Kacee

At SFO, they've cut the pepper jack cheese and brownies and downgraded the cookies. There is now typically only one soup, and it's never one of the good ones you used to see (e.g., gumbo). The spread at BOS last night was absolutely pathetic, even worse than SFO.

seat38a

I'm really not understanding all this complaint about "cuts". I mean I was at IAH 2 weeks ago and they still had 2 soups Baja Chicken and a broccoli one, one of the cheese has been replaced by the Pimento Cheese Spread and the bread rolls have been replaced with pita wedges which I'm guessing makes sense for the hummus and the pimento cheese dip. Brownies were there. Cookies were there. Salami and Cheese cups were there. God forbid they didn't change the choices around and we'd be hearing about how nothing ever changes. Our flight was delayed so we visited C South, C North, and the E Club and they all had the same stuff. Couple months back, I was at Orange County UC and even they had everything one would expects from the bigger clubs except they only had 1 soup which I can't fault them with their limited space.

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/115569327@N08/, on Flickr

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/115569327@N08/, on Flickr

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/115569327@N08/, on Flickr

timezone_trooper

This is another data point to consider in my decisions for 2020:

-Have the Chase United Club Card, and I typically hit a club 2-3x/wk. I'm based in AUS, and spend a lot of time at IAH, SFO and LAX so the coverage is good. That said, with the recent changes to MP I'm struggling with the math of keeping the club card to credit all of my spend in United miles; 95% of my discretionary spend for everything outside of my mortgage, my lawn guy and my barber go on the club card, so the annual earnings are not insignificant

-Domestically, I fly United pretty much exclusively. The frequency to my most-hit locations out of AUS is great, the UC there is a little small but rarely obnoxiously crowded and I'm pretty much one stop from most global destinations. I will not fly DL, ever, and my experiences with AA have been pretty atrocious so they're not a real option. United is the familiar choice and from a service perspective, there's no real reason to switch for me so UA miles will continue to accrue at a good clip.

I see myself in a bit of a bind - fly UA, like and use the UCs frequently and will continue to accrue a lot of UA miles, which are becoming less valuable. I'm assuming the discounted rate for 1Ks is going to go up, and I'm in a holding pattern to see what the price increase does to the card annual fee. AMEX platinum not an option for me as AUS has no centurion lounge and I don't see myself flying DL/AS ever, nor is Amex widely accepted in a lot of places that I travel.

My current thinking is (opinions welcome):

-Continue my UA travel patterns, earn miles
-Shift card spend to Chase Sapphire Preferred Reserve and rack up miles to credit to other programs as needed, UA included
-Use CSPR $300 travel credit to offset paying for UC membership out of pocket - assuming the 1K rate stays at $450, that's only an additional cash outlay of $150/year. I need to confirm this is actually a benefit to which the credit can be applied.

Haven't had the time to sit down and detail out the actual numbers, but it used to be a lot easier to figure out the best value.
-

Yaddablahblah

ContinentalFan

Kacee

I'm not understanding the posts by people who visited a single club two weeks ago and assume their experience is the current norm throughout the system, despite multiple reports here to the contrary. It's like someone who got the Thai chicken noodles on their single long-haul this year and claims they "don't understand" all the complaints about Polaris meal cuts. Ever hear of the exception that proves the rule?

If you come through other clubs, including SFO, BOS, PHX, and SAN (just the ones I've visited recently), it will be quite apparent what we are talking about.

spin88

I think you are missing my point. My point is that if one is looking at "who I fly" and a good lounge experience is part of the package, well then UA is making itself less and less competitive. First, its UC lounges are the worst of the major airlines (SkyClubs are much nicer as are the Admiral's clubs and Alaska's lounges are getting better), Second, their are opinions - specifically an AMEX Plt card - which give lounge access at some airports when flying UA (IAH, SFO, SEA) or when flying on either Delta or Alaska give full access to their lounge network.

As an e.g. I had to get two tickets back from LAX last Thursday, and the options (both $200 one way) were UA or AS. I have lounge access with my AMEX when flying on AS, but have given up my UC club card a long time ago. Guess who got my $400?

Big picture, what UA is doing with its lounges - splitting off the highest value (Polaris) traffic - and as a result falling further behind in the base level UC lounges, while raising prices - is just another piece of United offering an inferior product and service package. If someone is 110% tied into United, well then it does not matter. But as this thread shows - with a lot of formerly loyal UA flyers who are long time posters saying this is part of exploring their options - these kinds of things will ultimately impact UA's ability to retain traffic, which will be a big issue when the economy next crashes, which may be sooner rather than later.

and P.S. There is also a Centurion at HKG - which is vastly superior to now dumpy UC - and right near the UA gates and also LAS, and they are adding lounges at DEN, LAX, JFK, CLT, LHR, and PHX all of which are currently in the works. The difference in the AMEX PLT card is that it is airline agnostic. Works anytime you travel on DL or AS (where you get same day lounge access to their lounges) and also if you fly UA in places where their is a lounge.

findark

Impressive.. it was already so bad I was skeptical there was anywhere down to go I actually have a soft spot for the SFO Rotunda club because it's a beautiful space, but I would never imagine going there to eat.

I'll be spending a lot of next quarter on DL, so I am curious to see how the SC measures up... IIRC you have much good to say about SFO.

fumje

I was at the IAH E club last week, and there was only one soup. I didn't check other IAH locations, but in the last month SFO, ORD and IAD — all hubs — also had only one soup when I was at those clubs. Change doesn't bother me, but this looks a lot like reduction rather than rotation.

seat38a

Actually, was at SFO couple months ago. Nothing unusual. Had my cookies brownies and soups. Stopped into the rotunda one which is the crappiest one at SFO after looking for seating at Centurion Lounge. Was at EWR club again nothing special or unusual. Already mentioned SNA. Kind of old news but was at Denver club last year, nothing unusual or cut. Will be at EWR again in July and in Boston club in August. May or may not be in Austin UC in Mid October. Possible back in Denver in Late October. SFO at least 4 more times this year. I'll report back again after visiting them. As usual, I'll take pictures to show how crappy or good it was.

EWR764

On my last visit to an EWR club in late May (5/28 or so), I think there were two on offer. Now that the summer travel season is in full swing, I don't even bother with the Terminal C clubs unless I need coffee. They really are terrible (yes, I know, "you hear us," United... but where are the results?). More recently, in DEN, there were two, a cheddar broccoli and vegetarian chili, IIRC.

itsMoe

Last Friday SFO had Italian wedding soup (not bad), cheeses and meats. Downgraded cookies but a make your own hot chocolate bar thing with whipped cream, sprinkles and marshmallows.

My workaround is to try and only connect in SFO when doing international trips in J so that I can eat at the Polaris lounge. Friday was a failure of my workaround.

wrp96

For me one of the biggest things missing from UCs is showers. If raising the price brought those back, then it would up the value proposition.

Kacee

Yes, one soup. Bet they only had the orange cheddar cheese cubes.

EWR764

Absolutely, especially at hubs, or stations with inbound redeyes. Thinking, at minimum, LAX (new club was supposed to have showers, then those were Smiseked away thanks to Project Quality), SFO, IAH, ORD, EWR, IAD, and BOS. HNL and DEN would be wish list.

I always write about this: AA and DL have them as part of their "basic" lounge product; United's value proposition suffers by comparison.