United Club Membership Pricing & Entry Rule Changes

United Airlines, like all other airlines in the United States, sells memberships to its own domestic lounges, as lounge access on flights within North America is usually not granted based on status or even cabin (with a few exceptions).

Star Alliance Gold members can continue to access United Club even on domestic itineraries, as long as their Star Gold is NOT from United.

You can access United’s page for Club here.

Individual Membership (formerly “Base”)

Annual Fee:

$750 or 94,000 miles for everyone – no discounts to elite members.

Access Rights:

United Club lounges only (no Star Alliance partner lounges).

No complimentary guests; additional guests are $59 each.

All Access Membership (formerly “Premium”)

Annual Fee (Cash or Miles):

General / Premier Silver / Premier Gold: $1,400 or 175,000 miles

Premier Platinum: $1,300 or 163,000 miles

Premier 1K: $1,200 or 150,000 miles

Global Services (GS): $1,000 or 125,000 miles

Access Rights:

Full United Club access and Star Alliance partner lounges worldwide when traveling on a Star Alliance carrier.

Up to two adult guests, or one adult guest plus dependents under 18.

Note that United has changed what qualifies as a dependent from 20 to 18 years.

Conclusion

Some of the Chase cobranded cards include individual memberships, and the annual fee is lower than the $750 required to purchase Club access alone.

United here tries to incentivize members to sign up for their cobranded card and spend more using it, as the INDIVIDUAL turns to ALL ACCESS if they are either Premier Gold or higher or spend more than $50K on eligible cobranded cards.

The main benefit of using airline-specific lounges in the United States is that they usually have employees on hand who can rebook you in case of irregularities or do basic ticketing.

These airline-specific lounges in the United States must now be completed by Amex, Chase, and Capital One lounges, which are being opened nationwide.

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