ontheway

Although my nephew has invited me, I have never gone to a lounge. I have free passes for the United lounge (one time with the credit card) and will be taking advantage of it at the HNL airport.
I do not wish to make a fool of myself. Some of my questions are, are there both free and pay things there. How do I know the difference if there are. Is there any dress code? Want to know anything that may help me feel comfortable going in there.

alex_b

I don't know the HNL lounge that well, but in general I wouldn't get too excited United Clubs are better than hanging around the terminal but nothing to write home about.

In answer to your questions:
- Drinks: There are premium wines, but if you just ask for red or white it'll be free. Beer and regular spirits are free too. Hopefully someone can clarify the costs of premium spirits because I never order them. Tip as you would in any other US bar. Water and coffee are generally self serve from machines or containers.
- Food: There are some snacks (usually crackers and cheese, cookies, mini-pretzels and apples) which are free. Outside food isn't permitted.
- Dress Code: Despite my overwhelming desire to tell you it's Tuxedo only, it isn't. I think officially you're supposed to be smart, but I've never seen it enforced and certainly not in holiday destinations like HNL. I can't imagine that anything a sensible adult would wear on a plane would get you kicked out of the club. I'm regularly in there in jeans and t-shirt and have occasionally worn shorts when coming back from vacation.

thomwithanh

They used to require business casual - my father was once denied into a CO President's club in the early 90's because he wasn't wearing a tie, though I've never heard of that happening in the past decade or so.

alex_b

Wow, that's ridiculous, especially as no definition of 'business casual' I've ever heard of includes a tie. I regularly see jeans, shorts, t-shirts and other leisure-wear in UCs and have never seen it commented on. Does anyone have any recent examples?

EmailKid

+1

Free wifi is nice.

You will see folks in shorts, especially in HNL, though most dress casually - much like what you've seen in an airplane.

If you like beer, Longboard draft is quite nice

EmailKid

Baze

The first thing you should do is lower your expectations

ironmanjt

Wait, there's a United Club where the WiFi is actually fast enough to be useful?

DeaconFlyer

Yes, many of them.

sammyindc

HNL UA club is not that special but better than waiting at the gate.
No dress code -it's Hawaii after all!
Free wifi
Free drinks (pay for top shelf)
Free snacks

* No showers
* No "real" food

alex_b

Sorry forgot about the WiFi, though it's pretty unusable at JFK and SFO from my experience.

rmannion

Come to think of it, I can't remember having any WiFi speed/connectivity issues ever since they did away with requiring one to enter a code from the scratch-off plastic cards. Was the infrastructure upgraded at the time they did away with that system?

JDS747

Isn't that the truth!! Actually though, most of the recent ones I've went to have their own "United Club" wifi instead of the crappy T-Mobile, and those have worked pretty darn good for me.

The old T-Mobile deal was just about useless though.

alex_b

Can you remember the cost for the top shelf stuff and if there's anything worth paying for? I know there's a thread on the premium wines somewhere, but I don't think I've ever noticed a list of types or prices for premium spirits.

halls120

^^

Yes - ever since the apparently got rid of TMobile at IAD, not only is the WiFi tolerable, you don't have to sign in.

CAPT Tee

Useful for what? Most of the time it is fast enough for checking web based e-mail and normal web surfing.