As a Priority Pass cardholder and a Star Alliance Gold (with a foreign airline) member, I pretty much always have lounge access when I fly. Some of the lounge experiences are pretty good and have nice amenities that include fast wifi while others are really lacking.
My Fastest Lounge WiFi Ever!
Except in the rarest of exceptions, most US airline domestic lounges are not nearly as good as many foreign airline lounges. This is not just limited to the food but also to things like power outlets and wifi speeds. In fairness, the airlines have been working to improve their lounges in these areas which is essential since using slow wifi during flights can really kill my time for getting work done.
There are some airports, like Vienna, that offer incredibly fast, free internet connectivity but for US airports, the lounge is where I try to get the connectivity I need. Again, I usually expect it to be quite slow.
Not so on a recent trip to a United Club! I accessed the lounge (flying domestic in economy but I have access thanks to being a Star Alliance Gold member with a foreign airline) and set up to get a bit of work done. I was just planning on working off of my phone’s data since I am used to the slower lounge speeds. But, I decided to just hook up since I was transferring some larger files.
The Great Speed!
I was shocked when I saw what the internet speeds were! I was getting 288Mbps download with 248 Mbps upload speeds consistently! I was shocked! I was able to zip through my large file uploads and downloads in literally seconds.
At Which Lounge?!
The best part was that this was not some slow time in the lounge. It was a Friday morning for the first flights of the day at United Airlines Newark Airport Terminal C lounge (near gate 120). This is a large location and was absolutely packed with almost as many laptops/tablets as there were people!
So, why was this surprising to me? Again, typically domestic airline lounges have not had terrific speeds in my experiences. It is even worse at busy times of the day. To visit a packed lounge and get great lounge WiFi speed is excellent.
I have to say I was very pleased and I think it is great that United is investing in their lounges to bring faster connectivity. Given the choice of an extra bowl of snacks or high speed internet, I will take the high speed internet every time!
Takeaway
Getting quick WiFi at lounges is great but not something I always expect. It has been a while since I was in the United EWR Club so maybe this is common now but it was very surprising to me since I have not typically had such great speeds at domestic lounges.
What was the fastest wifi speed you have had at a lounge? Which lounge was it?
I can imagine Scott Kirby looking to cut this “unneeded” perk soon since you’ve brought it to everyone’s attention.
Since people need to be flying in international premium cabins, hold United Club card or membership or be a *G holder to access the lounge,, I think he would be ok with that kind of business! 🙂
Qantas First Lounge LAX super fast, same with Incheon, but South Korea os crazy fast everywhere.