United Airlines has a unique lounge concept in the form of United Club Fly, which you won’t find at any other US airline. While the first location opened as of late 2022 in Denver, there’s an exciting update, as the second location has just opened as of early 2025 in Houston. Let’s cover all the details.
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United Club Fly Denver opened in late 2022
Denver International Airport (DEN) is a major hub for United Airlines, and in November 2022, we saw the airline launch a completely new lounge concept, known as United Club Fly. What should guests expect from United Club Fly Denver?
- The lounge is located between gates B61 and B63
- The lounge is open daily between 7AM and 8PM
- The lounge is 1,563 square feet
- The lounge has very limited capacity, with room for just 16 guests to sit, and room for eight guests to stand at a bar
- United Club Fly is open to anyone who has United Club access, but you can’t bring guests with you; you scan yourself into the lounge using your eligible boarding pass
- In terms of food, the lounge features grab & go sandwiches, wraps, salads, yogurt, fruit cups, cereal, chips, sweet treats, etc., all of which are complimentary
- In terms of drinks, the lounge features self-serve coffee, barista made coffee, cold brew, iced tea, soft drinks, juice, and water, all of which are complimentary
- The lounge doesn’t have any bathrooms
United Club Fly Houston opened in February 2025
As of February 2025, we’ve seen the opening of a second United Club Fly location, at Houston International Airport (IAH). United Club Fly is located in the south side of Houston’s Terminal B. The space is described as having a modern design that reflects Houston, specifically with a “space city inspired design.” Unlike the Denver location, this one has no seating.
At the United Club Fly Houston, guests can pick up fresh squeezed orange juice, warm pastries, wraps, salads, sandwiches, and more. There’s also a full-serve coffee bar, with seasonal highlights like a lavender matcha latte and blueberry acai “galaxy” latte. There are plenty of other non-alcoholic drinks, including soft drinks, iced tea, and more.
This grab & go “lounge” concept is awesome
United Airlines is the first US airline to offer a grab & go food concept in a lounge, though it’s not the first time we’ve seen this concept in North America:
- In 2019 we saw the introduction of the Air Canada Cafe in Toronto, which is the same idea; it’s a small lounge with a selection of food & drinks that you can take to-go
- More recently in the United States we’ve seen the opening of Capital One Lounges, like the Capital One Lounge DFW, which also offer a grab & go selection, including complimentary food & drinks
This is such a great idea, especially for an airport that’s a heavily banked hub, where passengers may often only have a connection of under an hour. That’s not really enough time to enjoy a meal at a restaurant or eat a whole lot in a lounge, so being able to grab something for your connecting flight is useful. This should also help alleviate crowding in some other lounges that United Club guests may otherwise visit.
The one challenge with the grab & go concept is that some people lack self restraint, and they view a grab & go selection as an invitation to cater their pantry for the next month. I mean, I’ve seen people bring Ziploc bags in order to empty out those stale snack towers, so I can only imagine what some people do if they have access to something better than that. I’m kind of surprised that enforcement hasn’t become a major issue with this, though maybe staff are monitoring? I dunno…
Bottom line
United Club Fly is a unique grab & go concept, whereby United Club members can visit a small space and grab food and drinks to take with them. This is ideal for those with short connections, who may not have time to properly enjoy a traditional lounge.
The United Club Fly concept initially debuted in Denver, and a second location has now opened in Houston. I’m happy to see that this wasn’t just a one-off for United, and that the airline is expanding this to more airports.
What do you make of the United Club Fly concept?
Frankly, I go to lounges because I am looking for somewhere halfway nice to spend 30 min with a coffee or a glass of wine that is somewhat less chaotic than the terminal, not to save $6 on bad concessions
What’s to stop any passenger from stuffing their bag full of stuff to go?
As it is, some people are already taking cans of beer to go, usually white men (90%) and China men (10%).
Doomed to fail.
I think it's a great idea. I'm just surprised that hallowed Delta doesn't offer the same concept.
Premium airline adding premium benefits for premium customers. Great add!
If you go to the official announcement for this on UA's website, you will see they are reopening their HKG lounge this year, which seems notable.
https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-125367
Good concept, terrible execution. I stopped in the one in DEN last week and grabbed a sandwich. It was inedibly bad -- I took one bite and threw the rest away. This is basically only good for a free bottle of water.
It looks like a poorly stocked convenience store, with about as much atmosphere. The one in DEN looks a lot nicer.
This is all great, but they should have a bathroom. Not including a bathroom makes this feel like Latte Larry's, but more restrictive.
Seems very wasteful.
It would be more efficient for United to give eligible customers a voucher for a cafe/shop in the terminal.
Or just reduce fares.
@ Albert -- Regarding reducing fares, this is specifically for those who paid or otherwise have access to lounges, so I don't think that logic tracks, personally. This also seems more efficient to me than giving customers a voucher for a cafe or shop. Here United can buy the items at bulk, rather than paying the inflated costs of other airport retailers. This seems like the most efficient way for the airline to do it.