Over the past couple of years United has opened four Polaris Lounges, which are their new international business class lounges. These lounges are open to United and Star Alliance business and first class passengers, and they’re truly spectacular, especially for a US airline.
United Polaris Lounge Chicago
They feature a la carte dining, beautiful decor, and they’re typically not even too crowded.
At first United struggled to gain momentum with the rollout of these lounges, but they’ve done really well this year:
- The Polaris Lounge Chicago opened in December 2016
- The Polaris Lounge San Francisco opened in April 2018
- The Polaris Lounge Newark opened in June 2018
- The Polaris Lounge Houston opened in June 2018
United Polaris Lounge Houston
We’ve known that the next United Polaris Lounge will be opening in Los Angeles, and for that matter it’s the only Polaris Lounge that will be opening in the next year or two, as all the others (in Hong Kong, London, Tokyo Narita, and Washington Dulles) are just listed as “future locations” rather than as “under construction.”
While the Polaris Lounge LAX was slated to open in fall 2018, it looks like that’s not happening. The good news is that they’re not too far behind.
United Polaris Lounge Newark
Per the United Polaris Tracker, the Polaris Lounge LAX will be opening on January 12, 2019.
So this is useful to know if you have any longhaul Star Alliance travel coming up early next year and haven’t yet decided where to route through.
The Polaris Lounge will be located in Terminal 7, which is exclusively used by United. United business class passengers can use the lounge as long as they have a same day Polaris ticket and an outbound boarding pass, so you can use it if flying business class Los Angeles to San Francisco to Hong Kong, Tokyo to Los Angeles to San Diego, etc.
United’s Star Alliance partner airlines (Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Lufthansa, Singapore, Swiss, Turkish, etc.) depart from Tom Bradley International Terminal. The good news is that the two terminals are connected airside, so you could still visit the lounge, but you’d have to walk from TBIT to T4 to T5 to T6 to T7, so it’s a bit of a haul.
Star Alliance first and business class passengers can only use the lounge with an outbound nonstop longhaul boarding pass.
Are you excited to check out United’s LAX Polaris Lounge?
One way to "sell" the Polaris lounge for Intl Star Alliance Biz class passengers leaving on flights out of TBIT would be to offer a shuttle bus from Terminal 7 secure area (Polaris Lounge location) into the secure area of TBIT.
The Star Alliance Lounge in TBIT (managed by Air New Zealand) is lovely but can sometime get busy.
@Nate Nate, Anyone flying UA Polaris via another hub (i.e. LAX-IAH-GIG) has access to the lounge, along with pax arriving on a UA Polaris flight and pax flying a Star carrier in a premium cabin out of LAX.
@dee
Yes, award tickets are eligible for access.
@Nate Nate
Access for Star Alliance travelers in business class is limited to flights over 6 hours. If the Air Canada flight departing from LAX is over 6 hours, yes. The longest flight I can find is to Montreal and it is under 6 hours, so my guess would be no. Passengers connecting to a United Polaris flight have access. For example travelers flying LAX-SFO-TLV...
@dee
Yes, award tickets are eligible for access.
@Nate Nate
Access for Star Alliance travelers in business class is limited to flights over 6 hours. If the Air Canada flight departing from LAX is over 6 hours, yes. The longest flight I can find is to Montreal and it is under 6 hours, so my guess would be no. Passengers connecting to a United Polaris flight have access. For example travelers flying LAX-SFO-TLV or LAX-SFO-HKG have access in LAX. That contributes to the need for a Polaris Lounge there.
@Matthew
Yes, assuming you are traveling in United Polaris from SFO to TLV. You just need your same-day Polaris boarding pass.
@John S
In planning, LOL.
Can someone help me understand why they opened this lounge if there are very few non-stop flights departing LAX where qualifying Polaris tickets are sold. My guess is only the flights to London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Melbourne will qualify. CEO said that LAX is near capability, so we shouldn't expect new flights to Munich or Frankfurt anytime soon.
Can AIr Canada flyers departing from Terminal 6 use it?
T7 to TBIT is quite the haul. Don't think it will be worth it to visit for my upcoming Singapore flight
That’s quite a hike to TBIT. I have an outbound leg in F on a *A partner, next and am not sure I want to make the trek from T7 to TBIT. I’d love to hear some reader suggestions for good lounges in TBIT.
they really should allow lounge access for premium transcons. So dumb they dont.
Why a future lounge in HKG? There isn't that many UA flights going to HKG. Only three as far I know.
Can you purchase a day pass for the Polaris lounge?
Why no love for IAD? It is a major Hub with many International flights, no?
What a joke UA is! Still rolling out new lounges, as they relentlessly roll-back the onboard experience in so many ways. Oh well, at least we will have an acceptable lounge experience before boarding for the new gutted Polaris experience. Way to go UA !
For the record, the LAX lounge is more than half a year late.
Was originally slated for spring 2018, then move to summer, and finally Q4 2018.
Flying united business LAX-SFO-TLV. Will I be able to use the lounge in LAX?
Traveling fist class sounds a bit pugilistic to me. You may wish to correct the typo.
@Cedric: Yes you can walk airside from Terminal 8 all the way to TBIT. You need to go underground for part of the journey.
I suspect there are a fair amount of LAX originating passengers who are connecting to long-haul UA international flights in SFO, ORD, IAD and EWR (and possibly a few via DEN when FRA starts?) to help fill up the Polaris Lounge. Double that for when they return, too.
Are you saying that one can clear security in UA terminal 7 and actually walk to departure gate in TBIT without having to go thru additional security screening again ? I realize it’s a long walk....but this would be great!
It still stumps me that UA is even ipenia Polaris Lounge at LAX domestic terminals for UA with so very few international flights fromnLAX
All other star alliance partners except AC operate out...
Are you saying that one can clear security in UA terminal 7 and actually walk to departure gate in TBIT without having to go thru additional security screening again ? I realize it’s a long walk....but this would be great!
It still stumps me that UA is even ipenia Polaris Lounge at LAX domestic terminals for UA with so very few international flights fromnLAX
All other star alliance partners except AC operate out of TBIT. When phase two opens - I thought UA would move to it too...
@ Cedric -- Yep! https://onemileatatime.com/connect-terminals-lax/
Hi Lucky,
Do they offer lounge access on business rewards ticket?
Where will the LAX location be, specifically? In the former United Club location?
How about when the 787-10 starts flying? Will Polaris passengers between LAX and Newark also have access to Polaris lounge?
@ JeffL -- Nope, they don't offer Polaris Lounge access for transcon customers.
Thank god at last! I’ve been traveling through T7 a good amount and have walked by the entrance several times with it being under construction and never knew when it was opening but that’s good to know!