This lounge is temporarily closed as it undergoes renovation.
United Airlines is in the midst of many exciting changes at Denver International Airport concerning lounges, but for now you are stuck with one “real” lounge, the United Club West in the B Gates. Be warned, it gets very crowded.
United Club Denver West (DEN) Review
I say “real” because there is a so-called “pop-up” United Club near gate B59, but it also get crowded and offers fewer amenities.
When I arrived at the Denver West United Club, there was a huge line out the door. One-time passes were not being accepted and for good reason: there was simply no room.
Location + Hours + Access
The lounge is located in the B Terminal near Gate B30. It is open daily from 6:00am to 9:00pm.
Access is reserved for United Club members, Chase United Club Visa holders, Star Alliance Gold travelers, and international business or first class passengers traveling on any Star Alliance flight.
Furthermore, one-time passes are accepted during quiet times (early afternoon). These are distributed to Chase MileagePlus Explorer credit card holders or can be purchased at the door for $59. Note that if you hold a Star Alliance Gold card from United Airlines (Premier Gold or higher), you can only access the lounge when traveling in conjunction with an international itinerary.
Those who have a Star Gold card from other programs can use the lounge when traveling on any Star Alliance flight in any class of service. Also note that from DEN, United does not give premium cabin passengers access on domestic flights without status.
Global Services passengers are also allowed complimentary entrance.
Seating
After checking in, you’ll head up an escalator to the main lounge area, which sits above the terminal.
In word, the lounge was packed. Brutally packed. Chairs were few and far between and taking pictures while trying to respect the privacy of other guests was an impossible task. Here’s an idea of how crowded it was:
After about an hour, the lounge cleared a bit as the bank of morning departures began to depart.
It sill remained quite crowded, though.
Wanting to be fair, I returned in the early evening prior to another bank of departures and the lounge was just as crowded.
This has always been a crowded lounge, but is particularly crowded now with the East Club under renovation.
Value
Is it worth it at all? It depends. If you have access already, it’s better than the gate areas, which were equally as crowded:
But I cannot imagine myself ever spending money to stay here (like purchase a day pass), at least in its present form.
Service
She’s now enjoying retirement, but I cannot mention a Denver United Club without mentioning Chris Orr, one of my favorite United employees of all time. What a treasure she was to deal with during my many flight delays and cancellations in DEN over the years (always weather related).
> Read More: A Tribute To A Wonderful United Club Agent
United’s mobile app is now so advanced that dealing with agents is rarely a necessity.
However, I will give a strong shoutout for the lovely agent who stoked my ego while I was checking in. She thanked me for my 1K status, thanked me for being a MillionMiler, and thanked me for being so loyal, all with a huge smile on her face. I love those little touches.
Food + Drink
There’s plenty of food in this lounge, though all of it pre-packaged right now (unless it has changed over the last month).
In the morning, breakfast selections included:
- sandwiches
- egg salad croissant
- chicken croissant
- yogurt
- smoothies
- fruit in a thick syrup
- oatmeal
- hardboiled eggs (peeled)
- cereal + milk
- granola bars
After 10:30am, the afternoon/evening selections included:
- instant soup
- potato chips
- sandwiches
- ham and swiss
- pastrami
- salads
- Ceasar
- Greek
- pretzels
- string cheese
- raw vegetables with ranch-flavored dip
- crackers
- Slim Jim meat sticks
- Rice Krispie Treats
- Oreo cookies
- Milano cookies
A full service bar was all available:
With only coffee, tea, and water self-serve.
I’m not sure illy would have liked seeing United using Seattle’s Best coffee cups for its coffee…
Thankfully, it was still illy coffee…
Restrooms
I don’t have pictures of the restroom because it was so crowded, but it was clean. There are no showers.
CONCLUSION
As a pre-merger hub, I’ve been traveling via Denver and visiting that lounge for over 15 years. It’s atrociously crowded right now, but I’m comfortable there. While I hope the remodel of East and eventually the West club creates a more spacious and comfortable environment, I’ll miss what I’ve become accustomed to.
I have been commuting weekly from Dulles to DEN for last eight months on United and use the clubs at both ends extensively. Though the food and service at Dulles has not really changed all that much (pretty bad, always has been, always will be and we are resigned to that) the food selection at the single United Club West has gotten quite good. Even though its all pre-packaged as you show some of it is quite good and I would say better than the selection at the Centurion Lounge in Terminal C. I had a yogurt parfait the other days that was killer. Though many will turn up nose to pre-packaged in general pretty good (the pre-packaged hard boiled eggs are a welcome taste surprise, on the good side)
The biggest improvement United could do is recognize it needs to quadruple or more the number of coffee machines (there are only four). Anytime of day/night there is a line and the staff is constantly re-filling or the machines are self-cleaning so though the Ily coffee machines make good coffee, its a joinery to get a cup. I have to make two at a time which can seem rude but its what you have to do in DEN West
Yes, it can get crowded but I tend to take very early flights home from DEN so its not been an issue for me coming in but quickly they start to meter the inbound crowds and the line is out the door in to the terminal.
I have to say the United employees at all the lounges can be a bit cold at times but the contract lounge staff are wonderful
@Matthew, I’m pretty sure this has been asked before, but do you get access through the UA Club Infinite card? I know you mentioned in a previous article that you now have Star alliance gold status through AC though.
Have not had that card. This visit was via my AC status. Generally would just use Chase one-time passes, (or just use PP / AMEX lounges) the last few years, but had TK, SK, and BD gold status for many years before that.
I see! Thanks so much Matthew for responding! I appreciate it!
I understand not selling day passes at the location when busy but denying entry to someone that already has a pass seems wrong. Is there a disclaimer on the passes terms that state entry may be denied due to volume? Why is this persons pass less valuable at that particular time than others pass?
Yes, the passes specifically state that there can be capacity control limits on their use.
A DEN agent told me they invoke that when the Club reaches 90% capacity or more. And of course, with fire codes, that’s always the possibility that even full time members would be denied access when the fire code limits are reached.
This remains one of my least favorite UA lounges = only saving grace is some tarmac views. I suppose I dislike the Newark club (the high 90s I think?) less than this, but I certainly look forward to the Capital One lounge opening in DEN.
I agree with Mr. Bill, I think the food has gotten better at this club. It can be a challenge to get vegetables when traveling/at the airport. This club consistently has a good variety of salads and light wraps.
I also agree on the coffee situation but wish that United clubs would offer cold brew in cans or on tap.
I think the review is fair, particularly given the closure of the other club. I do have to disagree with the comment about the restrooms. I’ve always found the restrooms at the DEN clubs to be pretty gross. I think it’s mostly their age and design. Often a couple of urinals are out of order and the hand towels are either out or moist from sink water. Plus you have those awful Dyson hand driers that blow nasty sink water all around. The first, and last, time I used them they blew a glob of toothpaste right out of the basin onto the counter. Yuck.
Don’t forget that there is a new grab-and-go concept opening at DEN for United and supposedly a new club in A (center core) is still in the works (it was approved pre COVID). No Polaris option coming, though, from what I’ve seen.
For being such an important hub for United, it is a shame the lack of premium offerings. Hopefully, we’ll have one nicer lounge soon, but they really seemed to have ignored DEN for a long time. Plus, the catering issues that have been discussed here for flights out of DEN and I don’t think there are any flights with the new Polaris hard product (last I checked, the last 787’s with the old business class were still on our routes to LHR and FRA, and NRT before).
Right now, Frankfurt is the only Polaris flight operating out of DEN (excluding all the domestic flights using Polaris cabins, there are a lot of those from DEN right now). The Frankfurt flight will still show the old 787-9 seat map when you go to book it, however, the bulk of United 787-9s have been retrofitted so the odds are it will switch to the new Polaris seats 2 days before the flight. Premium Plus is just listed as economy plus though.
That all changes on March 26, when the 2nd daily London flight starts, all the long haul flights have the new Polaris and premium plus cabin loaded in starting then.
The lounge situation in Denver right is sad given how important of a hub Denver is. Hopefully these new lounges really improve the experience.
Thanks for the info. I wish I knew that when I recently booked a flight through ORD on TK rather than a DEN direct to FRA (and both connect onward to my final destination). I indeed saw the old seatmap and assumed the last of the non-converted planes were on DEN routes.
I’m glad they’re refurbishing these lounges. They look so corporate and uninviting. Plus, they have no individual character. If you weren’t paying close attention you could not tell if you were in either East or West.
I went to the DEN pop-up two weeks ago. The agents were very nice, the lounge was not crowded and there were more food options than at the old lounge.
The pop-up at EWR is similar. Less crowded, nicer, more food options…only a restroom is missing.
Will have to try the pop-up this weekend. Though I said at the top of this chain I have been commuting to DEN since August got a four week break but start again this weekend. Will walk down and give it a review as the Centurion Lounge is wearing on me (it was a change of pace over the United club and its crowding but the AMEX lounge gets crowded faster these days). Thanks
No mention of the mini Polaris section being constructed in the closed lounge?
Is the mini Polaris concept going to be in the A lounge or B lounge?
Good coffee, nice views of the airfield, and place to go if I am there early (home base) for me. The other club needs to pen since this one is jam packed. DIA (DEN) banks their UA flights so late mornings are usually better. Did you check out the observation decks at the end of the B concourse?
So, was in Denver yesterday and stopped in the UNited Club at 07:00 since near my gate. Got really crowded really quick and by 08:00 they were metering people., got loud and too cramped for my taste All the sudden my gate changed to B52 which happens to be right near the new B59 United Club Pop-Up Club. Walked over and to my surprise there were only two of us in the Club (yes, really only two of us) but it did get a bit crowded as a third person came in as I left 🙂 It’s about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the full service club which was also a surprise (bigger than I thought it would be). The food and drink selection is less than the full service club but if you wanted to ‘grab-and-go’ for your flight (which I did) its OK (unsweetened Illy coffee in a can was pretty great for a diabetic like me). The two United staff were really nice and kept coming around to ask “can we help you with anything?”. There is no espresso machine in there and no bathrooms but bathroom is 50 ft away in the terminal and actually larger and nicer than the on in the full sized club. In all I will be back.
Matthew, I have some pics if you would like.