United Airlines Is Adding New Airport Lounges – Here’s How to Get Access Without Purchasing a Membership

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Once you’ve had the privilege of relaxing in an airport lounge, it’s hard to go back to uncomfortable chairs and expensive meals for long layovers.  Any time new airport lounges are being built it’s good news, and right now United Airlines is planning to add 4 more locations to its worldwide network of 50 lounges.

You can get 2 complimentary one-time lounge passes every year with either of these United Airlines cards:

• United℠ Explorer Card
• United℠ Business Card

Or you can get unlimited access to United Airlines airport lounges with the United Club Card or the United Club Business Card.

Information for the United Club Card and the United Club Business Card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets and has not been reviewed by the card issuer.

United Airlines Is Building New Airport Lounges

United Airlines is in the process of adding airport lounges at the following airports:

• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (Summer 2019)
• New York – La Guardia
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport

If you’re a Star Alliance Gold elite flying with a Star Alliance airline, you can access United Club Lounges at your departing airport, but if you’re flying with United Airlines it will need to be an international flight.  You’ll also have access to United lounges if you are flying internationally in Business Class or First Class with United Airlines or a Star Alliance partner.

Starting on November 1, 2019, to access a United Airlines lounge, you will need to have a same-day boarding pass and be traveling with United Airlines or one of their partner airlines, in addition to the other requirements mentioned.  You can see all of the nitty gritty of United’s lounge access requirements here.  Often you’re only allowed in at your departure airport, but that does vary.  And the rules for guest access vary depending on your class of service and other factors.

You can also buy a United Airlines Club membership.  You can pay with miles or cash and both prices are bit much for me:

If you plan to pay $450+ for a United Club membership, I would suggest signing up for one of the United Club credit cards instead.  Both the business and personal version have a $450 annual fee and come with the same club membership plus other perks, like free checked bags.

The biggest downside to a United Club lounge membership is that you’ll soon have to be flying with United Airlines or one of their partners to get in.  So if you aren’t particularly loyal to United Airlines, you should look into applying for one of the other best credit cards for airport lounge access.  Quite a few of them come with Priority Pass lounge access, which gets you into over 1,000 airport lounges around the world!

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