Jan 27, 2016, 1:25 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
San Francisco United Arrivals Lounge closure
Due to airport construction, the United Arrivals Lounge at San Francisco will close on December 1, 2019, at 12 p.m. If you’re traveling in United Polaris® business class on a long-haul international flight and have an eligible same-day ticket, you can visit the United Polaris lounge before departure, during connections or upon arrival. See our access policy and list of lounge locations for more information.
Due to airport construction, the United Arrivals Lounge at San Francisco will close on December 1, 2019, at 12 p.m. If you’re traveling in United Polaris® business class on a long-haul international flight and have an eligible same-day ticket, you can visit the United Polaris lounge before departure, during connections or upon arrival. See our access policy and list of lounge locations for more information.
United Arrivals Lounge: 12 showers, decent breakfast, but only open to inbound international GlobalFirst or BusinessFirst premium passengers in the morning:
https://loungereview.com/lounges/uni...ls-lounge-sfo/
Our Arrivals Lounge in San Francisco, located in Terminal 3 on the baggage level, is a retreat where United Polaris first and business class customers arriving by noon on a same-day ticket may freshen up with a shower. Guests can enjoy breakfast and use our complimentary Wi-Fi.
Customers may not bring guests into the arrivals lounge/
Customers may not bring guests into the arrivals lounge/
Outside of security
Accessing from the International Terminal
SFO Polaris Lounge -- Reviews, Experiences, Q&A, ..
Aieside in International G terminal
Amex Centurion Lounge: one shower (possible wait), complimentary access for Centurion and Plat Amex cardholders, $50 for all other Amex cardmembers:
https://loungereview.com/lounges/the...on-lounge-sfo/ -airside
Freshen Up. Paid facility. Landside, International Terminal.
Freshen Up
Thread talking about Freshen Up
Outside of security
Closed lounges
https://loungereview.com/lounges/sin...is-lounge-sfo/
SFO Arrivals Lounge - closing 1 Dec 2019
Jan 15, 2019, 1:40 pm
#166
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Sydney, NSW Australia
Posts: 895
The baggage carousels mentioned are the ones used for domestic travel not international.
Last edited by Aspen; Jan 15, 2019 at 1:52 pm
Jan 15, 2019, 3:27 pm
#167
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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This is accurate if you exit customs through the "Connections" door. If you exit to the arrivals hall, you'll have to traverse multiple levels (up and down) to reach the arrivals lounge.
Jan 16, 2019, 10:17 am
#169
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,157
As has been mentioned, take the "Connections" exit (ie, turn LEFT) from baggage claim/customs. They staff will likely try and point you the other way if you're not connect, but you can still go left.
Walk through the glass doors, and turn LEFT again. If you are connecting, this is where you can drop your bags for you connecting flight.
Then just keep walking and take every RIGHT. First you'll turn right (headed towards T3), then you'll diverge off to the right (toward the baggage non-UA baggage claim that's been mentioned), go down an Escalator, and the Arrivals lounge will be in front of you.
Depends where in SJ you're headed, and thus which route is best to get there (101 v's 280). The disadvantage of waiting is that at 9am you lose the car pool lane (opens to everyone at that time) which especially on 101 can make a real difference. Whether that will have more of an impact than the additional traffic earlier is hard to say.
Jun 19, 2019, 12:42 pm
#170
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
Actually Uber/Lyft was rather inexpensive around 7-8 AM going from SFO to SJ in January.
Was higher in mid May with a flight arriving around 1:30 PM and out of baggage claim around 2:30 PM.
Now I have an upcoming flight scheduled to land at 4:30 PM. So by the time I'm ready to look up Uber, probably right in the teeth of rush hour, again going down to SJ.
So I may yet try the Arrivals lounge for a couple of hours.
Was higher in mid May with a flight arriving around 1:30 PM and out of baggage claim around 2:30 PM.
Now I have an upcoming flight scheduled to land at 4:30 PM. So by the time I'm ready to look up Uber, probably right in the teeth of rush hour, again going down to SJ.
So I may yet try the Arrivals lounge for a couple of hours.
Jun 19, 2019, 12:51 pm
#171
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,854
Jun 19, 2019, 4:37 pm
#172
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Programs: IHG Spire, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Titanium, Mileage Plus Gold
Posts: 1,736
For people with a connecting flight, is it even worth going to the arrivals lounge instead of going directly to the Polaris Lounge? I'm assuming the arrivals lounge is not as good as Polaris.
Jun 19, 2019, 5:59 pm
#174
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
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It depends, plus if you have enough time, you can do both. I always start in the Arrivals Lounge for the quiet, usually empty space with shower areas I can control the temperature down to the 50s where I prefer it. Polaris Lounge showers are warm and lack sufficient ventilation and individual temperature settings. After cleaning up and doing some work in a quiet space in the Arrivals Lounge, I will go to Polaris for brunch before my connection. In general I have a 4hr connection time baked in to my trips inbound via SFO and 6+hrs outbound via SFO, which doesn't work for everyone.
Jun 21, 2019, 12:52 am
#175
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: New York / Hawaii
Programs: UA Global Services, HH Diamond
Posts: 5,178
It depends, plus if you have enough time, you can do both. I always start in the Arrivals Lounge for the quiet, usually empty space with shower areas I can control the temperature down to the 50s where I prefer it. Polaris Lounge showers are warm and lack sufficient ventilation and individual temperature settings. After cleaning up and doing some work in a quiet space in the Arrivals Lounge, I will go to Polaris for brunch before my connection. In general I have a 4hr connection time baked in to my trips inbound via SFO and 6+hrs outbound via SFO, which doesn't work for everyone.
Jun 21, 2019, 7:47 am
#176
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: SQ, QF, UA, CO, DL
Posts: 2,884
Ditto for me. Because you need to re-clear security anyway, I usually freshen up and shower in arrivals, perhaps grab a quick snack and a shot of OJ, and then head off to Polaris. The security area closest to the international gates hasn't been opened on my last few international arrivals, so I trek down to the GS lobby to cut into the PreCheck lane anyways. Because I have to backtrack anyways, I don't mind the "out of the way" walk to the Arrivals Lounge.
Jun 21, 2019, 8:02 am
#177
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Oddly, Arrivals lounge has the better breakfast buffet than SFO Polaris (including the heart attack special breakfast sausages for which I have a particular weakness). The ambience of Arrivals somehow better suits my mood after spending 14 hours on an aircraft.
Jun 21, 2019, 12:40 pm
#178
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: TPE, SFO, PAE
Posts: 862
I no longer get upset about getting the fruit breakfast on 872 after discovering how addictive those sausages are.
