New United Club Debuts At Chicago O’Hare Airport

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: January 13, 2023
Published: January 13, 2023

22 comments

United Airlines has this week opened its newest United Club in Chicago, complementing recent lounge openings in Newark and Denver.

In this post:

Basics of the new United Club Chicago O’Hare

A new United Club has opened at Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD). The lounge is 17,000 square feet, with seating for more than 400 guests. It’s located in Terminal 1 Concourse C, near gate C10, and is open daily from 5AM until 9PM. What should customers expect from this new lounge?

The club’s seating includes a variety of options, including recliners, couches, and chairs, and areas meant for lounging, dining, relaxing, working, and socializing
The club has self-scan e-gates for entry, as well as customer service via agent on demand kiosks, where travelers can video chat, text, or call a customer service representative with any travel needs or questions
For nursing parents of travelers looking to meditate or pray, the club has a dedicated wellness room
The lounge has Chicago-inspired design, described as bridging an industrial and modern look

The new United Club near gate C10 replaces the former United Club near gate C16. The new lounge is roughly twice the size of the previous United Club, so adds significant capacity, and should help with crowding. It’s my understanding that the United Club near gate C16 will eventually become part of the United Polaris Lounge, so that this space can expand. See this post for details on how to access United Clubs.

Below you can find some pictures of the new United Club Chicago.

My take on the new United Club Chicago

The new United Club Chicago looks nice to me. I like the design, I love the amount of natural light and floor-to-ceiling windows, and I appreciate that this lounge adds significant capacity, which always helps with reducing crowding.

A few thoughts beyond that:

What’s the point of customer service via agent on demand kiosks, rather than being able to deal with people in real life? That seems like a weird thing to highlight as a benefit of a new lounge, since usually one of the best parts of lounges is in-person customer service
The United Club Newark that opened in May 2022 was supposed to be the model for United Clubs going forward, and I love how that lounge has a barista bar; unfortunately it seems that concept isn’t being expanded to this lounge in Chicago, which is disappointing
Hopefully we also see soft product improvements with the opening of the new lounge, including an improved food selection
American is also refreshing its Admirals Clubs, and I have to say that I think I prefer American’s design style, and find it to be a bit more sophisticated and elegant; the United Club design still feels a bit sterile and industrial to me, though I do appreciate the art

I wish this United Club also had a barista bar

Bottom line

The new United Club Chicago O’Hare Concourse C has just opened. The lounge is located near gate C10, and replaces the United Club near gate C16 (which will become part of the Polaris Lounge). The lounge has nice decor, adds significant capacity, and has great views. I’m just sad that the barista bar that we saw introduced at the United Club Newark won’t be expanding to Chicago.

What do you make of the new United Club Chicago?

More discussion »

Support OMAAT

Conversations (22)

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Comment as a member

Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.

Loading comments…

Recent Comments

The latest from the OMAAT community.

Chris Schembri Guest

January 8, 2024, 12:21 pm

We purchase the United Explorer Card prior to our trip to Milan and part of the perks was two passes into the club at Newark airport. We went to the club and we’re turned away saying it was to full and only honored members and our passes were not accepted. We were pretty upset that you Advertised these as a perk and we could not use them, and now they have expired. We feel marginalized and it showed a lack of customer service. I hope this is not the case in April, when we go to Rome from Chicago.

‼ 0

Suzanne (Guest) Guest

December 30, 2023, 12:59 pm

I have been in the United lounges in Chicago, terminals C and F.Both are very comfortable and clean. The bathroom in Terminal A is exceptional , in terms of style and cleanliness. I do want to acknowledge the staff’s dedication to keeping all areas tidy , along with their pleasing attitude. ’ However, i was disappointed with the food choices . On both occasions the menu was the the same, vegetable soup, tofu or turkey sandwiches, minimal selections on the salad bar and a southwestern type of meat dish , with chips and salsa. In addition to fresh fruit, the same type cookies and pumpkin doughnut holes were provided. The soup was not very tasty , and the turkey sandwiches were sparely filled. . In contrast, the lounge in San Francisco was wonderful, with multiple selections of food choices to appeal to all. My time in the Chicago lounges were on different days of the week, so that lead me to think the menu would be different daily. Is this common practice not to change menu selections?

‼ 0

Angelina DiVenere Guest

February 27, 2023, 10:09 pm

As a United MileagePlus customer holding 2 lounge passes for this year I find myself sitting in Concourse C with a 14 hour lay-over wondering why elegant surroundings in a lounge that closes at 9pm are discussed when clearly travelers like me need a bed, a meal and a hot shower.

‼ 0

Mike Guest

January 14, 2023, 9:46 am

Ben, food quality is directly related to kitchen size. New clubs are built/renovated with much larger kitchens as a proportion of overall footprint than older clubs. There’s only so much you can do without the right infrastructure (storage, food prep, etc) in place.

‼ 0

Kevin Guest

January 13, 2023, 2:51 pm

I am at the club currently. I am not sure if this is only for the opening of the lounge but there are two staffed customer service desks near the self check in and once inside there is a staffed customer service desk next to the customer service kiosks.

‼ 0