gmt4

Food in the UCs is better now that pre-covid. The best you could find then in the 'before times' was cheese cubes and carrot sticks.

But yeah, this topic been covered before. At least I made it in this thread before someone started fawning over the apparently captivating and hypnotic Sky Club scent.

FlyingBeanCounter

I am diamond on DL and 1k on UA. I have memberships to both lounges and spend a fair bit of time in both.

I do not see much of a difference between the two lounges. Sure, DL has some stuff out that maybe UA doesn't. But DL lounges are every bit as crowded and miserable as the UA lounges. I would rather go eat in the airport and have some room than sit in the lounge in a cramped seat with 5 people yacking on cell phones around me. I do think some of the DL lounges are newer, and that helps. But the crowding is awful no matter the lounge.

If it helps, the amex lounges are no better. The food in Amex is infinitely better than any food I have had in any lounge. It still sucks to have to go and fight people for a seat, and that makes the food much less appetizing. A slightly better fare doesn't make up for the overcrowded filthy environment that is a lounge during peak travel times. Both UA and DL need to kick out everyone who is not a paying member. Then they need to raise the membership fee to 1000 a year. There are still plenty of us who would pay for that and we would get a truly exceptional experience rather than the slums they offer now.

hirohito888

Because UA has a finite budget for UA clubs and Polaris lounges, and UA chooses to spend less than DL. Maybe DL also gets more funding from peddling their credit card membership. If UA spends more on UA club and less on Polaris lounges, then you'll get a thread comparing Polaris lounges to AA Flagship lounges with the same complaints.

As noted in post above, Amex and DL clubs are usually overcrowded and having to sit in the middle of a shared table in a packed lounge just for slightly better food doesn't make the lounge experience any better. UA knows that and probably thinks their lounges are good enough (or competitive enough).

Will Dearborn

Or, he might work both...lot of bartenders have multiple gigs so they can cover all shifts.

Kacee

I don't agree there's been an upgrade. They've put out a couple more extremely low quality items that I won't eat.
It hasn't.

HNLbasedFlyer

Maybe I got lucky - they had large/substantial deli quality turkey sandwiches last week.

raehl311

Or hours or benefits... I doubt UA has any 11 PM to 7 AM shifts for their bartenders.

lsquare

I agree. The PP benefit is what makes SFO works for me. The UC's food sucks. I just go to Yankee Pier to get my good and go to the Rotunda Club to work and relax before my flight.

Markie

I suspect once Delta has finished its Delta One lounges we will see their regular lounges competitive with United.

lsquare

PTahCha

IMO, the biggest difference for Skyclub is choices of hot and cold entrees, instead of snacks. UA is slowly catching up, with the taco and sandwich bar in the new EWR club and noodle bar in LAX.

What will be interesting to see is whether DL will choose to maintain the same level of food service in SkyClub once Delta One lounges open.

The notable differences are 2 choices of sandwiches/wraps, consistent offering of soup, and a full salad bar, in addition to cheese cubes and cookies, at least at SFO rotunda club. This was 2 weeks ago.

lsquare

UC SFO was offering Minestrone during every one of my visits in April and May of this year. Not exactly that appealing to me. I got a much better Thai curry coup at the Centurion Lounge instead.

Adelphos

Doubtful - there will be no D1 Lounges at important airports (where Delta has invested in lounges) like LGA, AUS, ORD, SEA, etc.

lsquare

It doesn't mean there will be no D1 in the future. I think SEA is DL's transpacific hub.

unitedbusiness

although cold sandwiches/wraps are a step up for the UC SFO, this is still very pathetic compared to the variety of hot and cold items at the SFO DL Sky Club.