United Polaris San Francisco Lounge opens

United Airlines has unveiled its latest Polaris Lounges at San Francisco Airport. It is the first of four new Polaris lounges to be opened in 2018. The new Polaris San Francisco lounge has a huge 440-seat facility, a dedicated dining room, and a cocktail bar.

United Airlines has opened the second of it's new style Polaris Lounges at San Francisco Airport.

The new lounge features Californian touches throughout the lounge's look as well as the food and beverages so customers get an authentic taste and feel for the Bay Area's unique aesthetic.

The two-level, 28,000-square feet (2601 square meter) lounge can be used by both domestic and business class passengers, and features 19 different types of seating, and no less than 492 power outlets (a very precise number).

However, it is the "Dining Room" which will get most attention. It is a private restaurant style dining area with a menu designed by Chef Tritia Gestuvo, a California native, that blends international comfort foods -- such as a traditional Chinese congee breakfast and hand-cut pappardelle pasta with mushroom ragout -- with staples like the United Polaris Burger.

If you just want a quick snack, there is a bistro-like buffet that includes a ramen noodle bar in the afternoon and additional unique-to-San Francisco treats that align with the flight schedule and destinations of United and Star Alliance partners.

There are also cocktails at a dedicated cocktail bar located right in the middle of the lounge, which is inspired by the Bay Area, including the Mai Tai, invented in Oakland in 1944, and the Pisco Punch, featuring pisco which became all the rage during the California Gold Rush of 1849

The lounge has a hotel-lobby style feel to it, with eight pieces of art by prominent Bay Area artists, who are all San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Art Award honorees.

International passengers in transit can use the five private daybeds outfitted with Saks Fifth Avenue bedding, and there are eight shower suites, featuring rainfall showers and Soho House & Co's Cowshed Spa products.

The San Francisco's Polaris lounge is only the second of the new Polaris lounges to open since the December 2016 announcement and opening of the flagship Chicago lounge.

It's not just Chicago and now San Francisco though. The United Polaris lounge at Newark (New York) Airport will open in early June, then it's the turn of Houston by August, and the lounge at Los Angeles in the Autumn.

The new Polaris lounges only have access for Business class and First class passengers on United Airlines and its Star Alliance partners such as Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish Airlines, Air New Zealand, EVA Airways and Asiana.

Opening hours of the Polaris San Francisco lounge are 6.30am to 1am. It is located where the old United Red Carpet Club was, beside the Singapore Airlines lounge at Gate 92.