One notable hole in the United Airlines lounge system is the dearth of showers in the United States. United had showers in Chicago, London, São Paulo, and San Francisco available only to arriving first and business class full-fare passengers (as well as departing first class passengers in SFO) and showers for all club guests in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The merger with Continental brought showers to Houston and Newark, but that still left a huge gap.
Recently, shower icons showed up next to the Chicago C-16 and São Paulo United Clubs on united.com:
It appeared that showers were now available to all guests in these two lounges.
Aaron Goldberg, UA Insider on Flyertalk and MilePoint, confirmed the change in status–
Hi everyone,
ORD and GRU showers are no longer restricted to arriving pax only. A bit of background–as you know, our shower facilities at certain airports are either physically within or directly adjacent to the respective United Clubs and/or Global First Lounges. However, up until recently our facilities at ORD (and GRU) were branded separately, as Arrivals Lounges, with a more limited access policy.
As of January 1 [2013], the ORD and GRU shower facilities are now fully integrated with the adjacent lounges, bringing the shower access policy in line with NRT, HKG, IAH and EWR. In short, if you have access to the UC/GFL at these airports, you can also use the showers, no matter if you are arriving (connecting) or departing.
We do still have dedicated Arrivals Lounges at SFO and LHR, which at present are only open for eligible arriving customers. However, it’s worth noting that there are also several showers available at the SFO Global First Lounge, for any customer eligible to use that lounge.
I don’t have any information at this time on shower facilities at additional domestic clubs, however I can confirm that our new lounge facilities at LHR will have showers.
So the Arrivals Lounges in San Francisco and London will remain unchanged, but Chicago is now open to all. The C16 lounge, however, is slated to undergo a refurbishment later this year so there will likely be a period during which the whole lounge is closed.
Still, a nice added option. I used the shower facilities in Newark yesterday and it is nice to have the option of showering before your flight. To summarize, currently showers are available to all United Club guests at the following airports–
- Chicago
- Hong Kong
- Houston
- Newark
- São Paulo
- Tokyo
Hopefully more will follow. Creating a “world class airline” means offering lounge amenities like the other world class airlines…
How are the United Club showers? Dirty, modern, good amenities?
Good question. Check back later in the week for some pictures I took yesterday at EWR.
I regularly use the IAH showers on my way to and from latin america. They’re new and well maintained. Staff is super friendly and helpful (as is the norm at IAH). Sometimes you have to be persistent to track down the staff member responsible for granting access. This is a great United amenity if you’re flying through Houston.
My sister used the EWR showers and said they’re phenomenal. You do have to be mindful of the fact that sometimes there is a list and a wait required.
I am a UC member based in ORD, so I plan on using the C-16 one just to test it out. Does anyone know if the refurbishments are happening anytime soon?
I used the showers at ORD yesterday after arriving from MUC. I’d say they were on par with other *A carriers and slightly nicer (albeit older) than IAH.
Anyone know if the Houston showers are still open to anyone with a pass? Or only if you’re in biz class?
Houston showers are available to anyone in the club.
Does anyone know if the Houston United Club showers provide towels, soap, etc?
@Jim, yes towels, soap, and even toothbrushes and shaving kits are provided.