dsolomon

I received a text this evening from United for our flight UA1465 tomorrow EWR to PLS. It said “We look forward to welcoming you on your upcoming United flight. Based on your final destination, plan to check in on LEVEL 3 at Newark International Airport. Your flight has a special check-in area. Look for signs as you enter the lobby.”

Premier checkin is level 2. Do I really have to check in upstairs? Trying to find out so I don’t waste going into level 2 only to have to bring our big bags up a level

lincolnjkc

Given all of the hoop jumping required for international flights these days, PLS being an INTL destination, and the reference to a "special check-in area" for your flight/destination I would think that trumps 'normal'

WineCountryUA

Perhaps UA if funneling PLS thru this special area due to check document,
Sometime Travel Ready can not do?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You don’t have to waste your time going to level 2 - just go where UA says check-in for your flight is. Don’t you think UA would say something like “Premiers can use their normal check-in lobbies” if that was the case?

mahasamatman

Actually, I don't. United is not known for covering their bases in general communications. But I agree that the best course of action in this case is to use level 3.

fumje

Isn't Premier check-in at EWR on level 3? Or am I mixing up numbers? It's on the top level.

ISTFlyer

Exactly, however, back in 2020, there was an era where the premier check-in was temporarily located at Level 2. I am not sure if it's still the case.

rittenhousesq

It's on level 3. Was just there a few hours ago. :-)

narvik

Yes, Premier, 1K & GS check-in is on Level 3 at EWR Terminal C, and has been for some years (with only a relatively short period where they moved it to Level 2 during 2020 for 'Covid-19' reasons, and once for construction, IIRC.)


Keep in mind, also, that according to UNITED: "As of May 2, you can only access and exit Newark’s Terminal C from Door 1 on the middle and lower levels (Departures and Arrivals). The other doors on those levels, as well as the doors on the upper level (Level 3) of Terminal C, will be closed until further notice."
...from: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly.../maps/ewr.html

eng3

I'm 1K and always fly Polaris for intl so I always go to Level 3 anyways. They have signs for where you go depending on the destination for a document check. Last time I was there, they had no separation between 1K, polaris, premier, etc, it was only destination so I had to wait a little longer. I guess it's too many lines to have a set of premier/1KGSPolaris lines for each destination group. They do have someone at the beginning of the line that quickly glances at the docs. It is surprising to STILL see people in front of me who seem unaware of what documents they need, panic and start arguing, and finally, get turned away. I don't believe they will even let you check your bag unless you can get a BP which requires a document check. So yes, goto Level 3

The overall process has been streamlining more though. Early in the pandemic, they would check your docs at check-in, then they'd recheck again prior to boarding. Last time I traveled, they put a sticker/mark on your BP at check-in, and then they just looked for the marking when you board rather than recheck everything. Maybe the destinations I was going to were more exotic, but the check-in agents didn't seem very familiar with the required documents and I had to "help" to move things along as they tried to interpret TIMATIC. The online document check thing seems to zero effect on this process. It's just extra which can be good or bad.

Any idea why they are doing this?

EWR764

That is very strange. I'm flying Wednesday and will advise. Traffic on levels 1 and 2 is bad during peak times even at current flying... that will not a good (premium) customer service move as summer travel will see an increase in flights.

I wonder if there is an access control check now? Show a boarding pass, etc.? Sounds like a recipe for a totally unnecessary bottleneck. As an aside, some of the goons UA has enforcing access up escalators from Level 2 to the security checkpoints are cut from the same cloth as the morons in Chicago that "reaccommodated" Dr. Dao in 2017. A few weeks ago I was nearly involved in a physical altercation with one (a UA employee, no less) who didn't see the PreCheck notation on my boarding pass when I showed it to him, and literally followed me up the escalator, in a menacing fashion, shouting at me to "STOP," as I was accessing a public area of the airport as a ticketed passenger. For those familiar with EWR, this was the escalator up from the level 2 check-in area (where I was dropped off by Uber) to the mezzanine near C-2 *before* the Clear/PreCheck area and security checkpoint.

If this is going to be something similar, I can't wait to see pictures of the lines posted to social media. If so, would probably consider getting dropped off at B and taking the AirTrain over, instead.

NikoLGA

L3 has changed over the past weeks.

The old Premier 1K/Polaris bank is now a combined Premier Access + 1K/Polaris desk.

The old Premier Access desk is now “International Check-In” as well as the skycap desks opposite that bank.






I would also note that given the fluidity of COVID, I wouldn’t be surprised if this changed again in the next couple of weeks.

DELee

No comma, though.

David

narvik

Regarding the UNITED blurb:
"As of May 2, you can only access and exit Newark’s Terminal C from Door 1 on the middle and lower levels (Departures and Arrivals). The other doors on those levels, as well as the doors on the upper level (Level 3) of Terminal C, will be closed until further notice."
are we sure that is actually May 2, 2021, and not just a year old, as in May 2, 2020?

fumje

My last trip through EWR checking a bag end March 2021, I saw caution tape on one of the level 3 doors (the one between recently-Premier, now-International desks), which obviously was blocking access. I couldn't see any reason why they did that. I didn't look at all of the doors on level 3 though, as I had been dropped off on level 2.