Dromomaniac

DEFINITELY go for NRT. After flying longhaul in Y, nothing is better than a private shower, toothbrushing, etc. In case you aren't familiar, the showers at NRT are plentiful, available, and very nice. You each get a private locking shower "room" with toilet, shower, and sink, as well as an "amenity" kit with shampoo, lotion, toothbrush, etc. This alone is worth the "price" of the visit to the NRT RCC. Beyond that, food is limited, but you can munch on a few snacks and get free beverages, watch CNN, people watch, and plane watch.

Beyond that, my vote would be for SFO as second choice. If you are only going to be inbound to SFO, yes, you'll be spit out after customs and only the domestic lounge will be available to you. Even this lounge is quite nice (though again, snacks are quite limited), and it's the best place to hang out for a couple hours. However, no showers. ORD is enough of a zoo you should be able to find something to do.

Have a great trip and welcome to FT.

Dromomaniac

To clarify, this would only apply if you were Premier Executive or above (Star Gold), and the OP clearly indicated he has no status.

redtop

Thanks. We have two passes each. But that leads to another question--are infants allowed in RCC clubs, and if so, do they count as a guest? We'll be with our 22-month old. If they count as a guest, I guess we're down to one RCC. Between NRT and SFO domestic, which is better?

CApreppie

NRT lounge for sure. SFO International lounge is a close second. Forget the ORD lounges.

limo

1. NRT
2. SFO
3. ORD

Its sad that UA doesn't make their main hub RCC better. There are three RCCs in ORD, one in C (largest) and two in B (one of them very small). None of them matches SFO or NRT.

indo79

Are you guys Premier Executives or Premier Executives 100k? if so you do get free access on day of intl travel.

But NRT for sure is the best bet to use your passes.

cawhite

I doubt they'd count the child as a guest, but one never knows. Unless someone here knows, you'd probably be best calling Red Carpet Club (the 800# should be on their page of the UA website) to find out.

If you had to choose between NRT & SFO....again it's NRT hands down, if for the showers alone.

qasr

The OP stated he had no status. Someone else in this thread even suggested the same thing, and it was clarified that the OP had no status...

redtop

Thanks for all the great feedback. This site is such a find!

I never would have known about the NRT RCC showers--they don't mention it on the ual.com NRT lounge description. I guess that's ual.com for you!

LotNoiKop

NRT....NO Brainer!

SEA_Tigger

I was in the C17 RCC at ORD on Sunday (first time in an ORD RCC) and it was very nice. They have recently overhauled the furnishings and carpeting so it had that "new RCC look". They also put out a pretty darn good spread shortly after I arrived - Toblerones, vegetables, crackers, fruit, and camembert cheese.

The NRT RCC is huge. That is it's main advantage. They had nada for food, but they do have free liquor.

I have visited the SFO international RCC (our flight from AUS parked in the international terminal) and the domestic. I prefer the domestic because it is bigger and had a better spread (though much less then ORD's).

Traveling Consultant

It has everything on your list including good view of airplanes

cawhite

With the exception of no Toblerone/cookies/jellybellys, the SFO RCC assortment last Sunday evening was pretty much identical to the usual ORD RCC spread as you'd described above.

Jet2K

How close to reaching status on UA would you be, anything close to 20K already flown on UA? Perhaps you might want to consider a mileage run to SIN before your trip to TPE?

A SIN round trip from teh midwest woud get you over 20K miles, plus your outbound to TPE should get you close to 10K. You could become Premier Executive (1P) prior to starting your return from TPE if you currently have close to 20K flown this year. By the way, only one of you need 1P status for the entire family to get lounge access on international flights.

At TPE, UA uses the very nice Singapore Airlines Silver Kris lounge; they have good hot dimsum in the morning prior to the UA flight, and I believe you can bring in guests and/or family as a 1P. Not as big as the UA RCCs in NRT/SFO/ORD, but probably nicer than any of them.

If a mileage run is not an option, perhaps you can also consider trading the four RCC passes with ORD based 1Ks that have received a recent invitation for nominating 1Ps. Haven't seen too many of the 1P nominations offered up in Coupon Connection, but at least it is worth a shot.

djk7

An opposing view on which lounges to use:

Even though ORD seems to be considered the lesser of the three lounges, when you consider consider time boarding and deboarding, walking around the airport, etc. you would probably have about twice as much time in the ORD lounge as in SFO. I'm guessing that you will also have to deal with customs/immigration at NRT and SFO, further eroding your lounge time.

Then there is the possibililty of flight delays reducing connection times. So if you save them for NRT and SFO, you run the chance of not being able to use them at one or the other of these locations (or for a very short visit only), and having some left over at the end..

If it was me, I would use them at every lounge where I had enough time to make it worth while, until they run out. If you run out, and then end up with a longer than expected stay in SFO because of delays or such, you can always buy day passes.