Lounge Review: United Club℠ (ORD – Gate C10)

by Anthony Losanno
UA Club C10 Entrance

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Chicago is home for most of the year and O’Hare (ORD) is the airport that I find myself at most often. The airport offers four United Clubs℠ (near gates B6, B18, C10, and F9). The United Club℠ at C10 is only about two weeks old as it replaced the older one by Gate C16 (the old lounge will be converted into additional space for the Polaris® Lounge next door). The lounge is much larger at 17,000 square feet and offers seating for around 400 guests. I was excited to check out this brand new lounge and had high hopes it would be as good as the new one in EWR at C123 (full review here). Those hopes were quickly dashed during this visit.

UA C10 Entrance

Access

Access is granted for those with United Club℠ memberships, day passes from Chase co-branded credit cards or purchased for $59, Global Services® members, United passengers with Gold or higher status traveling internationally, international business or first-class passengers traveling on a Star Alliance flight, and Star Alliance Gold members regardless of class flown. You can find more information about these lounges and their access rules here. Like the new United Clubs℠ in EWR and DEN, this one has automated entrance gates as well as an attendant to help if there is an issue.

Anthony’s Take: When flying United domestically, I make a point to stop by the United Clubs℠ to get some work done, relax, and have a snack or drink. The lounge near gate C10 is brand new, but already showing some signs of wear on the furniture and it is not being properly cleaned. Tables were dirty, sticky, and often had plates and glasses on them. Staff stood nearby chatting while directing people to bus their own tables or add their dishes and trash to the robot that was wheeling through the lounge. A better use of that money would have been to invest in better food offerings and amenities, but a gimmicky robot busser is what we got. For a new lounge, C10 offers a mediocre food selection, bar, and restrooms. It’s bigger than the old lounge at C16 with lots of seats. Other amenities like showers or a barista (like the one added at EWR) would have been welcome additions, but UA decided against adding those here.

UA C10 Bar

Bar

Moving down the hallway, you’ll find some seating as well as the bar serving this lounge on the right. There is a variety of paid and complimentary beer, wine, and spirits here. The free offerings are pretty basic, but the paid selections are not badly priced.

UA C10 Bar 2

I like the natural light that floods this side of the lounge. Orchids are my favorite flower, so bonus points there.

UA C10 Buffet

Food

The food in the United Clubs℠ has dramatically improved in the past few years and is even better than it was pre-Covid. Part of this is that United is working to keep up with what Delta is offering in the Sky Clubs®. But, when comparing United to Delta there is no comparison. The offerings here are basic and not as good as what Delta offers in Terminal 5 at the Sky Club®. I visited during lunch and found a selection of salad ingredients, soups, sausage, potatoes, mac & cheese, sandwiches, and a few desserts.

UA C10 Sausage

Sausage for sausage sandwiches with rolls nearby

UA C10 Rolls

Rolls for the sausage

UA C10 Mac and Cheese

Mac & cheese

UA C10 Potatoes

Potatoes

UA C10 Veggies

Mixed vegetables

UA C10 Sandwiches

Sandwiches

UA C10 Wraps

Wraps

UA C10 Cheese

Cheese

UA C10 Salad

Salad ingredients

UA C10 Salad 2

More salad ingredients

UA C10 Soups

Broccoli cheddar and Poblano, cheddar, and tomatillo soup

UA C10 Condiments

Condiments

UA C10 Fruit

Whole, fresh fruit

UA C10 Cookies

Cookies and donut holes

UA C10 Coke

There is a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine near the buffet.

UA C10 Ice

Ice and water were next to it.

UA C10 Espresso 1

An espresso machine was near the buffet and another was closer to the bar.

UA C10 Espresso 2

Second espresso machine

UA C10 Brewed Coffee

Brewed coffee

UA C10 Coffee Condiments

Coffee condiments

UA C10 Trash

United has added areas where customers are expected to bus their own dishes. I’m not sure why this was added, but it cheapens the experience. There were multiple employees milling around the dining room and mostly chatting while tables were left dirty and sticky. I heard one employee tell a guest to put there dishes in these receptacles.

UA C10 Robot 1

 

UA C10 Robot 2

 

A robot (or maybe two) busser was also rolling through the lounge. I don’t see the point of this gimmicky addition and I’m sure the money would have been better spent on adding amenities instead. No one paid much attention and the robot seemed lost as it wheeled around.

UA Club C10 Seating 1

Seating

As mentioned, there is seating for 400 here. When I visited, it wasn’t too crowded and there were many options.

UA Club C10 Seating 2

Booths for working

UA Club C10 Seating 3

A large banquette is near the buffet

UA Club C10 Seating 4

More seating

UA Club C10 Seating 5

Tables near the windows with lots of natural light.

UA C10 Departures

Departure Board & Agent on Demand

Toward the back of the lounge there were kiosks for an agent on demand, a desk with an agent to direct people to the kiosks, and a departure board. Even though I generally use the United app to check on my flight, I find myself staring at the board often looking at the other departures from O’Hare and planning future travels.

UA C10 Kiosk

Agent on demand kiosk

UA C10 Agent

The agent’s desk (where she was directing people to use the kiosks).

Amenities

This United Club℠ offers free Wi-Fi, restrooms, and the food and beverages mentioned above. Disappointingly, it doesn’t have the showers or the barista bar you’ll find in EWR or much else. It’s a good spot to grab a quick bite and get some work done before a flight, but uninspired. United seems to have gone through the motions putting this together and none of the employees seemed happy to be there. They mostly seemed bored, which is not good for a brand new lounge. Compare that to the smiles and excitement at the Sky Club® where employees touted the hot dog cart and were happy to help.

Overall Impression:

The United Club℠ near Gate C10 provides basic amenities. It’s a shame as this lounge is brand new, but already feels a bit worn and dirty. That, coupled with bored employees and mediocre food makes it a place to stop if you’re in Terminal C, but not worth going out of your way for a visit.

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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.

1 comment

DaninMCI February 5, 2023 - 10:00 pm

Nice review. I’m not surprised they didn’t include showers since T1 is mostly domestic flights but I agree showers are always a welcome addition to lounges.

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