sapguy

Business class means admission to the Polaris lounge. NO invitation is sent out as it is assumed that a Business Class flyer would know what to do

Repooc17

United just sends out these "invitation" emails like handing out candies. Not only do I get these every time I fly United ex-EWR, which is a lot, unfortunately, I am on a basic economy ticket out of EWR coming up late this week - is someone holding a BE ticket the target customer to spend $$$ at airport? Does United have a marketing team with common sense?

choch345

All of that $$$ you save by booking BE can be used at Classified! Brilliant marketing!

txirish

Odd that United doesn't target pax with long layovers for invites. I arrived at EWR from LIS on Sunday with a nearly 4-hour layover. I enjoyed the Polaris Lounge, but had it occurred to me I might have given Classified a try.

narvik

You can just "request an invite" yourself; i.e. just make a reservation for the date and time you wish: https://promo.united.com/offers/dining



I've never been invited once by United. Maybe they know something about my "spending willingness"?

diburning

I've gotten many invites in the past, and they can't even tell when I have a flight booked where I'm not even entering Terminal C. (Circa 2018, BOS-EWR, arriving into the old Terminal A, due to the flight being an E175 back in the day. It was on a basic economy ticket too). I'm not complaining though. The invites are probably random, and once invited, you can just sign in and make a reservation whenever you're flying to/from/connecting in EWR on a United flight without further invitations.

Extraordinary1

Interesting datapoint: out of curiosity, I entered my MP number into the eligibility checker, and was approved even though I was in Y and have never had any type of status with United.

diburning

I don't think status matters, and it's probably random.

Datapoints: Lots of GS and 1Ks maliciously giving the place bad reviews on Facebook, Google Maps, etc crying about United not valuing their loyalty by not inviting them.

iluv2fly

5MM GS here. Never been invited. Ironically at EWR right now. Fly here almost every other month.

Xyzzy

FWIW, I'm a 1K and I fly in/out of EWR regularly. I can recall receiving exactly one invitation since Classified has reopened. It didn't sway me to visit. I don't feel that UA (or anyone else) has maligned me by nt inviting me. I have no desire to dine there.

narvik

That's pretty much how it's been for a while (years!).
The title of this thread should probably be revised as it's definitely NOT "invitation only".

WineCountryUA

Well you still need to "request" an invitation. Although that begins to feel like a reservation.

Boraxo

makes me feel better about being left off the guest list. Of course I haven’t flown into EWR for two decades….

phltraveler

What rhyme or reason United uses to invite people to CLASSIFIED, who knows. I was United Silver when I was first invited pre-pandemic and the subject line was garbage (something like Shh.... It's CLASSIFIED!). Newer subject lines have been better something like invitation to exclusive dining at Newark Airport but even that's generic among a sea of hotel and airline emails.

I haven't been to a UA Club in years, Polaris lounge ever, but I can say that every time I've been to CLASSIFIED it's never been more than 4 other people in the entire restaurant and it's quiet with great views of the terminal. Now the food is pricy and I would probably stick to a Polaris lounge over Classified, but if you don't have Polaris lounge access, I'd say that it's worth checking out if you have a longer stopover or a lot of time before your flight. Even if you're only popping by for a drink - the alcohol prices are similar to the rest of the terminal but the ambiance is great. (Also can't speak for all the lounges, but the bathrooms are HUGE, one person at a time, and big/private...)

Even then, most reports I've heard if you're not getting the nag emails are that usually you're off the waitlist pretty quickly if you request access on classified.united.com (assuming that you don't get in straight away at classified.united.com). If you don't have a reservation, you can often same day with your last name and MP# to the person with the tablet at the front of Saison...

DENflyer3

I have actually talked to someone at United about this very lounge and how they send out invites, etc. They are very specific about who they are inviting. I noted someone here said, "why don't they foucus on passengers with long layovers." Well this is specifically what they do not want in there. They do not want this to turn into a United Club with peiople camped out. Their ideal guest is only there for about an hour and half. They order an expensive meal, and preferably very expensive spirits or wine, etc. They only start sending out invitations to lower teirs of status when its wide open. Ultimately they want an international passenger who has just enough time on a connection to spend a lot and has a history of doing so with the airline.

Personally I love it there. I had a 4 day east coast swing that ended on a Friday in NYC, and got the airport about 2 hours ahead of my flight home. It was the perfect place to sit, with very few people, and decompress after a long travel week. I have been there many times and I like how there is constant turnover, which makes it feel very quite and comfortable. The food is great (for an airport), but completely worth it for me.