United first announced changes to its United Club entry rules back in March 2025. At the time, it felt like there was plenty of time to prepare. But now, those changes are about to take effect, starting this week.
If you hold a United Explorer Card or a United Business Card, you probably know that one of the perks is receiving two United Club one-time passes each year. For a long time, these passes were pretty flexible — if you weren’t going to use them, you could give them away to someone else.
That’s actually how my wife, Sharon, was able to visit the United Club at SFO and write a very thorough review about her experience — a friend had given her a pass they weren’t planning to use. You can read about that visit here (and see why I no longer have her write about lounges).
What’s Changing on May 1, 2025
Starting May 1, 2025, United will tighten the rules for using one-time passes. According to United’s updated policy:
- One-time passholders may only use their pass within three hours of their scheduled flight departure. (This restriction doesn’t apply if you’re using the pass during a connection.)
- One-time passholders can’t visit United Club Fly locations.
- One-time passes issued from United credit cards must now be redeemed by the primary cardholder, an authorized user, or guests accompanied by either. In other words, you can no longer hand off your passes to someone else who’s traveling without you.
In isolation, making cardholders use the passes themselves isn’t an unreasonable change. But it is a departure from how things used to work.
Why the New Rules Could Be a Problem
My bigger concern is that even when you are traveling, gaining access to a United Club with a pass isn’t always guaranteed. United Clubs have been known to restrict access to passholders during busy times — a phenomenon I’ve experienced firsthand and written about here.
If you could always walk right in, needing to use the passes yourself wouldn’t be much of a burden. But when it sometimes takes three or four tries to find a club that will let you in, it starts to feel like a lot more of a hassle than it’s worth.
Plan Ahead Before Your Passes Expire
If you have United Club passes sitting in your wallet, now’s the time to plan when (and where) you’re going to use them — before these new restrictions make things even trickier.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
Anybody having trouble purchasing one-time United lounge passes on the UAL phone app? It continues “cycling” after hitting the “purchase passes now” button?