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EWR Polaris lounge -- Reviews, Experiences, Q&A, ..

Old Jun 3, 2018, 2:29 pm
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Last edit by: SPN Lifer
Access to Polaris lounges (source):


update 29 Sept 2017, effective 1 Oct, 2017

Departure: The airport you are leaving on an international J/F flight* from, i.e. EWR-ORD-NRT
Connecting: The airport to or from which you have a short-haul flight to connect to a longer flight, i.e. EWR-ORD-NRT or NRT-ORD-EWR
Arrival: The airport you arrive at after your long-haul flight, i.e. EWR-ORD-NRT

Hours- 4:30a - 10:45p

*Currently it appears that any departing international flight on an *A partner qualifies (except AC operated transborder flights ), but only United flights with the premium cabin class listed as 'Polaris Business' or 'Polaris First' will qualify for entrance after arriving off a United Polaris flight.
UA premium cabin flights not marketed as Polaris, such as Domestic First or International Business (Canada, Mexico, Caribbean ... ) are not eligible for Polaris lounge access.

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EWR Polaris lounge -- Reviews, Experiences, Q&A, ..

Old Jul 28, 2022, 8:08 pm
  #406  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC, FLL
Programs: UA PP 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy LTTE, BA Bronze
Posts: 6,249
Originally Posted by Flying Machine
How can they mess up a margarita??
Hey, it's New Jersey. It's a sugary, vile mess lacking triple sec/grand marnier and real lime or lemon juice. Just avoid.

A cosmo is a safe bet. I would suggest a Manhattan too.
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Old Aug 4, 2022, 7:20 pm
  #407  
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Does anyone have the new a la carte menu?
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Old Aug 5, 2022, 12:18 pm
  #408  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAH/EWR-LGA/MIA
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Posts: 2,477
Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Does anyone have the new a la carte menu?


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Old Aug 10, 2022, 7:43 am
  #409  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 4,937
Poor quality. We tried 6 different items from The Dining Room menu (two visits over the last 2 weeks) and weren't impressed with anything, although we didn't order the burger which is usually good. The avocado toast was the worst letdown-it was outright bad. The club is pretty dirty, from the years of inactivity, I presume. There was heavy dust and grime in multiple areas. I was tempted to complain but they were really short-staffed there and seemed harried, especially the server staff in The Dining Room.
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Old Aug 10, 2022, 8:15 am
  #410  
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I had the soup, salad, salmon, and ice cream a few days ago and thought everything was good, particularly the salmon.









The coffee machine at the bar was turned off and the rude bartender refused to turn it on. I hope they don't start playing that "no barista in the afternoon" game that Alaska plays in its lounges. I walked over to the new United Club and had a very strong flat white.


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Old Aug 11, 2022, 10:13 am
  #411  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Tried the chicken and pannacotta. Chicken was overcooked and needed seasoning. Panna Cotta was way too hard.
I would have tried more but they didn't switch to lunch to 1130 and my flight was boarding at noon (which ended up delayed of course)
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Old Aug 11, 2022, 10:44 am
  #412  
 
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Location: Houston
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Missed that there was a mini grilled cheese sandwich in the soup, will hafta try that next time!
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Old Aug 12, 2022, 2:58 am
  #413  
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Originally Posted by zombietooth
The club is pretty dirty, from the years of inactivity, I presume. There was heavy dust and grime in multiple areas. I was tempted to complain but they were really short-staffed there and seemed harried, especially the server staff in The Dining Room.
Lounge has been opened since November 2021, so I doubt it is inactivity of the lounge causes the dust to accmulate. Likely the inactiveity of the cleaning crews (not doing their job) is the reason.

EWR Polaris Dinning Room service staff are often stressed consider how busy the dinning room can get.
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Old Aug 13, 2022, 6:15 am
  #414  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
Lounge has been opened since November 2021, so I doubt it is inactivity of the lounge causes the dust to accmulate. Likely the inactiveity of the cleaning crews (not doing their job) is the reason.

EWR Polaris Dinning Room service staff are often stressed consider how busy the dinning room can get.
I didn't know it had been open that long. Most of my international travel has been routing through ORD.
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Old Aug 13, 2022, 9:22 pm
  #415  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
Lounge has been opened since November 2021, so I doubt it is inactivity of the lounge causes the dust to accmulate. Likely the inactiveity of the cleaning crews (not doing their job) is the reason.

EWR Polaris Dinning Room service staff are often stressed consider how busy the dinning room can get.
I didn't find it dirty from inactivity, didn't see any piles of dust. I typically just got the single seat cubes, dining room, shower, sleep room, I guess those are pretty busy areas.

There are areas where a table hadn't been cleared, things like that
Overall, a decent job. Just slower and perhaps more lazy than the other PLs
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Old Aug 14, 2022, 3:25 pm
  #416  
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
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I visited in early June and had a great visit. My layover was pretty long, so I was able to relax and really enjoy it. I had dinner in the sit down part. I was seated quickly. The wait staff was really nice and funny. I had a beer and some water. I had a really nice meal. I thought the flavors were good.

I then chilled out over in the lounge area. It was pretty crowded, but I found a nice place to relax.

I took a walk through the terminal (it was a really long layover) and then came back. The same lady at the desk saw me and just waved me in. I went to the bar. I had two fantastic drinks. Tipped $5 after the first drink, got basically straight vodka for the second one. Flirted a bit with the bartenders, chatted with the nice lady next to me, saw my waitress from the restaurant and she came over and chatted.

I can think of worse ways to spend a long layover in EWR.

I have a long layover in ORD before I catch a Swiss flight on October. I will definitely spend most of that time at the Polaris Lounge.
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Old Aug 14, 2022, 11:22 pm
  #417  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Originally Posted by eng3
I didn't find it dirty from inactivity, didn't see any piles of dust. I typically just got the single seat cubes, dining room, shower, sleep room, I guess those are pretty busy areas.

There are areas where a table hadn't been cleared, things like that
Overall, a decent job. Just slower and perhaps more lazy than the other PLs
I wasn't talking about uncleared tables, I was talking about surfaces that haven't been cleaned in weeks at least, but perhaps months or more. The worst were the screen walls between the buffet and the seating areas, they were literally covered in dust. These walls were filthy:


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Old Aug 15, 2022, 10:22 am
  #418  
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Originally Posted by zombietooth
I wasn't talking about uncleared tables, I was talking about surfaces that haven't been cleaned in weeks at least, but perhaps months or more. The worst were the screen walls between the buffet and the seating areas, they were literally covered in dust. These walls were filthy:


img
I think dust builds up there whether lounge is being used or not. And unfortunately they don't have a regular cleaning schedule for things they expect people aren't touching. However, I think the latter is something more general to / typical of American culture than United and the EWR PL specifically.
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Old Aug 15, 2022, 8:32 pm
  #419  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Originally Posted by fumje
I think dust builds up there whether lounge is being used or not. And unfortunately they don't have a regular cleaning schedule for things they expect people aren't touching. However, I think the latter is something more general to / typical of American culture than United and the EWR PL specifically.
That was the point of my first post on the subject: i.e. that inactivity in the lounge during COVID, while ventilation systems were still running and probably not maintained well, caused a build-up of dust on many surfaces that no one has yet cleaned. I traveled continually throughout the pandemic and noticed the lack of cleaning/dusting in many hotel properties that I frequented, and gave them a pass because of the pandemic situation. Post-COVID, many of these same properties have upped their game to pre-COVID standards and are cleaning and dusting again. I find it underwhelming that the supposed luxury lounge of a major airline is this dirty (by they way, there were also lots of grimy/dirty areas in addition to the dust). The EWR Polaris lounge should get that Bar Rescue guy, John Taffer, in there to straighten things out.
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Old Aug 21, 2022, 5:46 am
  #420  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Had breakfast and lunch due to a cancellation/delay:

"United" bowl and yogurt bowl. The first tasted horrible, I just picked out the fruit. Kind of did the same with the yogurt one too as the yogurt was pretty crappy. Tasted like that zero fat chobani wall paste.


Chicken was overcooked and lacked seasoning, I miss the cod


Panna Cotta had was broken and had too much gelatin so had the texture of jello
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