news to me! Having been to the Krisflyer Gold lounge at SIN in December, I looked everywhere around that darn lounge and couldn't find it. I saw a small business centre, buffet area and seating, heck even a shirt press machine but no restroom! In any event, the point I'm trying to make here is that airline lounges can be very hit or miss. For most airlines the their hub airport has the best lounge and everything else goes downhill from there. Even then, the flagship hubs sometimes don't even have the best lounge in their network (i.e. UA).

In the case of OP, the LH Group of airlines operates several lounges throughout the US including EWR, JFK, IAD, DTW and BOS. If we include LH Group member LX into the mix then we also add ORD. Not only must they maintain this lounge for their J customers on their flagship routes, but they must also let bums like me in who are flying in Y on a UA domestic flight . Meanwhile, if we cross the Atlantic and visit the LH lounge @ LHR we see that it's quite a nice lounge which includes a proper business centre, ample food and seating and a properly segregated Business and Senator section. Part of the reason I think LH maintains such a nice lounge there in spite of there being 3 other equally nice lounges from AC, UA and SQ is that they have significantly more lift coming out of LHR than any of the US airports.

nygiants242

Would recommend the LH lounge.

Repooc17

I would suggest you look harder the next time you are there.

Also quite basic and nowhere representative of flagship. Wait, ZRH<->ORD is a flagship route for LX?

FlyerTalker70

So you have personally been to the KrisFlyer Gold lounge at SIN and have seen the restrooms in person? This is the lounge that is available to *A Gold flyers flying on cheap K fares on UA like myself I have and couldn't find it anywhere and the *A lounge finder does not list that any of the KrisFlyer Gold lounges provide restrooms:





Meanwhile at the SQ Business lounge they offer both restrooms and showers:





Go figure!

If anything, I'd argue that ZRH <> ORD would be the flagship based on how frequently they fly (twice) there everyday and equipment used (A330 and 777):




Meanwhile, out of JFK they're running twice daily on an A330:



I'm not much of an AVGeek but suspect that a route served by a 777 and an A330 trumps one served by two A330s.

Sure you could argue that they also operate out of EWR, but that's a separate airport with different facilities (and additional requirements) and they only run that flight which is supposed to connect to all UA domestic flights (via EWR) once a day:

Moderator2

The restroom status at a lounge in SIN, does not help EWR visitors. Thanks