Kmxu

I will keep seats warm for you. 😀 We will fly out of IAD (to Europe) on Friday evening (as stated upthread). I have been at ORD, EWR and SFO PLs pre-pandemic. Each of them were slightly different. I am sure that IAD PL has its unique aspects. My visit will refresh my memory of PLs, which will be my baseline for comparing with AA’a Flagship lounges that I will visit in December.

Portolan

Well, it's been over 5 years since we attended the "Polaris Experience" at IAD where they had mock-ups of both the Polaris suites and Lounge. We've had several years of enjoying the suites and can now finally look forward to the lounge (on November 27th).

chrisny2

Yes! The "Polaris Experience" - can't wait to see the real thing

DELee

Hate to be the one to break it to you but you'll only get a part of the "real thing" by going to the IAD Polaris Lounge. The rest of the Polaris experience is sadly degraded by UA now.

David

chrisny2

I've been following along, so sadly I'm just expecting a nice brand new lounge and a great hard product. With a very deteriorated soft product.

jefftiger

My wife and I walked by the IAD Polaris lounge last night (10/19). Some UA employees were coming out the door and I briefly thought that the lounge was open. We spoke to some employees at the front desk. There appeared to be a pre-opening party going on as there were what looked like gift bags sitting on the desk. We were told that the Polaris lounge would open on Thursday (10/21).

eng3

Very true. YOLO, travel while you still can and before the PL closes again
Though I wouldn't be in a huge rush. I figure there may be some teething issues when a new lounge first opens, though you don't want to wait so long that they start cutting things

Please take a photo of the menu. Curious how the food will be. hopefully its not all from a gas station (ie EWR)

EWR764

Spectactular work on the PL, there's still hope! It looks like the buffet service will consist of individually-portioned items, which I think is a much classier way to do a buffet, anyway, instead of the all-you-can-slop-on-your-plate method! All kidding aside, the IAD PL might be the best one yet. I am excited to give it a try.

Yes, well, at least we all can rest assured that United "has our health and safety at the forefront" by "reducing touchpoints" and offering an economy class-style meal service in the Polaris cabin! As we know, airline business class multi-course service, menus, glassware and ice cream sundaes are the primary vectors for the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, so I'm glad to see United acting responsibly in this regard.

Once again, though, the play in Polaris overnight is to eat/drink in the lounge, and lights-out once onboard. Especially with the pathetic service these days (despite consistently improved FA interaction, IMO), one really isn't missing anything by skipping the inflight portion.

drewguy

For TATL flights in a lot of ways is a more sensible model - I doubt any airline would dispense with in flight meal service, if only to serve those who can't get to airport early, but really makes a lot more sense all around to serve a nice dinner at the airport first and then use the time on board to sleep.

MatthewLAX

RobOnLI

The burger is still alive! Looks like the beef carpaccio is gone though. Any idea if the Paper Airplane drink is still on the menu?

-RM

seanp7

I find this all quite exciting. Enjoying the PL again with a Polaris Burger + two Paper Planes, then avoiding the onboard catering & service awfulness right now and going right to sleep - I would be very happy and certainly book more trips...

FlyingHighlander

you plan trips around available lounge experiences?

nexus7556

​​​​​​Not OP but I truly do like the Polaris lounges. I've had some fantastic service in the EWR lounge, enough for me to recognize the employees through the 1k email. I also like the macarons here! The SFO lounge is typically spacious and quiet.

FlyingHighlander

I love a good lounge myself! I was just curious if OP was postponing/delaying/Booking trips based on lounge access.