ermintrude

I've spoken to a number of people regarding this matter, including GS agents and other UA staff and they have pretty much said that a number (all?) of the showers are going from UA clubs and it is due to Polaris. Also there have been some posts here on FT which have also alluded to this.

It would be nice if UA insider clarifies what showers are to go (from club) and when. Some parts of Clubs are being converted to Polaris so I guess club will lose floor space as well?

The showers are the main reason I visit UA club. The other would be the relatively new healthy food.

EWR764

I strongly disagree with the removal of showers from the United Clubs since both of UA's direct competitors in DL/AA offer showers in multiple (and increasing) locations as part of their standard lounge products. In addition, as a member, I value being able to use showers after traveling in economy or in premium cabins in non-Polaris markets, especially after a redeye.

Conversely, the Polaris lounge product is, presently, a notch above anything DL or AA have on offer for international premium pax.

Current clubs with showers that stand to lose them with planned or underway renovations are IAH-E (3rd floor is rumored location of PL), IAH-C South (to be renovated), EWR-A (opening within the next month or so, TBD if shower survives), EWR-C3 (rumored to be renovated into PL with all new UC location farther down C3). ORD-C lost showers with conversion to Polaris.

LHR, NRT and HKG have showers available in the UC, but I suspect they will remain.

chicinchicago

I happily pay (well, expense) for lounge access upon arrival if my company doesn't fly me in biz TPAC/TATL. That shower before connecting or heading out for meetings is critical and definitely something there's a big market for.

#savetheshowers

ajeleonard

Insane!

COSPILOT

Maybe I'm confused, but the Polaris lounge at C-18 ORD is showing showers, as is the pictures circulating on FT?

haddon90

the EWR club is great when i take the red-eye from SNA. would be disappointed if they removed the showers.

docbert

I'm presuming that the OP is talking about United Clubs losing showers, NOT Polaris lounges.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

This has been discussed in various other threads. The going-forward model appear to be no showers in regular domestic UCs. Showers look like they'll be mainly be restricted domestically to Polaris Lounges. The showers are actually used by a pretty small percentage of UC visitors, some of who will getting access to the Polaris lounges anyway.

cova

Wow this is really bad. UA should be increasing the number of showers and raise the cost of membership. People want full service with a club membership.

Thank goodness AA will still have showers in its clubs even with having Flagship lounges.

Flagship is still a step above Polaris as it includes First Class International. An EXP gets First Class Lounge access internationally unlike UA.

With AA's business class 4 across and Polaris still 8 across (just aisle seats angled back) AA still beats UA hands down for hard product.

narvik

Your points about showers is spot-on. Hoping UA won't remove all showers from UCs.
The quoted part I don't agree with. Not quite fair to categorize the seats as 4 across and 8 across IMO. But of course I may revise my opinion once I've sat/slept in those UA seats once they become available!

cova

Not to side track the thread on loss of showeres, but Polaris has an 8 seat repeating pattern (with pitch of that pattern like 8 across). Just UA lost one half of that pitch on the first row - but subsequent rows repeat at the old pitch. I think Polaris has more J seats now than what CO had in its latest BF product of 2x2x2.

But back to showers - most of the Club showers were from CO, UA wasn't big on Club showers.

narvik

Polaris Business on 77W extends further aft than Version 3 of 777 (60 vs. 50). Looks like actual seat space is quite similar, but with added aisle access.

Better discussed here:
UA Orders Boeing 777-300ERs / 77Ws w/ 1-2-1 Polaris Business, 3-4-3 Economy

TxTraveler18

Thinking about how this impacts the Terminal E club at IAH - are they just dedicating an entire floor of that club to Polaris? Or moving it elsewhere in the airport?

haddon90

good thing about IAH is i can get to centurion. amex lounges beat the pants off any lounge in the US.

warreng24

That goes against what I've seen. A bunch of Star Gold from NH utilize the showers a lot after arrival from NRT. The wait has been as long as an hour at times.