After my United long-haul flight from Hong Kong, I have three hours left in San Francisco until my next domestic flight to Las Vegas. I was so excited to check out my first United Polaris Lounge!
The New United Polaris Lounge at San Francisco is simply stunning and a game changer!
The lounge is available to customers traveling in United Polaris first or business class on long-haul international flights departing or arriving into SFO as well as customers traveling on a long-haul international flight on a Star Alliance partnered airline in first or business class.
The new lounge is located near gate 92 at the International terminal, but it is also accessible from the domestic terminal by a walkway. The lounge has two floors and occupies over 28,000 square feet of space. Let’s have a picture tour floor by floor.
The lowest floor of the lounge features a quiet library and individual pod seating/working area.
There are shower suites available (also handicapped suites) with Saks Fifth Avenue amenities and Cowshed spa products.
There is also a quite area, with 5 individual day chairs and other sleep amenities on offer.
If you take the escalator upstairs, you will find more seating areas with a sweeping view of the International Terminal G apron. I have noticed there are plenty of USB and power outlets around.
The lounge is so large that there are additional spaces at the back that almost no one entered during my visit at 11am, which is peak hour for international departures.
In the middle of the lounge, there is a bar which offers all complimentary drinks such as special made to order cocktails, beers, liquors and wines. This is a huge step up from the old International lounge where you have to pay for alcohol drinks.
After the bar, there is a buffet station with salads, udon noodles and hot food.
Saving the best to the end, there is “The Dining Room” which is a restaurant in the United Polaris Lounge. Here are the menus:
Overall, I think the United Polaris Lounge at SFO is a game changer. The lounge has everything that a traveler needs. I spent almost three hours in the lounge and time passed so quickly. The thing I liked the most about the lounge is how spacious and bright it feels. The extra space definitely helped me feel more relaxed before and after my flight.
Have you been to any new Polaris Lounge? I would love to hear about your thoughts.
Go to United Polaris Tracker to see the progress of the aircraft and lounge roll out.
Sam , I must say that it truly is an outstanding looking lounge. Unfortunately, like many of the others, it doesn’t look like there’s anything food-wise for the kosher traveler to enjoy. Some lounges have some packaged kosher food with a known kosher supervision on it. Others may have some fresh, uncut fruit, but mostly there’s nothing much. This one looks like another of the nothing that can be eaten variety
🙁
Interesting. But I haven’t seen any lounge internationally serve Kosher food. Do you know any? (Other than israel)
Sam—
Great review of what is, truly, a “Gamechanger”!
I believe you are wrong, though, about having had to previously pay for drinks in the International Lounge. They’ve been Complimentary at least since the merger with CO which was ten years ago.
You missed one of the best burgers I’ve ever had at the SFO Polaris Club. Service was a bit slow but this was in the first month or so that they were open.
Hi Frank you’re right. I must have mixed up with United Club on drinks.