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IAD Polaris Lounge to open 21 October 2021?

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IAD Polaris Lounge to open 21 October 2021?

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Old Apr 22, 2019, 5:48 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by FriendlySkies


Subpar?? I’d argue the TK lounge is the best *A lounge at IAD. LH is close behind, followed by the various UA lounges. I’m sure Polaris will be nicer than TK, but I don’t see what makes TK subpar. A variety of hot food, the bar, and comfortable seating makes it a great place to go.
Not to get this thread too far off topic but I just am not impressed with the TK or LH lounges. The quality of food and beverages has gone down substantially, especially LH, over the past several years. The lounges are often crowded and very little space. Agree that UA's food offerings leave much to be desired but I'm not sure they are that much worse than TK or LH.

My point being the Polaris Lounge will be superior by all measures and will save people the trek from A/B terminal to C/D terminal.
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Old Apr 22, 2019, 5:54 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by FriendlySkies


Subpar?? I’d argue the TK lounge is the best *A lounge at IAD. LH is close behind, followed by the various UA lounges. I’m sure Polaris will be nicer than TK, but I don’t see what makes TK subpar. A variety of hot food, the bar, and comfortable seating makes it a great place to go.
Every time I've been to the TK lounge it has been filled to the brim with people. If you can find a seat, it's not bad, but it's hardly an oasis of tranquility.
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Old Apr 22, 2019, 8:48 pm
  #33  
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Originally Posted by mh3265a
Not to get this thread too far off topic but I just am not impressed with the TK or LH lounges. ....
Appears that has already occurred. The is a great thread for discussing the present lounges at IAD, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ad-lounge.html, and separate threads for the TK and LH lounges -- those are better threads for those discussions and no need to derail the discussion of the future IAD Polaris lounge.

This thread is about the future Polaris Lounge at IAD, let's return to that discussion.

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Old Apr 25, 2019, 8:06 am
  #34  
 
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This was the scene at the future location of the IAD Polaris Lounge just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. Exciting, isn't it?

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Old Apr 26, 2019, 2:11 pm
  #35  
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Hopefully construction begins quickly- doesn’t seem like much happens very fast at IAD.
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Old Apr 26, 2019, 3:32 pm
  #36  
 
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Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
Hopefully construction begins quickly- doesn’t seem like much happens very fast at IAD.
When it comes to airport construction, I'm not sure anything happens fast pretty much anywhere. IAD is not unique in that respect.

I would assume this club will end up opening much later than planned; never seen a club (not just United) open on it's originally announced timeline. But hopefully I'll be wrong.

Of course, I'm sure we'll soon begin to see the requisite "I'm flying through IAD in X of 2020, will the new Polaris Lounge be open by then?" posts going forward...

Regards
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Last edited by scubadu; Apr 27, 2019 at 6:08 am
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Old Apr 27, 2019, 10:49 am
  #37  
 
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I seem to recall the SFO/EWR/IAH Polaris lounges opening on-time. The IAD lounge will be a big undertaking though so probably 12/31/20? This is new construction and will have to fit in whatever MWAA/UA decide as the new C/D terminal. Will be interesting to see how the architects/engineers design some sort of modular feature that allows the lounge to shift between the old and new C/D.

And yes, I understand the improbability of the new terminal happening any time soon - may be the timeline will rival the Second Avenue subway here in NYC.

Originally Posted by scubadu
When it comes to airport construction, I'm not sure anything happens fast pretty much anywhere. IAD is not unique in that respect.

I would assume this club will end up opening much later than planned; never seen a club (not just United) open on it's originally announced timeline. But hopefully I'll be wrong.

Of course, I'm sure we'll soon begin to see the requisite "I'm flying through IAD in X of 2020, will the new Polaris Lounge be open by then?" posts going forward...

Regards
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Old Apr 27, 2019, 11:59 am
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by FriendlySkies


Subpar?? I’d argue the TK lounge is the best *A lounge at IAD. LH is close behind, followed by the various UA lounges. I’m sure Polaris will be nicer than TK, but I don’t see what makes TK subpar. A variety of hot food, the bar, and comfortable seating makes it a great place to go.
Unless/until you need to find a power outlet.

I will highly value the showers in the Polaris lounge when it shows up.
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Old Apr 27, 2019, 12:37 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by 764toHI
I seem to recall the SFO/EWR/IAH Polaris lounges opening on-time.
That’s not my recollection. From the initial announcement of Polaris thru the opening of the ORD Polaris lounge in late-2016, all of the remaining Polaris lounges (including yet-to-open IAD, NRT, LHR, HKG) were supposed to have opened by late-2017. Clearly that did not happen and even the SFO, EWR, and IAH lounges did not open on time and were delayed into 2018 openings. After ORD it took another 16 months until the next lounge (SFO) was opened. The IAD lounge opening was further pushed back to mid-2018 and then late-2018 before UA eliminated the public timeline altogether. Knowing how MWAA functions, I think any opening date in 2020 is probably optimistic for the IAD lounge. Much like the aircraft retrofits, we’re probably looking at a 5-6 year period between the initial Polaris announcement and the time at which all planned aircraft and airports have the Polaris product.

-FlyerBeek
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Old Apr 28, 2019, 3:58 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by FlyerBeek
From the initial announcement of Polaris thru the opening of the ORD Polaris lounge in late-2016, all of the remaining Polaris lounges (including yet-to-open IAD, NRT, LHR, HKG) were supposed to have opened by late-2017. Clearly that did not happen and even the SFO, EWR, and IAH lounges did not open on time and were delayed into 2018 openings. After ORD it took another 16 months until the next lounge (SFO) was opened.
I thought much of that post-ORD delay was caused by UA not realizing how crowded the ORD lounge would get and having to redesign the other lounges for more traffic. But either way, at least at IAD you're not trying to build a new lounge in place of an existing one.
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Old Apr 28, 2019, 6:46 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by 764toHI
I seem to recall the SFO/EWR/IAH Polaris lounges opening on-time
Ummm... you have a very different definition of "on-time" than many of us do, but I guess it all depends when you believe the clock started.

But FlyerBeek covered it pretty well in their post, so I'll leave it at that.

Regards
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 9:21 pm
  #42  
 
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Looks like the Polaris tracker now shows IAD as "Under construction"!
view.ceros.com/united/polaris-tracker-desktop-4/p/2
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Old Jun 24, 2019, 1:16 pm
  #43  
 
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Just saw that too.
Anyone has more insights or a date/location?
I was at IAD yesterday and could ‘t see anything
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Old Jun 24, 2019, 2:01 pm
  #44  
 
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If you look to the right out the window just before you descend the escalator from the concourse to the C/D Aerotrain, you can see the foundation being prepared for the structure that will house the new baggage system on the ground level and Polaris Lounge on the upper level.

The lounge itself is a long way from being under construction in its own right, but it's very much a from-scratch structure, so there's no doubt that things are finally underway.
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Old Jul 7, 2019, 10:47 am
  #45  
 
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IAD
7 July 2019









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Last edited by FlyingHighlander; Jul 7, 2019 at 8:44 pm
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