I do not think it was planned, but United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby let slip news that a Polaris Lounge will be coming to Denver International Airport, the final United hub in the continental USA without a flagship business class lounge.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby: Polaris Lounge Coming To Denver
Speaking to press and employees at an event in Denver to mark United’s expansion at its Rocky Mountain hub, Kirby said:
“By the way, I think I’m standing–I’m probably not supposed to announce this–on a location–look Linda [Jojo] is laughing at me–that’s probably in a couple years going to be the next Polaris club.”
You can hear his own words here (fast forward to 16 minutes and 18 seconds).
https://youtu.be/oXrAbaQm6o8?t=960
What you can’t see is the look on the face of Linda Jojo, United’s Chief Customer Officer, who clearly was not expecting this announcement.
The lounge will be located in Concourse A on the mezzanine level between Gates A18 and A20. The nearby Concourse A United Club is currently under construction with plans to be completed this summer. Stay tuned to Live and Let’s Fly for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the new lounge later today.
The addition of the Denver lounge would mark a capstone in United’s domestic network. Its other US hubs (with the exception of Guam, a unique and remote station) all feature Polaris lounges, a den of a la carte dining and enhanced amenities for United and Star Alliance longhaul business class passengers:
No other details were provided and it should be noted that this lounge is likely years away from opening (per Kirby, at least two). That said, as Denver grows as a hub it is only natural that a Polaris Lounge would open. We’ve seen United add international service from Denver (which now includes London, Frankfurt, Munich, and Tokyo) but it is also a starting point or connecting point for many Polaris travelers. In that sense, the lounge is long overdue.
CONCLUSION
United CEO Scott Kirby let the cat out of the bag: a Polaris Lounge is coming to Denver in United’s new A-West gate area. Details are currently scant, but expect an opening in “a couple” of years.
Finally, kudos to Zach Griff of TPG, who was standing just a few paces away from me in Denver when Kirby uttered these words, for grabbing his laptop and quickly filing a story before the event was even finished. While I sat and listened to the remarks from various United executives, Griff listened in one ear while churning out his story. Speaking as a travel blogger, that’s quite an inspiration.
Question for you- I get why United flies from Guam, but why is it a ‘hub’? There doesn’t seem to me much traffic there at all for the obvious reasons. Is it just to stake United’s claim in serving the island? Or is it more important for their network than I realize?
There’s a network to Japan.
While not a true hub in the sense of large number of flights/destinations, it more or less functions as its own airline within an airline (think of it as GuamAir) with a network that is a vital link to the Micronesian region. With Guam being a US territory, it has a lot of the infrastructure and resources that the smaller Micronesian islands depend on for existence and UA serves as the defacto means to deliver it to them.
Also its a big Japanese tourist market ….think of it as the poor man’s alternative to Hawaii.
To some extent there aren’t really connecting banks, not sure if there were previously. I flew over GUM to connect to CNS back in 2009, but it involved overnighting because the NRTGUM flight arrived after the CNS flight departed. I worked at CO at the time and it was really interesting to see how GUM functioned as a hub and sort of to the beat of its own drum. Sure there were signs that said Continental, but there definitely was a different vibe. I was non-revving GUMHNL and the agents tried to pull a fast one on me and skip over my brother who was flying at my boarding priority. There were about 50 people flying standby and the 764 had to take a weight restriction, leaving a lot of people at the gate. They cleared about 10 more people (who appeared to be friends of the gate agent) and let’s just say I caught her “error” and not only did my brother get handed a boarding pass but 9 other people ended up boarding instead of the gate agents friends.
Finally! Let’s hope we get another couple of options to Europe as a result of this. Fingers crossed for Zurich on Swiss.
Speaking of new routes, wonder when Turkish will begin flights to Istanbul.
Edelweiss flies Denver to Zurich on a seasonal basis.
Unfortunately Edelweiss is not *A and therefore no lounge access.
“Let the hat out of the bag”?
Hats don’t escape bags, but cats do.
Hopefully it was a UA branded hat, at least.
You can blame Suess for that! 😉
“We’ve seen United add international service from Denver (which now includes London, Frankfurt, Munich, and Tokyo) but it is also a starting point or connecting point for many Polaris travelers.”
Not to mention departing Lufthansa passengers as well.
Do my eyes deceive me? Has the Great White Whale of US Aviation, the Polaris Lounge at DEN, been spotted at last? Next thing you’ll tell me is that American’s announced that it’s going to do something about the pathetic excuses for Admiral’s Clubs at CLT.
Woohoo! Cannot wait.
I think everyone knew it wasn’t a question of if Denver was getting one, but when (and where).
I’m hopeful this will also be a catalyst for more international routes out of DEN and was mildly surprised there weren’t any of those announced.