United Airlines has opened a beautiful new lounge in the brand new Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport.
United Club Newark Terminal A – First Look
The old Continental-era lounge in the old Terminal A was functional, but certainly would not win any awards for its beauty. The new lounge, however, is beautiful and offers the following amenities:
- The lounge is located near Gate A27 on the upper level
- There do not appear to be escalators up to the lounge, only stairs and an elevator
- It is 15,000-square-foot, with seating for up to 350
- The lounge is open from 5:00 am to 9:15 pm daily
- This lounge is unique in that it has an “open-air” that looks down into the terminal below
- A hot and cold buffet, full-service bar, and self-serve beverages are available
- A beautiful mural by Newark resident Antoinette Ellis-Williams greets you as you enter the lounge
There are a few apparent shortcomings: limited bathroom space (for example, only two stalls in the men’s room), no coffee barista, no showers, and no escalators. While United had to work with the space it had, these are missing opportunities.
Reader UANYC sent me a couple of pictures from his visit this morning, which I appreciate, including the picture above and the picture below.
Later today United has promised to send me some stock photos about the new lounge, so stay tuned: I’ll update this post later with photos.
By the way, this was one reason for my (failed) trip to Newark earlier this week. Since I was not there, you might enjoy checking out Zach Griff’s excellent story on the new lounge. He has some excellent pictures and commentary. I plan to be there soon….and it will be a “real” review in the sense that I will be able to gauge how crowded the lounge is.
CONCLUSION
United’s new lounge in Newark Terminal A is now open and it is not a cookie-cutter lounge: those days are long gone. I look forward to checking out the new lounge. Should anyone stop by today, please feel free to send photos or leave a comment below about how you found the new facilities.
Just in time to house all the poor sods affected by UA’s operations crisis at EWR. Cheers!
Is it just me, or between this and the pics for the future lounge in Denver, is United moving towards a more brown and beige and less blue and grey color scheme for it’s lounges?
It is. I kind of like it. How about you?
It does look modern and stylish, I will say that. Granted, that is during the daytime with all that natural light coming in. I do wonder how it would look at night.
In Zach’s review pictures, no little signs saying what each item is. This is very important to me because I don’t eat anything with fish/seafood in it
Must one have a boarding pass for a flight departing from Terminal A in order to board the shuttle bus from Terminal C?
No – nobody checks it
The most interesting part to me is the buffet upgrade. Why do they need to wait for renovations to upgrade food offerings at other Clubs? Especially at other hubs.
Great Polaris Lounge, new terminal C lounge, new terminal A lounge, old terminal C lounge getting renovated. United’s lounge game at EWR is doing well.
Thanks for sharing, Matthew! Not a fan of TPG, so it’s nice to read a preview elsewhere. Seems quite strange they would only put two stalls in the men’s room. The lack of showers is also disappointing, but so it goes.
Yeah I was there opening day. It is nice – a bigger version of LGA. If I missed the 2nd bathroom that’s on me – but the one they have I went in is tiny. And it was a small door opening to get in the hallway for both M and W bathrooms.
Was also very warm up there (much cooler below).
I’m curious if bloggers like you and Zach get a comped flight when invited to a UA Club opening.
Also, I disagree with the line “While United had to work with the space it had…”. UA is the biggest carrier in Newark. It had a say in the design of Terminal A. That being said, I think Terminal A is mainly for United Express flights. I could be wrong on that.
I also dislike how far Terminal A is from Terminal C. The Airtrain and the bus connecting terminals just don’t come frequently enough.
Lastly, I wonder if Air Canada will open a lounge here.
While it’s new and not the old A – I don’t have great things to say about this terminal as a whole
– stunningly bad link-up to the AirTrain
– loooooooong cooridors with of course no moving walkway
– really lack of thought put into getting people up to the United Club
– just looking up and around…some poor design elements
clearly designed by someone who did not know why the majority of people use a club: to get away from the noise of the airport. the open air concept is just the opposite. i do not want to hear the boarding process for a flight to saint louis. cannot conduct business. just a complete failure to understand your target audience.