International First Lounges for the new United
 

Hello,

Are there plans for the new United to update lounges in EWR/IAH? I flew with the regular United in First from EWR to BRU last week. In ORD and SFO I can use First Lounges when traveling in F, but in EWR I only had access to a regular United Club. The lounge experience in EWR felt substandard. The lounge in the afternoon is overcrowded and understaffed for the European bank. The staff was not pleasant as they seemed stressed to get people in the club efficiently. The packaged cheese and other limited food offerings were disappointment and I could not find an open seat. I stayed in there for 15 minutes before heading to sit in the terminal as the lounge experience is awful. I am surprised Continental travelers found this club acceptable even when sitting in BusinessFirst.

Next time I am in F heading for Europe I will make sure to connect through ORD or IAD until they improve the EWR lounge experience for F travelers.

Welcome to FT.

Pre-merger CO does not have a first class international cabin, so that is why CO's two most major hubs don't have a first class lounge.

That said, there is cross-fleeting going on, meaning that CO planes with just two cabins are being used at UA hubs and vice versa. So it might translate into a modest first class lounge (if MEL can have one for one flight per day, why not IAH and EWR?) but since the UA hubs, due to the same cross fleeting, are seeing less international first class flights, it might translate into fewer first class lounges.

The F lounges, for being F, are substandard as well, imho. For US airlines I typically don't even bother hitting the lounges and instead stay in the terminal. Only advantage of the lounges at this point is help with irregular ops.

UA Int'l F Lounges are nothing to write home about IMHO, as to the OP's question I truly have no idea.

Dan

Yes, United is going to update the lounges at EWR and IAH. The plan is to replace the furniture in all its other lounges with box crates. Then it will tout how the EWR and IAH lounges have been "updated" because they have the same furniture they had before.

RNE, lamenting, "That's so true it's not funny."

Make your own FC lounge
 

Here's what you do.

Reserve a conference room ($75.00/hour). Bring some "upgraded" food with you, purchase some premium drinks, put a sign up on the conference room door that says "First Class Lounge," and you're set!

Word!

Any seat in a lounge is better than a seat in any terminal imo.

The IAH and EWR United Clubs definitely leave something to be desired.

I hope they add Global Reception and IFL at EWR since they now have 3 cabin flights.

I doubt IAH will get either, since it has less than 10 longhaul flights and no longhaul F service.

What's Global Reception? International Arrivals Lounge?

best idea ever!! can we add smoking allowed like the worldclub in DTW?

special checkin area for GS in ORD

I knew what the International Arrivals Lounge was! I was asking if Global Reception was referring to it

United operates departures to BRU and ZRH using a 3 class 767, which departs from terminal C.

So, yes, there are 3 class flights ex-EWR, from the CO terminal.

Frankly, i could see a GS lobby (ORD-style), at EWR. That would be a hit.

Check-in (and 1K security line jumping mechanism) for Global Services and International First customers at KORD.

It was sort of a joke, KSFO/KIAD don't even have then, so I doubt KEWR will get one.