We never left Terminal 3, but walking from our incoming flight to the lounge to the departure gate took nearly half an hour. While it’s architecturally impressive, actually navigating it is a pain. The other thing worth noting: Beijing Capital is massive. It is, however, a long way in quality from the Royal First Lounge in Bangkok. Like many of its counterparts elsewhere, it’s not a bad place to wait for a flight - it’s better than just hanging out in the terminal - and the food offerings are fairly tasty too (albeit lackluster). That association alone can tell you all that you need to know about the quality of it. Just know that this particular lounge is a member of the Priority Pass Network. Unfortunately, there were police officers everywhere, and I wasn’t about to test the airport’s draconian rules any further… Pardon the shaky quality!

We had a few hours to connect in Beijing, so we visited the Air China First Class Lounge in Terminal 3. Would Polaris First be a comfortable way to travel, or would it be a forgotten flop of a product? Turns out we were in for a pleasant surprise, and our final flight to complete the Southeast Asian Summer Vacation trip was both a winner and an incredible value at only 80,000 MileagePlus miles… but it wasn’t without some glaring indications of the end of United’s first class. The new, super-business Polaris is the future, and at the time of our flight, United was (and still is) awkwardly juggling the various premium cabins it has across its fleet. We weren’t entirely sure what to expect when we were boarding United has been rather transparent about its plans to ditch first class. An oh-so-utilitarian first class that’s oh-so-comfortableĪfter our excellent flight in Thai’s Royal Silk, my father and I were eager to see how United’s Polaris First compared.

Air china 777 300 first class review