Buried in the announcement of the new Club Fly Lounge in Houston was official confirmation that United Airlines will reopen its long-shuttered United Club In Hong Kong (HKG) later this year.
United Club In Hong Kong Will Reopen In 2025
The lounge closed during the pandemic in 2020 and five years later has not reopened. But that will change in 2025, with the lounge scheduled to reopen later this year.
Live And Let’s Fly asked United if it was targeting a specific opening date, but United responded that it does not have specific timing to share at this point.
I’ve flown through Hong Kong quite a bit over the years, but have not been to the United Club in Hong Kong since 2008! Back then, it was a Red Carpet Club and I snapped the following pictures:
Along with Mexico City (MEX), Tokyo Narita (NRT), and London (LHR), the lounge is only one of four outside the United States operated by United (some of you may remember the old United Clubs in Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Paris, and Sao Paulo, as I do).
Don’t expect a Polaris Lounge in HKG, but this was a very solid lounge up until 2020 with wonderful staff and nice food. I’m hoping that will be true again.
Other lounge projects in the United pipeline include:
- Denver – the completion of the B West United Club later this year (plus a Polaris Lounge at some future point)
- Houston – a huge new United Club as part of the terminal expansion project will open in 2026
- San Francisco – a new United Club will open in 2026
- Washington Dulles – a new United Club will open as part of new Concourse E (anticipated opening in 2026, but my prediction is 2028)
Which United Club are you most looking forward to?
top images: Flyertalk
I remember former Sydney / Melbourne UA lounge – Such a wonderful and friendly workers. They do know how to take good care of their passengers – Miss old days
I miss this club so hard. The SQ lounge is nice but small.
I always preferred the Thai lounge.
I remember transiting in HKG as a *Gold years ago and would opt to eat in the Thai lounge and then move to the United Club which was always quieter and had more ample seating during my departure times (I usually wouldn’t be flying United). It was a decent lounge though lacking in anything truly special and a far cry from the Polaris lounges of today.
United continues to kick butt in Asia and the Pacific. I remember when Delta had the old Northwest network with lounges in Guam, Manila, etc.
Being a *A flyer in HKG kind of sucks. I went to the United Club in HKG in 2017 and I thought it was pretty bad, at least for HKG’s high standards. If they don’t make it look like the lounge at LHR, then I’m not sure why they’re even bothering.
I wonder if United Airlines plan to have more flights out of Hong Kong. In the past, UA has non-stop flights from Hong Kong to Singapore and Tokyo.
BTW, if United Airlines want to affluent travellers to associate UAL as premier international carrier, UAL need to operate more UAL branded lounges at major international airports in Europe and Pacific Asia (for Asian cities I suggest Seoul, Taipei, and Singapore).
IIRC, the original plan pre-pandemic was to turn the HKG UC into a Polaris Lounge (I recall something similar was planned for the LHR UC).
UA also had RCCs in MEL/SYD/BKK/SAL/TPE/AKL/SCL.
The MVD lounge stayed open until the EZE tag (flight ran IAD-EZE-MVD) ended in 2007. The staff at the lounge were all holdovers from PanAm!
I doubt UA Club in Hong Kong can be meaningful for its business. Hong Kong is more like any other Chinese major cities today and lost its international shine. Flights’ load factor is lower than it used to be. I fly to Hong kong when I was not able to get a seat on Taipei or Singapore flights. If I need to go to China, I fly to Taipei to connect because there are more choices of destinations being served by EVA and Air China. Connected flights to China via TPE cost less than direct UA flights from SFO to PEK or PVG. Just a few months ago, I paid UA over $9400 for a one way ticket from SFO to PVG.
Just been there. Same old. Struggled to see any-many upgrades. Still open to the terminal – prepare to sweat depending on time of day! Overall, same as before and not good considering upgrades to United Clubs in the US and other lounges!