This is exciting — Air Canada has just opened a gorgeous lounge at San Francisco Airport (SFO), which is something that United frequent flyers may also want to take note of.
Continue reading: Air Canada Opens Maple Leaf Lounge At SFO
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The place will be a zoo if domestic UA flyers are allowed in.
There are so many OPM flyers in SFO that everyone is a UA*G
When it comes to United, SFO is one of those places that proves when everyone has status no one has status. This place will be overrun with *Gold
The same situation exists at both LAX and LGA. I'm going to assume the AC folks know more about the business than Bob does.
I certainly hope it's only those flying on AC who have access, lounge is far too small to open to beyond that.
This is not the space of the former AS lounge. But I believe that it is the space that AS was going to move into before something changed their minds and AS took the former AA club space instead of this space.
Did I miss something? Another announcement by Air Canada? Why is this lounge in T2 and not in the International terminal G gates? I thought T2 was still only Alaska and Delta.
Nate is dumb.
LGA is not the same volume of OPM "elites" UA*G as SFO
LAX is in a different terminal
same with IAD and TK/LH lounges - its too far for United flyers
This new SFO lounge will be easy access for United flyers
But yes, AC is a greedy bastard, so they may want to sacrifice crowding for UA paying for each guest.
I certainly expect they will limit non-AC passengers at certain times due to overcrowding.
All these morons complaining when there was no lounge before and this looks impressive, and even has an outdoor terrace.
Some people are miserable whatever companies do to add improvements. They should stick with LCCs and Spirit
Thanks! SFO is my home airport and I totally missed this. I even use T2 frequently for Delta and Alaska flights
Damn, we just missed its opening by a couple of days.
Love the Muskoka chairs on the patio 😉
T2 is now mostly AC, UA, and AS. AA moved to T1, and DL has always been in T1.
Also, Alaska is slated to be moving to Terminal 1 next year. I can’t figure out how they will manage to fit Alaska into Terminal 1 without someone else moving out or Alaska really shrinking its operations.
I'm sure once word gets out among the United elites that they can access, we will see new requirements that you have to be on a non-domestic itinerary to access as Star Gold. But, you'd also be surprised by the number of United elites in the Bay Area that have no idea of what the Star Alliance even is, or what the benefits entail. In other words, half the people who are eligible would not even know they could access. And good luck with whether the staff will follow (or understand) the rules. As an anecdote, I remember being in Montreal flying in Swiss Business Class - and the Maple Leaf lounge agent asked me if Swiss was in the Star Alliance.
Like All AC lounges lack of maintenance and delayed flights will make this a disaster in a year
That is true. A lot of SF elites are just corporate drone types. They only fly when and where their corporate overlord tells them to, and have no idea about anything
Terminal 1 is grossly under utilized with many gates staying empty all day. They can surely fit in Alaska too. It also makes it more convenient for international transfers since Terminal 1 and Boarding Area B are connected airside. There is also space for a large new Alaska Lounge in T1. Once they move out, UAL will be able to occupy all the remaining space in Boarding Area D so they’ll be able to work on renovating Boarding Area F which is the last part of SFO to be stuck with retro infrastructure.
Really you think those that live near Uniteds largest hub in EWR don't have a huge number of *G
I am at the lounge now, awesome outdoor space and quiet, especially compared to the 20 minute wait at centurion
Probably overcrowded given the Star Alliance rules for using it vs the United lounges as you mentioned.
@david ---> I believe that is because AS is (eventually) moving into T1, where AA is now located, and it made much more sense (and fewer dollars) to take over the AA lounge than build a brand-new one they were going to have to vacate anyway...
For UA Gold and above it's the same criteria to access as a UA lounge (international). Given it's in T2 not sure you'll see an influx of UA.
AC has been using D12-16, so you wouldn't have know unless you venture over there or passed by the check in counter that's toward T3.
It’s great that the new prime lounge space on the second level of SFO Terminal 2 is finally being put to use. Renderings look beautiful. It’s cool how they have an outdoor terrace in addition to the public one on the other side of T2. At the same time, I don’t really understand why Air Canada is in T2 now. I’d think it would be more efficient for them to share T3 with United especially since their hubs have US pre clearance. I think it would’ve been better for them to build the Maple Leaf Lounge in T3. The United Polaris Lounge is pretty much the only good lounge in that part of the airport and I bet it gets very overcrowded. Because of T2’s location further away from the other terminals, where having convenient connections are more important (Alaska/Oneworld in A and T1 and United/Star Alliance in G and T3), I’d think T2 would be better for independent LCCs like Southwest, JetBlue, and Frontier, airlines that don’t need to have those easy connections at SFO.
I visited a couple of days after it opened. Unfortunately it was very early, so no bartenders and not many amenities available. Seeing the top shelf liquors (only) on display, I'm guessing that they will be following other lounge models of free well drinks and paid premium drinks. End of an era, but nice to be able to have access to other options, I guess. There was soft chill music playing, both inside and outside.
The terrace was wonderful, but wet from morning dew, so not really usable at that time. I did do some star watching.
I'm not sure how their food buffet will work when there are more than 25 visitors. The serving sets and bowls are messy and not really going to scale. Perhaps they have other options when it's more crowded. There were no warm food options for breakfast, except for oatmeal.
Having said all this, the lounge itself a beautiful and has modern seating to get actual work done, which I love. The biometric entry system was neat. I'm looking foward to visiting when more options are available.
My husband and I are both Star Alliance Gld, we were just denied access. The supervisor said no entry allowed for domestic flights. They wouldn’t even let us look at the lounge.
I'm trying to get information on the Air Canada airport lounge in Toronto. I have an 8 hour layover from midnight to 8 am. Apparently the lounge opens 4:30 pm to midnight...not helpful. I get the impression everyone is working from home at Air Canada. Hope the pilots are in attendance.
Does anyone have any information outside of San Francisco?
Just visited on a United domestic itinerary at 5PM on Sunday and the place was absolutely quiet while both T3 United Clubs were packed. It's a long walk from T3 and very hidden. I'm guessing only internet nerd-type United elites will ever even know it exists much less that they have access.