United is known for its excellent Polaris Lounges, which are for long haul business class passengers. Well, the airline has just revealed that some positive changes are coming to the first lounge in the carrier’s network, which opened back in 2016.
In this post:
United Polaris Lounge Chicago changes coming soon
Zach Griff reports on how there are major changes coming to the United Polaris Lounge Chicago:
- The lounge will be expanded from 16,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet, so the size of the lounge will increase by over 50%
- The lounge will feature twice as many seats as before, so clearly the additional space is primarily being used for more seating
- The lounge expansion is expected to include more restrooms, and amenities like private seating and workspaces
An expansion to the United Polaris Lounge Chicago is overdue. United has huge premium cabins on its long haul aircraft, and has continued to grow its wide body fleet in recent years. When you combine that with booming demand for international premium travel, this lounge has become uncomfortably crowded in the afternoons.
It’s not entirely clear to me where the space for this lounge expansion is coming from. My guess is that some of the space from the adjacent United Club is being used, though I guess we’ll find out for sure when the new space opens.
The timeline for United Polaris Lounge Chicago updates
So, what’s the timeline for these updates being made to the United Polaris Lounge Chicago?
- As of September 3, 2024, work will begin on the Polaris Lounge; initially the lounge will remain open but with reduced capacity, so crowding may be (even more of) an issue
- Then in early 2025, the lounge will close altogether, so that the existing space can be entirely overhauled
- The expectation is that the “new” Polaris Lounge will reopen in the spring of 2025, ahead of the busy summer travel season
While this work is being done, United Polaris passengers have the option of visiting any United Club at the airport, and can receive premium beverages by showing their boarding pass. This includes many of the same alcoholic drinks you’d find in the Polaris Lounge, but not ordinarily in United Clubs.
Bottom line
United has big plans for the Polaris Lounge Chicago, as the lounge will increase in size by 50%, while the seating capacity will double. This was United’s first Polaris Lounge, and it has also had some consistent capacity issues in the afternoons.
I’m excited to see these changes, though expect that the lounge is going to be a bit of a mess in the fall and spring, until it reopens ahead of the summer of 2025.
What’s your take on the United Polaris Lounge Chicago changes?
Ben seems to love to do stories about longhaul flights that make it halfway across an ocean only to return to their origin or close to it - but UA's Tokyo operation was a disaster yesterday and they are still cleaning up today.
UA's DEN-NRT flight flew halfway across the Pacific and then diverted back to LAX, UA's EWR-HND flight diverted to ANC and then flew to SFO while its EWR-NRT flight stopped at ANC...
Ben seems to love to do stories about longhaul flights that make it halfway across an ocean only to return to their origin or close to it - but UA's Tokyo operation was a disaster yesterday and they are still cleaning up today.
UA's DEN-NRT flight flew halfway across the Pacific and then diverted back to LAX, UA's EWR-HND flight diverted to ANC and then flew to SFO while its EWR-NRT flight stopped at ANC and then kept going.
All of this was apparently due to volcanoes in Russia while dodging storms across the Pacific but neither American or Delta or any of the Asian carriers seem to have diverted any flights or cancelled.
UA has cancelled multiple flights to/from Tokyo today while AA and DL plus JL and NH are operating their full Tokyo schedule.
Good. Last time I flew thru ORD (June?), there were no seats available. I ended up sharing a table with two others.
Wish Aw would up its flagship game at ORD/MIA/LAX. That said, DFW and JFK fine imho.
This definitely needs to happen as the ORD lounge is just too small. But it will certainly be a mess for many months.
Chicago Polaris lounge is so old, that its getting its first major refresh and expansion.
Meanwhile Denver waits and waits. Been hearing for years that someday there will be a Polaris lounge.
UA has always treated Denver as the bastard child of its network. As a parasite hub. No investments for a hub it size, very few TATL and one TPAC flight, which for a hub its size its pathetic, and minimal investments in infrastructure....
Chicago Polaris lounge is so old, that its getting its first major refresh and expansion.
Meanwhile Denver waits and waits. Been hearing for years that someday there will be a Polaris lounge.
UA has always treated Denver as the bastard child of its network. As a parasite hub. No investments for a hub it size, very few TATL and one TPAC flight, which for a hub its size its pathetic, and minimal investments in infrastructure. Even the much awaited United Club is already overcrowded at times, just a year odd after opening, which means they did not build big enough.
DEN has the largest United Club in the system, with another club of the same size slated to open early next year. These are in addition to the large and well-reviewed A club.
UA Club with free premium drinks isn't a bad option if you're into wine. A lot of their paid selection is better than what you'll find in the Polaris Lounge. e.g. Jordan cab and Stag's Leap Artemis.
They also have Macallan 12 if you're a malt drinker.
Do note that they may give you a hard time about the free drinks voucher if you're flying a partner airline. I was once flying LH F (in...
UA Club with free premium drinks isn't a bad option if you're into wine. A lot of their paid selection is better than what you'll find in the Polaris Lounge. e.g. Jordan cab and Stag's Leap Artemis.
They also have Macallan 12 if you're a malt drinker.
Do note that they may give you a hard time about the free drinks voucher if you're flying a partner airline. I was once flying LH F (in 2021 when Polaris Lounge was still closed "because covid") and I had to argue with the lounge front desk to get the voucher.
Most likely the space occupied from the old UA Club on C concourse at ORD will be taken over by this expansion, now that the C concourse Club has moved to a brand new location between gates C12 and C16. The old club used to be back to back against the Polaris lounge (UA club entrance next to C16, Polaris next to C18, with the two clubs lined up together and splitting the space between...
Most likely the space occupied from the old UA Club on C concourse at ORD will be taken over by this expansion, now that the C concourse Club has moved to a brand new location between gates C12 and C16. The old club used to be back to back against the Polaris lounge (UA club entrance next to C16, Polaris next to C18, with the two clubs lined up together and splitting the space between the gates), so it should be a relatively straightforward process to integrate it into the Polaris lounge, as all it really requires is knocking down a wall and re-decorating the legacy UA club side. There won't be any structural construction required.
Mostly AA flyer here. Flew Polaris this summer through ORD and thought the Polaris Lounge was really solid. I am impressed that UA is already updating / upgrading it.
Ugh… I’m flying mid March. Is it going to be closed?
Okay, so not flying United Polaris Business Class/Star Alliance Business Class from ORD until next Spring lol
Seems like a fair way to do it, but they should find a way to provide showers as I do not think regular United clubs have them.
The old closed United Club in C abuts the Polaris Lounge.
When the new huge C lounge opened one gate over, they closed the old one with plans to eventually expand Polaris into it. Literally knocking a wall down to combine them.
Great news - and glad to see United continuing to invest in their Polaris lounges. Love how the ORD lounges have the huge windows with widebodies so close...
It’s worth pointing out that both AA and UA are the only US carriers to open multiple premium lounges in their interior hubs. UA has already committed to upgrading its Polaris lounge in ORD before DL has announced any DL One lounges for any of its core hubs. DL would rather build a DL One lounge in LAX for the airline’s two daily long haul flights that are year round than for the world’s largest...
It’s worth pointing out that both AA and UA are the only US carriers to open multiple premium lounges in their interior hubs. UA has already committed to upgrading its Polaris lounge in ORD before DL has announced any DL One lounges for any of its core hubs. DL would rather build a DL One lounge in LAX for the airline’s two daily long haul flights that are year round than for the world’s largest airport. Hell, even AA serves twice that amount from LAX with the sunsetting Flagship First. Congrats ATL, DTW, MSP, and SLC for your DL None lounge.
I'm also confused/disappointed by this. I hate connecting through JFK for myriad reasons...and ATL, too, for what it's worth...but there's no D1 lounges elsewhere. So if I want to have a nice meal on the ground and just sleep on my TATL flight, I *have* to connect through JFK. Which makes the flight shorter which means less sleep since my TATL destinations mostly require a connection if I'm flying through JFK. ATL seems to be...
I'm also confused/disappointed by this. I hate connecting through JFK for myriad reasons...and ATL, too, for what it's worth...but there's no D1 lounges elsewhere. So if I want to have a nice meal on the ground and just sleep on my TATL flight, I *have* to connect through JFK. Which makes the flight shorter which means less sleep since my TATL destinations mostly require a connection if I'm flying through JFK. ATL seems to be the only airport with direct to where I go regularly. As much as I loathe ATL because it's just too big, it would be easier to stomach if it had a D1 lounge (or multiple D1 lounges) so I can sleep more on the plane and arrive at 8 AM or so with no connection. Unsure why none of the other hubs were considered. Maybe for premium pax in the NYC metro area?
read the comments above and you will see one of the big differences between other airline's international premium lounges and Delta Sky Clubs - showers.
You need only look at the food together.
You can make a case all day long about where Delta does or will not not have Delta One lounges but the whole reason why Delta waited as long as it did to open them is because their Sky Clubs were a...
read the comments above and you will see one of the big differences between other airline's international premium lounges and Delta Sky Clubs - showers.
You need only look at the food together.
You can make a case all day long about where Delta does or will not not have Delta One lounges but the whole reason why Delta waited as long as it did to open them is because their Sky Clubs were a much better lounge than AA or UA's "standard" lounges - and Ben and others regularly state that.
Given that they are opening D1 lounges in 4 cities in less than 2 years, I would save the temper tantrum for a few years from now.
After all, UA owns the international market among US carriers at ORD and only found 16k feet to be enough so clearly they didn't properly serve the market - and there have been plenty of stories of significant overcrowding there.
And DL has up to six current longhaul international destinations from LAX and Delta One transcon is eligible to use the D1 lounge- something UA doesn't do, IIRC.
It’s clear you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. The Admirals Club in ORD has showers. At NYC we’re all 3 airlines share a hub, all 3 have showers in their non premium clubs. SkyClubs never offered Ala carte dining, they were clearly behind Flagship Dining and Polaris Dining. SkyClubs regularly had queues outside their entrance, which was rarely the case for Flagship or Polaris lounges. SkyClubs embargo DL employees and their own...
It’s clear you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. The Admirals Club in ORD has showers. At NYC we’re all 3 airlines share a hub, all 3 have showers in their non premium clubs. SkyClubs never offered Ala carte dining, they were clearly behind Flagship Dining and Polaris Dining. SkyClubs regularly had queues outside their entrance, which was rarely the case for Flagship or Polaris lounges. SkyClubs embargo DL employees and their own frequent fliers without eligible credit cards on international itineraries, something AA and UA don’t do and yet DL still can’t manage crowding.
Read what is written. LAX has 2 longhaul internationals destinations it serves daily and year round. CDG is not daily year round. AKL, BNE, and PPT are seasonal. DL would rather incinerate billions of dollars in a low margin hub that can’t sustain daily longhaul service to any JV hubs than invest a comparable amount into core hubs that constantly deliver higher margin returns. DLs west coast hubs aren’t even constantly profitable and as a reward for the drag on earnings, they receive the DL One lounges first to compensate underperformance.
It’s one thing if the DL One lounge were designed to accommodate customers traveling on partner airlines yet a majority of SkyTeam is excluded from access.
more SkyClubs have showers than in standard AA or UA hubs.
I know exactly what I am talking about.
It is more telling that Delta opened a new SkyClub at ORD that has showers than your endless rants about how DL is inferior when actual UA customers above note not only the "good" but also the "bad" of UA Polaris including at ORD.
SkyClubs have long been a higher level experience than AA or...
more SkyClubs have showers than in standard AA or UA hubs.
I know exactly what I am talking about.
It is more telling that Delta opened a new SkyClub at ORD that has showers than your endless rants about how DL is inferior when actual UA customers above note not only the "good" but also the "bad" of UA Polaris including at ORD.
SkyClubs have long been a higher level experience than AA or UA's "standard" lounges and DL will have Delta One lounges in 4 cities over the next year.
Given Delta's huge influx of new transpacific capable aircraft - 25 new build A330NEOs and A350s - in 2024 and 2025 even before the A350-1000s start arriving - on top of conversions of the 9 ex-Latam A350s, Delta has a tremendous amount of fuel efficient transpacific capable aircraft coming online in the next few years which means the competitive environment between DL and UA will be even more enhanced.
It's also used by ANA and Lufthansa passengers as well, given that they also depart from the same terminal. I heard Ethiopian no longer departs from there anymore and their departure is now from Terminal 5?
And yes I know technically all Star Alliance business passengers can use this lounge in theory, but going back and forth between Terminals 1 and 5 isn't the easiest experience or time convenient. Hopefully when the LOT lounge opens...
It's also used by ANA and Lufthansa passengers as well, given that they also depart from the same terminal. I heard Ethiopian no longer departs from there anymore and their departure is now from Terminal 5?
And yes I know technically all Star Alliance business passengers can use this lounge in theory, but going back and forth between Terminals 1 and 5 isn't the easiest experience or time convenient. Hopefully when the LOT lounge opens it will give the rest of the Star Alliance passengers a decent lounge in Terminal 5.
ET never departed from T1. They’ve always been at T5.
Interesting, I always thought it did since some sites were listing that it did back in the day.
It's been Terminal 5 as long as I can remember. They also use that Godawful Swissport lounge. I can't believe anyone would want to associate their name with that dump.