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United Airlines giveth and United Airlines taketh away. Lately, though, it’s been doing more of the latter.
The latest example are new restrictions on Polaris Lounge access (which are more premium than United Clubs), by removing entry for travelers flying business or first class on certain Star Alliance partners.
Here’s what to know.
United Eliminates Polaris Lounge Access for Certain Star Alliance Partners
Whether you frequently or only occasionally fly Star Alliance business or first class and take advantage of reciprocal access to United Polaris Lounges, we’ve got bad news. United just rolled out unannounced changes to the access policies for its most premium lounges.
In short, to access a Polaris Lounge, you’ll now need to be flying on one of the following partner tickets:
- First class on Lufthansa, SWISS, or ANA
- Business class on ANA, Air New Zealand, or ITA
- Basic or flex business class on Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, or Brussels Airlines
To help make sense of these changes, travelers flying business or first class on airlines like Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, and EgyptAir — among others — no longer receive complimentary Polaris Lounge access.
In other words, if you’re passing through Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Houston Intercontinental (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), New York/Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), or Washington Dulles (IAD) on a now ineligible partner ticket, you’ll be redirected to a United Club or another partner lounge instead.
Moreover, access on eligible partner tickets is limited to departure before your long-haul flight. That differs from flying on a standard or flexible United Polaris ticket, where you can access the lounge at departure, during connections, and on arrival as part of a same-day itinerary.
Related: How to Use the AwardWallet Lounge Tool to Find All the Airport Lounges You Can Access
Bottom Line
United Airlines is on a bit of a heater when it comes to rolling out less-than-favorable changes for travelers. That includes brand-new basic fares in premium cabins and all but requiring a co-branded credit card to fully participate in the MileagePlus program. And paring back lounge access for Star Alliance partners — even if it’s warranted due to crowding — doesn’t reverse that trend.
In the Reddit thread that an AwardWallet reader, Brian, pointed us to, one traveler discovered these updates the day they went into effect. After scanning what would have previously been an eligible boarding pass, they were met with a red “not eligible” message at the entrance.
And, in my humble opinion, there are better ways to roll out negative changes than letting your biggest spenders and most frequent flyers find out after getting barked at by a boarding pass scanner.
Enough is enough. 1k for years, spending over $150,000 each year with United, never got invitation to Global Services. Now, tickets to EU doble prices, and NO access to Polaris lounge once you purchase business class ticket for cash, miles, upgrades, etc. You must pay EXTRA $1,000 to get access to longue each time ( and get ticket with change allowance ) . Thank you very much, United. Other airlines will take our $150,000 each year. Decreasing the basic respect to the customers is your normal business practice. Good luck – I sold all United shares I had in my portfolio. Short term look for money will finally move this airlines levels down , with no customers using it for business travels
Does this hold true if I booked my flight using United miles, on the United website, but I am flying Turkish Airlines Business?
No. For Polaris Lounge access, United looks at the airline operating your flight rather than where you booked or whether you used United miles.
So if you’re flying Turkish Airlines Business Class — even on an award ticket booked through United.com with MileagePlus miles — you’re considered a Star Alliance partner business-class passenger. Under United’s new policy, those passengers generally no longer receive Polaris Lounge access and instead are directed to the United Club (where available).
What is most disappointing is that this change breaks the (until now) consistency of Alliance benefits across all Alliance member airlines. Meaning this sort of change may happen with even more airlines going forward. That said, last time I visited a United Club, the food buffet was much more on par with other international airlines than in decades past, and certain United Clubs have shower suites (may also be in the new upcoming record setting mega United Clubs). But now airports are getting Minute Suites and other pay as you go shower suite options. Still, this also puts a premium on credit card lounge benefits, which often will be the only on-airport shower suite options for many travelers.