Newark United Club Closes November 7, Rebrands as Polaris Lounge
The rollout of United's new Polaris Lounges has been much slower than most — including United itself — anticipated. After the first Polaris Lounge opened in Chicago (ORD) in 2016, the carrier laid out an optimistic plan for the opening of more of its lounges — Houston (IAH), Newark (EWR) and San Francisco (SFO) were supposed to be open by mid-2017, and Washington Dulles (IAD) and Los Angeles (LAX) were going to open by the end of the year. However, here we are at the beginning of November and ORD is still the only Polaris Lounge with its doors open to travelers.
The delay isn't news — we've known for a while that the next Polaris Lounge wasn't going to open until 2018. But now, we have some more details about when and where the Polaris Lounge at Newark will open. As Edward Russell of FlightGlobal tweeted, the EWR Polaris Lounge will be located in what is currently the United Club by Gate C120. The current United Club will close on November 7, so it can be refurnished and rebranded as a Polaris Lounge. Once the renovations are complete, the former United Club will reopen as a brand new Polaris Lounge in summer 2018.
We reached out to United for confirmation, but have yet to hear back.
The current United Club near Gate C120, which is also close to United's Classified restaurant, is one of two United Clubs in Terminal C at the carrier's Newark hub. The other is located on the upper level of the Terminal, close to Gate 74, so United Club pass holders will still have access to one lounge in the Terminal. The closing of the United Club by gate C120 is just six days away — not much warning.
Currently, the United Club offers the basics — snacks, beer and wine, showers, Wi-Fi and more. If the already-opened Polaris Lounge at ORD is any indication, the EWR lounge should be a huge step up from what passengers are used to seeing in the space.
