This morning in response to our updated COVID-19 cancellation and elite status policies post, a reader asked if we had heard any news about United one-time club lounge passes. Whereas United had announced extensions of annual memberships previously, there had been no word on one-time lounge passes. I reached out to United via Twitter, where they confirmed that one time lounge passes will be extended for 3 months from their current expiration date.
Hi there, Nick! United Club one-time passes have been extended by 90 days based on their current expiration date. ^ML
— United Airlines (@united) May 26, 2020
That’s good(ish) news for those with one-time lounge passes in that it beats no extension at all. Given the fact that lounges have been closed for the past couple of months and to my knowledge are not scheduled to re-open imminently, it would seem that United could stand to be a bit more generous in terms of the extensions. It certainly wouldn’t be shocking to see a shift in that policy depending upon how soon lounges reopen. I followed up to see if they could point me to a policy announcement on their website, but I got crickets in response.
We have 4 one-time lounge passes in my household (burned up some airline incidental credits at the last minute) that are set to expire at the end of December 2020. Having those extended until the end of March 2021 certainly increases the chances that we’ll use them, it’s not a lock, especially given that United’s site indicates that they may refuse entry to those with one-day passes at the club at Newark, which is the location we’d be most likely to use.
At any rate, it’s better to see them extended than not as every couple of extra months at this point exponentially increases the likelihood of being able to use them. Hopefully they’ll revisit the extension if closures continue.