Why I love the new United Club (Priority Pass) lounge in Terminal 2

This is my review of the United Club lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 2.

With the Aer Lingus lounge closed when I headed to Dublin last week, I decided to try the United Airlines Club lounge.  This is my review of this impressive new lounge.

This is the allocated Priority Pass lounge.  If you have a Priority Pass via American Express Platinum with unlimited free lounge visits, that will also get you in.  You CANNOT get in using the Lounge Club passes that come with American Express Gold – unless Lounge Club has simply failed to update their website.

First, the bad news.  The lounge is in Terminal 2B.  This means that you need to take the tunnel from the main terminal.  There is no train.

It is actually even further than it looks because it dips down at the end and carries on.

It is worth the effort though.  Here are the bar, the longest in the airport apparently:

It was amusing to hear the receptionists having to explain to American guests that the bar was actually free – a rather stunning concept to anyone who has ever used an American airline lounge.

There is a full bar menu including a cocktail list and champagne:

From your seat you can survey the main lounge area – the full lounge is about five time bigger than the area you see here:

…. and there is a library area off to the right:

Attractive wall art ….

…. but a massive shame about the view which is blocked.  You can see the main Terminal 2 building in the distance – that is how far you have to walk!

Let’s talk about food.  If you like food, you’ll like the United Club lounge.  They have hot food:

… and more hot food …

… oh, and more hot food ….

… oh, wait, I’ve found even more hot food ….

Prefer cold food?  You’re in luck:

…. and

…. with no shortage of dressings:

So, where’s the catch?

There are no PC’s in the lounge.  I know, I am old fashioned, but I do like to use a proper desktop in a lounge rather than relying on an iPad.

More importantly, the lounge was pretty busy when I was there.  Remember that Terminal 2 is only running at about 30% capacity at the moment.  When all of the other airlines move across it could get pretty painful.

Finally, you need to factor in 30 minutes transfer time.  It will take you 15 minutes to get there from 2A and 15 minutes to get back.  If you check in less than 90 minutes before departure then forget it, unless your flight is departing from 2B.

Apart from the transfer time, this lounge is a real coup for Priority Pass and I recommend giving it a try when you use Terminal 2.  It is worth noting that – at least so far – the other third-party lounge in Terminal 2, Plaza Premium, is NOT accepting Priority Pass cards so United Club is the only option.  I will write more about Plaza Premium later this week.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (September 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here. 

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges. The card has a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points which is a special offer running to 2nd November 2021.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here. 

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.