legalalien

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​​​​​The wall was down and the area was staffed with agents when I stopped by last Tuesday. Apparently that happened about 10 days ago.

goodeats21

Yes, thanks. I saw that reported in a different thread as well. Good news!

augkor

Is the remodeled C lounge open yet?

Answering my own question. No, it is still the small lounge. New one not yet opened.

DNAWilly

Apparently, early morning thunderstorms sent ripples of delays throughout the day at ORD today (July 24). Thanks to the UA policy of not updating delay status until the last possible minute, when my flight finally arrived at ORD I was very hungry and concerned that I would not have much time to get something to eat. I decided to grab something at the B clubs, as the meatballs had been a very satisfying option when I passed through two weeks ago.

My first option at ORD is always B6 - I have lots of memories from pre-COVID times of this club having the best food options - eggs for breakfast, pasta for lunch, all of it at least decent with a bit of extra hot sauce. But the weather delays left O'Hare with more people than seats, and when I got to the B6 club at 1400, there was a line a dozen people deep, something I had never encountered before. I decided to try my luck at the B18 club - historically smaller and with less food options, but still better than the C club.

B18 was less crowded but still very full. I was disappointed to see that the only hot food options were soup - on the warming tray where the meatballs had been on my last visit to B18 two weeks ago, sat the tray of brownies and cookies (warmer was turned off). Chicken-lemon-orzo soup was still good as always, but the tomato tortilla soup left my tongue feeling like I had licked a spoonful of Crisco. A couple of dings on my phone told me I had notifications from United, and, lo and behold, my connecting flight had been pushed back, this time claiming a maintenance issue.

With a little extra time and an empty belly, I decided to try my luck in search of a little better food spread and returned to B6 and found no line in the terminal. Upon climbing the (non-functioning) escalator, I discovered that while the entry was quick, finding a seat would take some time. B6 was packed, and it was hard to tell which seats were occupied but currently up to get food or drinks thanks to the number of half-empty glasses left around everywhere.

But considerations of seating and crowding are not the purpose of this post. My main purpose of the clubs is food, and to my horror I discovered that B6 was serving the same items as B18 - two options of cold sandwiches - a veggie wrap or a pretzel bun looking cold cut thing, two soups, tired salad, and cookies or brownies.

Oh, how I thought that the meatballs from my previous pass through ORD were a sign of improvement on the hot food front! The photos I have seen from other clubs lead me to believe a return to normalcy was around the corner! Even the breakfast options at the small club at SAN three weeks ago were better than what I found in my two attempts to get decent food at a UC so close to corporate headquarters.

In days gone by, my ranking at ORD was B6, F, B18, and C, based on seating, food, and atmosphere. I haven't been to the F club in two years, but right now I see no difference in the F&B between B6 and B18, and the crowding issue puts me slightly more in favor of B18.

There was a time when I took a little bit of pride in the UC. I thought it was a treat taking my family on an unexpected visit the clubs when we had a connection, or convincing our company's travel coordinator to hook up an overseas colleague with a UC pass for their layover at ORD when they were heading back to BRU. But anymore, at least at ORD (and DEN), if I am travelling with someone else, I will skip the UC. The fact that I have a membership makes me feel compelled to stop in when I travel solo, but it is no longer something that I feel is worth sharing to make my traveling companions feel as if it is a special experience.

ms_go

There were meatballs in the B6 club yesterday (7/23) at about 5 pm, so maybe just a bad day in the club due to two consecutive days of storms around Chicago. It was pretty crowded in the club yesterday and took a bit of work to find a good place to sit.

DELee

Are there bad places to sit in B6?

David

ms_go

Yes, definitely. By "good" I should have said seats for two where I had access to a power outlet for my computer.

DELee

Ah - got it. Personally, I'd use the high tops in the middle section more but they keep the TVs on way too loud. Tables next to the back bar and food have no power.

David

mapelle621

In the B6 UC now. Did something change with agent on demand and the associated club walls that I missed? Am I the first to see this?

DELee

removing service agents from clubs? New direction: combo in-person / virtual agents

David

MatthewLAX

I think s/he meant that until recently this area was literally walled off. UA removed the wall…perhaps they could bro figure out what to do with the area?

legalalien

It's been discussed upthread.

fumje

Yes, the walls came down late June, and the area is usually staffed now. See the thread DELee linked for discussion.

a2aperture

Came off a sleepless red eye from LAX exacerbated by a broken Polaris seat on a 787-10 (FA had to pull cushions out to pull some manual releases to make it go flat or sit up).

So after loading up on powdered eggs from B6, crawled to F club to find a spot on the long cushioned bench in the left corner for a blissful power nap. Apologies to the sparse morning business people if you heard any snoring.

zoned_post_meridiem

Plenty of meatballs on 8/3 as well, well into the evening and with half a board full of cancellations. Plus two actual agents.