Between September 16 and 28, I flew tens of thousands of miles: a round trip to Switzerland, followed by a round trip to Bangkok through Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Along the way, I had plenty of chances to compare United’s lounges.

The United Club at Newark Liberty International Airport was my clear favorite. It is bright, clean and well run, and the food was the best I had in any lounge on these trips. It was a comfortable place to spend time before a long flight.

My experience at the Newark Polaris lounge was less impressive. Over crowed, no place to sit, no way to get a restaurant reservation, lines at the bars. I will say the food on the buffet had some great choices. The Polaris lounge in Los Angeles was the biggest disappointment. During my evening visit, the service and food presentation fell well short of what I expected with a premium ticket. No restaurant seating even though seats were available, food that looked like it sat out for hours, no seating for 2 persons. Perhaps it is better during the day, but based on that visit, and the return through I would not go back. In the mean time the LAX United club lounge was great. Something needs to be done to take care of Polaris passengers.

After so much travel in less than two weeks, the differences were hard to miss. United has shown with its Newark United Club that it knows how to run an excellent lounge. I hope it brings that same care and consistency to its Polaris lounges.

Joe Lipman

President, Summit Management Services

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