StuckinITH

And so few passengers are flying to Asia on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving that UA cancelled our flight ORD-HKG 6 months ago. UA reroutes us through EWR which means that a relaxed 5 hours wait in the ORD Polaris Lounge is now supposed to be 2 h 30 min in ORD Polaris Lounge and 3 hours at the EWR Polaris Lounge. Adding that now our first flight tomorrow is at 6:30 AM instead of 8:30 AM it's going to be extremely tiring. I should have flown today but unfortunately I had meetings that I could not escape from. And this trip is for work......

Surprising though that our flight ORD-EWR is not sold out (at about 9:00 AM). I would have thought it would be.

narvik

Aye. BDL-ORD had two of twelve first seats empty.
Find it definitely lighter than usual. There's too much turkey being cooked.
ORD Polaris lounge was nice as always.

764toHI

ORD-SFO-HKG is not available?

StuckinITH

Would have been easier if I was starting from ORD. I checked that route a few days ago and the only option UA would give me was 50 minutes in ORD and the time at SFO was only 1 h 19 minutes. Even more stressful than the current route. And UA kept our upgrades to HKG + they upgraded us to EWR. So, I'll just stay with the current plan. Next time it happens, I'll change travel days.......

StuckinITH

Sorry that I have to post again and no other FTer posted anything since November 20.

November 21st was my first visit to the ORD Polaris Lounge since July (as I did not have any long haul international trips during that period). Disappointed to see that the smoked salmon was enhanced from the breakfast buffet.

onthesam

I've found the breakfast buffets at both SFO and ORD to be rather hurting these days. Once 11:00am rolls around, food offerings are vastly improved.

Same goes for sit-down menu. I've even been denied soup pre-11...

fumje

I'd hope that was a one-off?? I was there perhaps a week before and they still had the smoked salmon on brown bread out (around 8a).

StuckinITH

it did not seem to us that it was a one-off as one of the agents in the Polaris Lounge told my wife that it had happened a few months prior to our visit (but maybe the agent knew nothing. She did mention that smoked salmon was available in the sit down area). The smoked salmon on the brown bread used to be an item served in the buffet at lunch to dinner time. Maybe that's the one that made an appearance when you were in the Polaris Lounge at 8:00 AM. But we did not even get that one. The one I was referring to was the smoked salmon that was free serve without that dark bread. For some reason, I dislike that brown bread so it would be a wasteful choice (having to throw the brown bread) for me if it did appear at the breakfast buffet.

Anyways, the real reason we were disappointed is that the smoked salmon in the Polaris Lounge was way better than any smoked salmon we can get in our small city . We tried it in every supermarket, even Whole Foods (my wife's complaint: why we cannot get a Wegmans in our new location). Although, in this trip we had excellent smoked salmon in the Executive Lounge of the Conrad Hong Kong so my wife should not be complaining for a few months.....

fumje

Ah, indeed I think you are right that the 'loose' salmon is gone. Now that you mention it I believe I recall noticing. It is a shame. My last two visits I decided to use the sit-down service, which was quite good as usual, but that meant I did not pay too much attention to the buffet. I will miss it, though, when I do not have time for sit-down dining. I have very much liked smoked salmon since I was a child.

StuckinITH

I guess I will have to try the sit-down service. I have never done it. Usually I should have enough time to do it but this last trip I was pressed for time so it was too late when the agent mentioned it.

This reminds me that I thought that the ORD Polaris Lounge opens at 7:15 AM which is quite late. So, on my last trip I wasted some time in one of the UCs before going to the Polaris Lounge. However, I learned on that last trip that these days it opens at 6:45 AM. According to the agent, it's to accommodate the passengers arriving from GRU and that it will revert back to 7:15 AM in the spring or summer. The United website still mentions 7:15 AM and the sign on the door also mentions 7:15 AM. I think that they should always open at 6:45 AM since other Polaris Lounges open earlier. That would accommodate those of us who have to take the very early flight out of their cities to connect to the PVG flight or when forced by United to do a double connection through ORD and EWR.

fumje

Yes, the opening time seems too late in my opinion as well. E.g., the schedule for ORD-(SFO-)ICN pretty much completely misses the ORD lounge hours on both ends, and the transit time at SF is too short.

I did not know they had unofficially / temporarily moved it up to 6:45a. It seems sometimes they also extend the closing time past 9p, although I did not ask to get any details.

cranky1K

cranky1K

StuckinITH

There are always rude passengers who feel entitled. The worst one I heard in the ORD Polaris Lounge was a real estate agent trying to sell a house in another country far, far away. I wished that passenger was also far, far away.

porciuscato

in the lounges just last week, I saw multiple people having facetime conversations with no headphones, people on speakerphones, and people with kids watching videos (also no headphones).