DL opens a new lounge in HND with little connecting traffic on suppressed O&D routes and yet UA still hasn’t reopened any of their APAC lounges. HKG I understand, but NRT and especially GUM are long overdue. :rolleyes:

Are the NH lounges open again?

NH almost never closed their lounges during the pandemic. They were open most of the time both at NRT and HND.

Correct. I flew to Asia via NRT during peak COVID times, and they had a lounge open. Very few people in it. Strict procedures with staff stationed at food areas to ensure the rules were followed. It was a VERY different experience.

Was through last weekend and it was packed! Still a well run operation though.

Surprised that the United Club at NRT is still closed tbh. Seems like they definitely have the flight schedule that would support it. I would think ANA would be wanting it as well, to alleviate some of the overcrowding at their clubs.

With the reported easy upgrades to NRT / sparse premium cabin purchases / reduced schedules, UA is probably just on continue to rely on NH lounges until more general travel opens for Japan.
Not sure what the lounge staffing issues might be.

NH always had at least one lounge open. For NRT it was initially just the F lounge near the 50s gates. Then eventually they opened the J lounge late 2021, early 2022. They still haven’t reopened the J lounges near the 40s gates since that’s been repurposed for arrival health procedures. Things are a bit better now that NH has opened a new J lounge near the 20s gates where the old DL lounge used to be, but before that crowding felt pre-COVID or worse.

When will Guam and Narita open
 

So this thread has been inactive since late August, and the clubs at Guam and Narita are still closed. Guam travel numbers are back to pre COVID levels and Japan is open again to travel. Of note is that the priority pass lounge has reopened at Guam. Anyone hear anything about reopening United's clubs?

Believe the Guam UC had some (structural?) problems and was going have to be rebuilt. Have heard nothing on that progress.

As for NRT, for all the talk of re-opening, UA had not shown an inclination to increase flights to japan yet, until that happens, doubt you will see the NRT UC re-open
United reducing flights to Tokyo / Japan? When will more normal UA operations resume?

And the third Asian UC, HKG --- well outlook isn't good
What is the future of Hong Kong in the United’s Asia Route Network? Alternatives?

I believe the GUM club was to be relocated in connection with the project to create a sterile international arrivals corridor, which opened earlier this year. Supposedly it was under construction on an upper level but that was at least a year ago, and United has never mentioned a new GUM club in any of its press releases for the recent UC openings at EWR or PHX.

Earlier, someone mentioned that NRT requires some major repairs before it can reopen.

Some updates:

Following up on Guam, I spoke with someone "in the know" this week and she advised that the GUM lounge should reopen by the end of the year. One wrinkle (unclear/unlikely that it impacted reopening schedule, but funny) was that the Club's liquor license was grandfathered from the Air Mike days, and was in the name of Continental Air Micronesia. During the pandemic, the license expired, and since the company no longer exists, United had to reapply under its current corporate name. She did not know if the club was in a new location or the existing.

As for NRT, a contract has just been signed with a lounge operator and they are staffing up, but encountering the same difficulties with hiring as elsewhere in the world. Some minor renovations and updates have been carried out, too, and the target is to reopen in early 2023. No timetable or plan for a Polaris Lounge, and the expectation is the old IFL/GFL would be handled similarly to LHR, but again, no concrete details to share.

HKG, no change, my expectation is another year or so, if ever.

For the time being, United is focused on a few major lounge projects at hubs and renovating existing Clubs to deliver a more consistent experience across the current footprint. No plans to open lounges in any new locations at present (sorry, TPA). These include DEN (B-East, A-West, B-West after B-East is done), EWR (new A is under construction) and ORD (C, planning to open 2nd half of December). There are also some others in the works but I got the sense that it was not meant for public consumption. My guesses would be IAH C-South, SFO Rotunda, and ANYTHING at IAD, in that order. HNL was mentioned as a possible relocation pre-COVID, but that seems to be more of an airport-driven project, whenever that gets underway. All of the hub projects will incorporate "signature" unique design elements ("urban loft" for EWR, ski lodge for DEN, as examples), and all new/renovated lounges will feature local art commisioned for each respective Club, to get away from the cookie-cutter style of the post-merger era.

The DEN timeline for B-East is Spring 2023, A-West Summer 2023, and hopefully B-West by late 2023/early 2024. There were permitting and construction-related delays at B-East which pushed the project timetable back about 2-3 months. The B-East/West Clubs should be mirror images of one another at about 36,000sf. Outdoor space is planned but is not currently under construction. The B59/61 pop-up lounge will remain open until at least the opening of B-East. There is space allocated for a DEN Polaris Lounge, but not any time soon. UA would like to add a few more longhaul departures from DEN before building one.

Look for the United Club Fly concept to eventually roll out to all of the hubs. Again, nothing firm to announce yet, but it's definitely not a one-off at DEN. IAH is a likely location for the next one.

Great news by unitedbusiness this morning in the Island Hopper Thread. :tu: :cool:

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