United Opens New ‘Grab-And-Go’ Lounge At Denver International Airport

The state of affairs: Your boarding time is quick approaching, so that you duck into the airport lounge and seize a bag of chips and an apple to stash away in your carry-on earlier than heading to your gate. Whereas you might have thought this was a covert snack operation, the airways have been taking discover—a lot in order that United this month launched a brand new “grab-and-go” membership at Denver Worldwide Airport that’s tailor-made to those that don’t have time for the complete lounge expertise.

Based on United, the membership is a “guilt-free” possibility for the 54% of surveyed airline membership and lounge guests who wish to take meals or drinks to-go.

With the texture of an upscale comfort retailer, coolers are filled with sandwiches, salads, wraps, yogurt, greens, fruits and different snacks. Plus, there’s different lounge staples like muffins, chips, cereals and cookies. Espresso and non-alcoholic drinks are additionally obtainable, although this smaller format lounge doesn’t serve any booze, and, with simply 16 seats and restricted standing room on the bar, it’s not designed for lounging.

The 1,600 square-foot “Membership Fly” lounge is situated in DIA’s newly expanded B Concourse on a extremely seen nook close to Gate B60. Because the third busiest airport on the planet and with almost 59 million vacationers passing by in a single 12 months, DIA not too long ago completed a gate enlargement program to construct 39 new gates, rising gate capability by 30 p.c.

A number of of the brand new gates are leased by United Airways, bringing the airline as much as a complete of 90 gates at DIA, the airline’s largest hub.

Past the gate enlargement, DIA is the perfect location for United to introduce the market-style lounge: Greater than two thirds of the airline’s clients in Denver are connecting to different locations, says Luc Bondar, advertising and marketing and loyalty vice chairman and MileagePlus president.

“United Membership Fly is all about elevated comfort. We all know there are occasions when our members are in a rush and use our golf equipment to sneak a fast drink or snack, so we have created this new format to make it straightforward for them to try this with out sacrificing an upscale membership setting,” Bondar mentioned in a press launch.

As a nod to Colorado, the boutique membership is a ski lodge-inspired area with paintings and furnishings from native artists and corporations. The air service says it plans to collaborate with further native companies to function distinctive and seasonal gadgets all year long.

To enter the United Membership Fly, vacationers self-scan a boarding cross on the automated entry gates. From there, they’ll choose a snack or two, hit up the full-service espresso bar (drinks are brewed with an Illy espresso mix) or seize a soda or juice from the self-service beverage station. The membership additionally has a barista serving made-to-order espresso drinks. A reusable water bottle filling station can also be obtainable. Then, exit by the turnstile.

Premium cabin vacationers, Star Alliance Gold standing members flying internationally and United Membership membership have entry to United Membership Fly.

As a part of the A-West enlargement at DIA, United will open a brand new 530,000-square foot membership in the summertime.