My first UA Global First Lounge visit

Flying first tonight for IAD -> GRU leg on my way to MVD. A lot of firsts for me on this trip, including:

- my first visit to Uruguay
- my first time connecting to a different airline at an international airport (and thus travelling without a boarding pass for the second leg)
- my first time on TAM
- and my first time in a UA Global First Lounge

So yeah ... this IAD lounge is pretty low key. There are 7 of us here plus Veronica, the nice desk agent. I like that she did my doc check, this avoiding the line at the gate. I also like that she was expecting me and greeted me very welcomingly. The men's room is pretty spartan. The lounge is very generic and rather small. I'm attaching pictures of the food and drink offerings, which are less comparable to BA business class lounge here and about the same as the Virgin lounge here that Emirates uses.

 

I also had a first time experience in the ORD first class lounge. A little busier than IAD, but still a quiet low key way to wait between flights. 1) Lounge entrance 2) Seating areas, dining tables in the rear 3) Self service bar 4) The food selection 5) The food service counter, additional hot foods available to order. 6) There are also showers available - the lounge serves as both a departure and arrival lounge.

 

Woah... There's Woodford??????

 

It looks like IAD hasn't changed since my last visit Oct 2012. Well, except that pasta salad which I've never had looks like it is worth buying an F fare!

 

When we were in IAD on an award ticket a few years ago they had some trays of sushi. Entrance at that time was not high class, they asked multiple times if we were global first and our names were not on the list, in the end they did grant us access after we repeatedly showed them our global first tickets. The highlight is there was bubbly to drink, and the attendants were not around so it was self service (I think it was not supposed to be). It was a step up from the main UA lounge, but nothing to look forward too. Honestly unless we had a lot of time we probably would go to the lounge near the gate next time or try to hoof it to the Lufthansa lounge.

This one does look like a step up (a tad), the menu looks interesting, did you try the food?

 

You are correct that it is not supposed to be self-service (VA laws) and that it is a step up from the UClubs. But when you start that low a step up is easy to achieve.

 

I've never seen someone serve in the IAD GFL. Every now and then a cleaning crew person makes a round to clean up dirty dishes/glasses and restock the dishes/glasses by the food/drink, but I've never seen any person actively serve or service anyone in the club.

 

I remember one time in the IAD first lounge. I had a traveling colleague who was in business. I turned around and the lounge dragons let him in the first lounge. It had been awhile since we have seen each other so it was nice for us to catch up. Of course on the return trip in LHR the dragons would not let him in the FCL. He had to go to the business lounge.

 

How long ago was this and who was operating the lounge? UA doesn't have their own clubs in LHR right now.

And the *A policy does allow a guest for F lounge access. http://staralliance.com/en/benefits/status-benefits/lounge-access-policy/

 

I tried the surf and turf - a small plate sized piece of beef and cold shrimp. Tasty and juicy. Also tried the spicy ramen soup, filling, but it's ramen and nothing special. The hot soup was ok, I like adding Tabasco to the cream based soup.

 

This was 2007 or 8 and UA had their own clubs at that time. I had two ppl with me, and she would not either of them in with me. The lounge had just a couple in there until the air marshals showed up that brought it up to five.

 

I'm not sure what the *A policy was in 2007/2008 as CO was still in SkyTeam at the time.

However FAMs are NOT supposed to use the IFL if traveling on duty.

 

I know that they were FAM's as a CSR came and got them. One sat next to me in first the other bulkhead in business.

 

Used SFO IFL in October, they did have sushi, FWIW.

 

Does anyone have pictures of the LAX and SFO GFLs to post?

 

didnt snap any pics today but was in the LAX GFL this am for a bit.
I'll add that LAX is my least favorite airport in the US - I also arrived on an international overnight flight to find my connection had been canceled and was literally racing between my arriving flight and the new connection which was much tighter.

I literally needed somewhere to freshen up before heading transcon.

It was small - clean and there were only a handful of people in there - for comparison sake - about the same size as the ORD GFL.

 

I don't have any pictures, but can say the GFL at SFO is packed around Noon with all the Asia flights leaving between Noon and 2:00 p.m. (plus a couple TATLs).

 

SFO GFL


LAX GFL



Click either for more.

 

I was looking forward to visiting a GFL for the first time for our trip to Germany this fall. We booked into F but then UA changed aircraft to a 767 and bumped us back to J since there's no F cabin. :-(

 

Most of the sUA 763's have an F cabin. About a dozen later conversions were to 2-class using the sCO seat. The sCO 764's are all 2-class.

 

It's IAD-MUC (UA132)... currently showing a 2 class 764ER.

 

I'm supposed to be on that later this summer. Let me know what you think of it please.

 

When are you going? We're 8/19.

 

Nice pics -- looks quiet too. The GFL in NRT was a bit crowded the last time I was there.

 

8/31 - I have July and August off from travel