Review: United & Air Canada Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2

This is our review of the Arrivals Lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 2, used by United Airlines and Air Canada.

Did you know United Airlines has an arrivals lounge at Heathrow, shared with Air Canada? Because I certainly didn’t!

It wasn’t until I departed customs after my Polaris flight from San Francisco that I saw some signs for a United Airlines and Air Canada Arrivals Lounge that I never even knew existed. Instead of rushing for a train, I thought I’d take a quick look inside to see what it had to offer.

Who can use United’s Heathrow Arrivals Lounge?

According to United’s website, the Arrivals Lounge is exclusively for Polaris business class customers only:

“Eligible travelers must be flying on a same-day ticket arriving before noon and cannot bring guests. Additionally, United Club memberships and one-time passes don’t grant access to this lounge.”

The lounge also appears to be used by United’s Star Alliance partner Air Canada and is open to the following passengers:

• Business Class customers arriving on an Air Canada international flight
• Super Elite 100K members (including one guest) arriving on an Air Canada international flight

As far as I can tell there is no other way to access the Arrivals Lounge. Whilst South African Airways offered access in the past, it no longer flies to London so we can scratch that one off the list. Singapore Airlines does not appear to use it.

You cannot get access via Star Alliance Gold status. To quote the Star Alliance website lounge directory: “ARRIVAL lounge access is not a Star Alliance benefit. If you are looking for information on arrival lounges, please consult the airline that is operating your flight.”

Where is the United Arrivals Lounge in London?

It is immediately to the left when you exit the baggage hall through customs. Just follow the signs for the Arrivals Lounge.

Oddly, there is no airline branding on the lounge. It is simply called the ‘Arrivals Lounge’, albeit it is exclusively for United Airlines and Air Canada passengers.

The lounge is open from 6am until 2pm daily.

Inside the United & Air Canada London Arrivals Lounge

The facility is not huge. It is about as big as Virgin Atlantic’s Revivals lounge in Terminal 3 (review here).

You need to show your boarding pass for scanning on arrival. I was immediately asked if I wanted a shower or not. I said yes and was shown straight to a shower suite.

In total, there are 17 of these which is far more than I was expecting given the lounge frontage. The shower suites extend a little further back and are fairly compact, which helps:

and

Toiletries are provided by Sunday Riley, which also stocks United’s Premium Plus and Polaris amenity kits. There are also a range of other amenities such as a shower cap, nail kit, dental kit and other bits and bobs:

After finishing my shower I moved to the main lounge. This is a square space, probably less than 100 square metres in size. Most of the seating is taken up by dining chairs and tables:

and

…. but there is also a row of bar stools by the frosted glass window:

…. as well as a couple of sofas, which were occupied during my visit.

A lot of magazines were available, although none that particularly interested me. There were copies of Vogue and Wired amongst the many copies of Spears. There were no newspapers.

Food and drink in United’s Arrivals Lounge

You can choose from a buffet or an a la carte menu (or both). The buffet, as you would expect, is fairly basic and contains mostly cold items: for something more hot and substantial you need to order from the menu.

There are a range of smoothies, fruit, yoghurt and chia puddings:

Pastries are available:

You can also help yourself to soft and hot drinks:

When it comes to a la carte dining, the following options were available:

• Amaranth & oat porridge
• Full English breakfast
• Smoked salmon & cream cheese rye bread
• Sausage & avocado muffin
• Shakshouka
• Green hummus & vegan sausage crumb on toast
• Sweet waffles with coconut yoghurt, berry compote, agave syrup

Conclusion

The United Airlines and Air Canada Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow is worth a visit.

If I had known there was an arrivals lounge I would probably have spared myself the in-flight breakfast – it’s undoubtedly going to be better than anything you’d get in the air.

When I arrived, around 7am, there were almost more staff than guests – mostly around the showers, waiting to clean them ready for the next guests. Given that a big peak for US arrivals is around 7am – 8am I’m not sure if it ever gets crowded.

It is worth stopping by if you need to fresh up or a bite to eat or drink after landing.

This article concludes our United Airlines series. I’d like to thank the United team in London for putting it together, especially for getting you see the Global Services lounge on the way out.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (January 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.