United Club Houston IAH Terminal E Review
I reviewed this lounge prior to my flight to Los Angeles on my way home from Brazil.
Location + Hours + Access
Located in Terminal E, this lounge is currently open from 5:45am to 9:00pm seven days a week. It is located between Gates E11 and E12. This is the largest United Club at Bush Intercontinental Airport and includes an entrance on departures level then an elevator or escalator upstairs to the main lounge area.
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 from Chase are accepted or a single-visit pass can be purchased at the reception desk for $59. Access using one-time passes may be limited if the lounge becomes too crowded.
Also 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 IAH, United does not give premium cabin passengers access on domestic flights without status.
Global Services passengers are also allowed complimentary entrance.
Seating
At the top of the escalator you can walk straight ahead to receive flight support or turn left or right for seating.
This is another old-school Continental Airlines lounge, but features new furniture with USB and power ports. Even so, the lounge feels very late 1990’s, early 2000’s due to the dark wood paneling and low ceilings. I tend to prefer this style to the more modern open floor plan and had no trouble locating a seat on a Saturday morning at 8:00am.
Family Room
This lounge features a family room with an area for kids to run around without disturbing others, but it was closed due to the pandemic.
Food + Drink
As you make your way deeper in the lounge, you’ll hit a bar and food buffet area in the very back of the lounge. There, alcoholic beverages and soft drinks are available upon request. Beer and wine are free while premium wine and spirits do incur a fee. If you are traveling in Polaris Business class, be sure to ask for a couple of drink chits when checking in.
Beyond alcohol, beverage selections include coffee, hot water (for tea), a pair of espresso machine, and tap water in a cooler with ice.
Breakfast items included:
- Cage-free harbored eggs
- Chobani yogurt
- Bagels
- Block & Barrel hot breakfast sandwich – eggs, cheese, and sausage on a buttermilk biscuit
- Cereal
- Oatmeal – several flavors available with toppings
- Muffins
- Oranges
- Apples
(Note – The C1 lounge had a more extensive breakfast menu)
Restrooms
I used to use this lounge to shower after a redeye flight. Sadly, United has removed showers from all of its United Clubs (Polaris Lounges still have showers). The restrooms appear to have been remodeled (the showers were removed, after all).
CONCLUSION
I spent an hour in this lounge and it got less crowded the later in the morning it became. The good news is that this lounge is large enough that even with a lot of people you likely will not have trouble finding a seat. The lounge reminds me of the showers that used to be available in Continental Presidents Clubs and how much I miss them.
I was here yesterday for about 45 minutes via Star Gold status.
Food options were limited (got some oatmeal), but it was fine otherwise.
Gets me out of main terminal, so, that’s all that matters
Prior to the IAH Polaris Lounge opening, this would be my go to lounge for my quarterly business trips to Taiwan. It wasn’t anything special but grew on me since I got to know the staff and coffee WAS decent on a few occasions. UA7 to Narita was in the morning so hours aligned for me but then when I took EVA nonstop that wasn’t the case as it was late evening departure and had to visit that underwhelming “premium” lounge in terminal D. Hope to see the Polaris lounge reopen soon.
why would they outfit an otherwise nice looking restroom with the cheap, steel, uniquely american half-door stalls with giant gaps all around it?
When will UA fully renovate these outdated Continental-era lounges? The wood paneling, the floor tiles, the counter tops, the old restrooms, the falling apart wall signage, the ceilings, the overall lighting, etc. all need to be fully removed and replaced. Also, in this E lounge, the part of the lounge at the top of the escalator needs to be reconfigured to allow for proper people flow into the lounge; this layout was never a good layout. The elevator and walls are in the way.
Ditto for the lounges in B and C.
“ but it was closed due to the pandemic”
Looks like you made a typo there. It should read “it was closed for no discernible reason other than a dubious cost cutting measure.”
It’s true…
Any idea on when the Polaris lounges will open?
Unfortunately, no, although UA said it plans to re-open three Polaris lounges before the end of 2021:
https://liveandletsfly.com/united-polaris-lounges-reopen/
The showers used to be located on the 3rd floor which was shut down to accommodate the Polaris Lounge. The restrooms on the 2nd floor are the same as they have been for years.
Thanks. I forgot that detail.