wpcoe

Why, that's so breathtakingly simple. 😁

DELee

From https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly.../polaris.html:

Remember:

Who can use the United Polaris lounge?

1. Customers traveling in United Polaris business class on long-haul international flights may access the lounge before departure, during connections or upon arrival.
2. Customers traveling in international first or business class cabins on Star Alliance partner airlines may access the lounge only at the airport of their international departure.

Please reference the Club and Lounge Access page for more information - or, as IAH-OIL-TRASH notes:

David

senatestaffer

Visited IAD Polaris today prior to LHR flight. 3 hour visit.

1) showers nice. Some poor craftsmanship with the shower doors not aligned property to close fully. Can be easily fixed.

2) Buffet somewhat lackluster. “Basmati” rice was clearly not basmati. Charcuterie selection decent.

3) bar phenomenal looking and phenomenal cocktails. The maple old fashioned really great. Downside was the friendly bartender wanted to talk about politics which is probably not the best thing to do at IAD given the wide array of senior politicians and policymakers coming in and out.

4) sit down restaurant had nice ambiance. Server was eager and attentive. Burger ordered medium came out over cooked. Fries were crispy and well seasoned. The quinoa samosa cake was a surprise delight. Crispy and well seasoned.

5) seating areas clean and not crowded although I arrived at 6pm after the large bank of Europe flights departed. Was told by staff they had over 200 pax earlier in the afternoon. The famous library seating area a bit overrated as it’s open to the bar/buffet areas.

6) lounge dragon very pleasant. Thanked me for 1k loyalty.

7) the Indvidual unisex bathrooms worked well. Not crowded. Very nicely appointed. Downside was no bench or shelf to put bag in order to change clothes.

8) great visit overall. Three hour visit flew by. Great to have option to eat and skip meal during short hop to LHR.

whlinder

Quick confirmation:
flying IAD-YYZ-DXB on AC on a J ticket. Ticket issued by UA.

I assume I am not permitted into the IAD Polaris lounge before IAD-YYZ, since the Star intl flight is not out of IAD and transborder isn’t eligible.

flyingrohit

you are correct you won’t be admitted but it’s not because your flight isn’t out of IAD (we’ll kind of). It’s more because you are connecting to a long haul flight that isn’t United. So I guess if you were flying any *A flight long haul out of IAD you would get access but to get access to a Polaris lounge on a connecting itinerary the long haul portion has to be on UA metal.

equalcomb2

I am flying BRU-IAD on Polaris Business, so I know I technically have access. But will I be able to access the lounge on arrival if I am not continuing to another flight? Or will I be forced through customs and then not be able to re-enter through security without a boarding pass?

rbakker

Any flight into the US (except from some special destinations, like Canada and Aruba) go immediately through customs so unfortunately no access for you.

dkc192

I believe there's nothing stopping you from going through immigration and customs in the C concourse, which is designed for connecting passengers and thus spits you out into the airside area after a TSA check. Nowhere along that route do they ask to see a connecting BP, IIRC.

The only catch is that if you have checked bags, they will be delivered to the main terminal, and it will be difficult or impossible to retrieve them after having gone through customs in C, as doing so would require going "backward" through customs in the main terminal.

rbakker

Maybe I'm mistaken but every time I've been to the US we've been funneled straight to immigration and customs with no access to anything except maybe a bathroom.

dkc192

IAD is slightly different. They do funnel you straight to immigration and customs, but there are two locations for that: one is for IAD-terminating passengers and another is for connecting passengers. The latter dumps you out into the airside area, from which one can access the Polaris Lounge, and IIRC doesn't require a connecting BP for you to use it.

That said, checked bags are delivered to the appropriate location based on your itinerary: bags without an onward flight from IAD are sent to the IAD-terminating customs facility, and bags with an onward flight are sent to the connecting passengers facility. The two facilities are physically separate, and you cannot easily access your bags from the other facility (or at all).

rbakker

Thanks, that's very interesting. I don't think I've ever flown internationally into IAD (Canada doesn't count since you've usually already passed customs).
However, please excuse me as I express some doubt. The USA does not seem to trust the security check of any country as much as the fine people at TSA.
In order to get to the lounge you would have to pass through TSA again and they won't let you in without a boarding pass. So how do they do that at IAD?

dkc192

That TSA checkpoint in particular might not check for a connecting BP, or at least they didn't last time I checked. But agree that this part is key to OP's success.

rbakker

Every airport I go to now checks your boarding pass about 4 times. Not like the old days, I used to get in by just waving a piece of paper.
Last week I was even stopped from entering a terminal that wasn't on my boarding pass (in Toronto).

Let us know how you get on equalcomb2 !

FlyingHighlander

I have never heard of a customs facility in the C concourse. The dozen times I've flown into IAD internationally they have funneled EVERYONE on to the moon buggies to the customs facility in the main terminal.

trk1

134#. the midfield customs facility has been used for 30 years. All connecting passengers to domestic use this terminal in C