On a recent trip to Portugal, my wife and I had the privilege of visiting the Polaris Lounge in Chicago. The lounge was unlike any other airline premium airport lounge we had ever visited in the United States. Before United launched Polaris Lounges in the U.S., American carriers did not have a product that could compete with the business-class lounges of Qatar Airlines, Etihad, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, etc. United has expanded this product to San Francisco, Newark, Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington Dulles. Many travel experts and bloggers consider Polaris Lounges among the best airport lounges in the U.S.
On a very recent flight from Chicago to Albany, I had the opportunity to visit the United Club in Terminal 1 near gate B5. Special thanks to my mom for giving me her United Club pass and allowing me access. And speaking of United Club Lounges at ORD, I’ve crossed three of them off the list and have one more to go after completing my stay at this one. This lounge is located at Concourse B, so you don’t have to go through the underground tunnel at Terminal 1. The same rules apply to this lounge if you saw my last review of the United Club Lounge near B18.
Entrance
This lounge is located near gates B5 and B6. Once you have cleared security, take a left. The agents at the front desk will scan your one-day pass and boarding pass or just your boarding pass if you’re flying international business class or first class on a United Airlines or Star Alliance partner flight. If you have a United Club credit card, you have complimentary access as part of your card benefits.
The escalator will take you to the main seating area
Food
Three-bean salad and Mediterranean salad
I wasn’t expecting much in the food department because that’s not what United does well at their Club Lounges. They don’t really offer the hot meals you would find at Centurion Lounge and certainly not the variety you would find at their upscale Polaris Lounge. This lounge had a variety of cheeses, veggies, three-bean salads, and a Mediterranean-style salad. The cheese was okay at best, and the three-bean salad was average. They also had delicious hot broccoli-cheddar soup. But honestly, it’s really hard to mess up broccoli-cheddar soup. Food should be canceled at their Club Lounges if they have done that.
Variety of cheeses but no crackers. Come on, United.
The brownies were fresh and tasted pretty good.
If you wanted snacks, they had a decent variety of salty and sweet.
Broccoli-cheddar soup. This was good.
This touch-screen Coca-Cola machine was one of my favorite things about this lounge.
Their espresso machine served a variety of caffeinated or decaf beverages, from lattes to cappuccinos.
Seating
When you go up the escalators, this is the main seating area you will come across.
As far as United Club Lounges at ORD go, this may be the largest. There is no shortage of seats and they have a variety of seating options.
Almost every seat at the lounge has access to a plug outlet
This was my favorite seating area. Not too bright and facing towards the TV (not pictured) in the bar area.
Seating area near the barOpen seating area in the middle of the loungeBar
It is important to note that I visited the lounge at about 7:30 p.m. on a Sunday, and it was about 40% full. The lounge may be near capacity on a weekday during peak business hours.
Miscellaneous
The bathrooms were super clean and United does put to keep it that way.
The Wi-Fi speed was awesome. This might be the most appealing aspect of the lounge, particularly for business travelers. Video conferencing would be seamless, and if you wanted to stream Netflix or music, you’d have a really easy time doing it. This lounge is certainly better than the United Club near B18 and very much on par with the United Club in Terminal 2. Just like that lounge, this one has the potential to be very good. It’s spacious and has excellent internet connectivity, clean bathrooms, coffee, and decent snacks. The only thing holding it back is the lack of hot meals and sandwiches. It’s not worth the $59 you’d have to pay for the one-day pass, but if you have the pass that comes complimentary with the Chase United Explorer credit card, you’d rather be here than in the waiting area near the gate. I’d rate this lounge a 4/5.
On a recent trip from Chicago, my wife and I decided to visit the United Club after the Polaris Lounge shut its doors at 9pm. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 10:45pm, so we still had over an hour to spare. Fortunately, the United Club at Terminal 1 near gate B18 was open until 10pm. United has four United Club lounges at O’Hare and the Polaris Lounge. I visited the United Club Lounge in Terminal 2 several months ago, and you can read about that here. Just remember that this lounge, like every other United Club Lounge, is not a Priority Pass lounge.
Entrance
You will have access to the lounge if you have an international premium cabin ticket on United or its Star Alliance partners or a transcontinental premium cabin ticket. If you have a day pass offered with the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card, you can also enter the lounge. Each person must have their own pass. You can also purchase a day pass for $59, but I strongly recommend not doing that. At peak times, United does reserve the right to turn away day-pass users. Since United does have four of these lounges, you wouldn’t expect crowding to be an issue at O’Hare. Given how crowded the main seating area was at 9 p.m., capacity issues may arise during peak hours. Just remember that this lounge, like every other United Club Lounge, is not a Priority Pass lounge.
Located near Gate B18 in Terminal 1
Upon entering, the receptionist scanned our boarding pass and welcomed us into the lounge.
We were not in any mood to eat since we both had the full dining experience at the Polaris Lounge. Nonetheless, I checked out the offerings for the sake of the review.
Food
Even though I had no intention of eating, the buffet and food options at this lounge were very underwhelming, both in terms of quality and quantity.
The options available were more like snacking options rather than a buffet. The salad did not look appetizing, and I probably would not have eaten it if I had been hungry.
The cheese looked more appetizing, but again, I was full from having dinner just an hour earlier, so I didn’t bother helping myself.The brownie might have been the most appetizing snack that was offered at the loungeThe espresso machine offered various drinks, including lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos.
I had the latte from the espresso machine, which was surprisingly good. I confess that my main purpose in caffeinating was to induce hunger for the business class dinner on the Lufthansa flight. The fact that the latte tasted good just happened to be a bonus.
Seating
The bar area of the lounge had plenty of seats available. It may not be the case during peak hours.
The lounge has an “L” shape, and the main seating area was quite crowded at 9 p.m. The seats were very comfortable, and plug outlets were available on the side of the center table. I can only imagine how crowded this lounge would get during peak hours.
Bar
Wi-Fi speeds were pretty good, which is important for business travelers needing internet connectivity. Overall, this lounge was unimpressive, and I’d say it was a notch lower than most Priority Pass lounges I have visited. This lounge does not offer showers, does not have a ton of space, and offers subpar buffet options. I’d rate this lounge a 2.7/5. If you’re departing from a gate near B18 and do not want to walk to another United Club Lounge, I guess this is your only option. The United Club Lounge in Terminal 2 is far more spacious and has a much better ambiance. If you have the time, you should walk over to Terminal 2 and enjoy that one instead.
If you have driven past any mall or big box retailer over the past couple of weeks, you have seen the “back to school” signs plastered on storefront windows trying to grab your attention and inviting you to walk in. It’s the time of the year when parents will be restocking school supplies for kids and undergrad and grad students will be looking for the best deals on laptops and textbooks. This time of the year is pretty important for retailers and they know consumers have more choices than ever. In the realm of the points and miles world, this is also a time of the year where you can benefit greatly. If you plan on doing a majority of your shopping on Amazon, you can read in-depth how you can accumulate JetBlue miles by clicking here. For other retailers where you might consider shopping online, I highly recommend using www.cashbackmonitor.com
This website shows you how many airline miles or hotel points you will earn by routing yourself through that airline’s or hotel’s online mall. It’s pretty straight forward and you can find a detailed example below. I have posted some screenshots for the online Apple store as an example:
This is the homepage of http://www.cashbackmonitor.com. The most popular retailers are listed on the front page. If you don’t see yours, search for it on the search tab
If you wanted to purchase something online from the Apple Store, this is how many miles/points/cashback different airlines/hotels/cashback portals are offering if you route yourself to the Apple Store via their own shopping mall. Keep in mind, it doesn’t cost you a dime to sign up for these frequent flier programs. At this particular time, United is offering 6 miles per dollar if you make a purchase on Apple.com by clicking through their link. This is the highest among any of the shopping portals. Let’s use that as an example.
When you click on United’s link, this is the page you land on. But wait, not only would you get 6 United MileagePlus miles per dollar for your Apple purchase, United is also offering a back- to-school bonus depending on your level of spending. That $1,300 Macbook Pro would earn you 10,800 United MileagePlus Miles –> ($1,300 x 6 miles) + 3,000 bonus miles for getting the 3,000 mile back-to-school bonus offered by United for spending $600. 12.5k United MileagePlus miles gets you a saver award one way in economy. In addition to that, Apple is offering free Beats headphones if you purchase an iPad or Macbook Pro for college (presumably with a student ID).
Simply click on the “shop now” icon and you are directed to Apple’s website.
If you were going to shop for school supplies online at Walmart.com, this is how much you would earn through each portal:
For you undergrad and grad students reading this, popular online textbook retailers such as Textbooks.com and Alibris.com are also listed on cashbackmonitor.com. If you’re purchasing from Amazon, remember to route yourself via JetBlue. You are simply walking away from an easy opportunity to earn miles if you don’t. And remember, you can use this website to help you earn miles for your routine online shopping no matter the time of the year.
SOME VERY IMPORTANT TIPS BEFORE USING ANY PORTALS TO MAKE A PURCHASE
Make sure your cookies are enabled. If they’re not, the airline or hotel rewards program can’t track your purchase and you might not get credited for them.
Sign up for that particular airline’s frequent flier program PRIOR to shopping (it’s free and takes a minute).
Make sure you are logged-in to the airline’s frequent flier program prior to clicking on the retailers website. Most portals will make you sign in prior to routing you to that retailer.
As far as United Club Lounges at ORD go, this may be the largest. There is no shortage of seats and they have a variety of seating options. 
Almost every seat at the lounge has access to a plug outlet
This was my favorite seating area. Not too bright and facing towards the TV (not pictured) in the bar area.
Miles for places 