Chicago O’Hare · Terminal 1, Concourse B, Gate B6 · Family Travel + Solo Work Trips · United Club Card / Star Alliance Gold
Chicago O’Hare has two United Clubs in Concourse B. The smaller one sits deeper in the concourse near Gate B18. The bigger one is at the entryway end, up the escalator, near Gate B6. This is the bigger one, and it is the United Club at ORD that I would actually call a flagship. If your gate is anywhere in Terminal 1 and you have time, the walk to B6 is worth it.
This article is not sponsored. I paid for my own United Club Card and tipped my own bartender. Nobody at the club knew I was coming.
First Impressions: Up the Escalator and the Starbursts Are Right There
The first thing you notice walking into the United Club at Gate B6 is the ceiling. The signature starburst chandeliers run across the main floor and there are skylights cut between them, so the room is bright in a way most United Clubs are not. Blue glass divider walls and white marble countertops do most of the rest of the work. It feels like a flagship, even by the standards of the newer clubs in the network.
The Layout: Multiple Zones for Different Travel Modes
What makes B6 actually useful, beyond the design, is that it is large enough to give you different rooms for different things. There is a long stretch of marble communal high-tops if you need to plug in and work. There are clusters of low-back swivel chairs and side tables under historical United airplane photography for the relax-before-the-flight mode. There is a quieter zone deeper in the lounge with leather chairs under the skylights. You can find your spot.
The Food: Real Hot Food, Not Just a Snack Counter
The food at B6 is the strongest of the United Clubs at O’Hare, and it is the closest in feel to what you get at a really well-run domestic United Club like Newark Terminal A. There is a hot food station with rotating dishes (we caught penne pasta with chicken on one side and seasoned green beans on the other), a station of mini personal flatbreads with sliced baguette and condiments, a salad bar with grain salads and Greek-style options, and a real dessert counter with cookies and Oreo cookie bars. Plus a coffee bank and a Coca-Cola Freestyle. It adds up to something you can actually call a meal.
Coffee, Coca-Cola, and the Snack Wall
The coffee setup is a row of four Illy dispensers (decaf, regular, intenso, hot water) plus twin automatic espresso machines on the marble counter. There is a Coca-Cola Freestyle right next to the espresso, which is the kind of detail that earns family points fast. There is also a snack wall with Twinings tea, jars of mixed snacks (those crunchy mixed peas, plantain chips, corn nuts), and baskets of Lay’s chips.
The Bar: A Real Cocktail Under the Starbursts
The bar at B6 is fully stocked, the bartender actually mixes the drink, and the room around it has the starburst chandeliers carrying right over your head while you wait. It is one of the few United Clubs where I would order a Bloody Mary and not regret it.
One honest tip for a lounge this busy: if you actually want to nap before boarding, pack a set of Loop earplugs. They are what I use to tune out a packed B6 afternoon and still hear my boarding call.
PRO TIP: The window-facing seats and the long communal high-top fill up first during peak afternoon connection windows. If you want either, get there a little early.
Phone Rooms and Workspace
If you have to take a real call, B6 has a hallway of glass-walled phone rooms. Each one is enclosed, has a small writing surface and a task chair, and is genuinely private in a way the open call pods at most clubs are not. The communal high-top in the back is the work-from-the-airport option if you do not need that level of privacy.
The Honest Take: Almost Everything Except a Shower
The only real gap at B6 is showers. There are no shower suites at this lounge, and there are no shower suites at any of the regular United Clubs at ORD. If a shower is what you need before a long-haul, you are looking at the Polaris Lounge instead. For everything else (food, coffee, cocktails, real workspace, real privacy, real seating, a Coca-Cola Freestyle for the kids), B6 has it.
My Verdict
If you are flying United out of O’Hare and your gate is anywhere in Terminal 1, this is the one I would walk to right after Concourse C. Newest design, real food, real bar, real phone rooms, real seating variety. Out of all five regular United Clubs at ORD, B6 is my number two behind Concourse C, and the gap is small. For families with a longer layover at O’Hare, B6 is the one I would plan around.
The kids have used both B lounges at ORD. Out of the two, the bigger one is the better experience, and it is not particularly close.
Where This Sits in the ORD Network
Want the full guide? My Every United Club at O’Hare guide ranks all five regular United Clubs and threads in the Polaris Lounge as a future visit. The smaller B lounge near Gate B18 has its own review at United Club at ORD B18, and the family favorite at Concourse C lives at United Club at ORD Concourse C.
If you are finding this useful for your travel planning, I would actually appreciate a subscribe over on YouTube. I have not filmed inside B6 yet, but it is on the list, and the rest of the United Clubs at ORD are already up. I keep filming honest family-travel reviews from lounges, hotels, and cruises around the world.
What lounge should I review next? Drop your suggestions in the comments.
My United Lounges playlist on YouTube has every walkthrough I have filmed across the network.
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I use this club all the time, it’s one of my favorites, if only it had runway views then it would be a 10/10 in my book.
The runway views would absolutely seal it — that’s the one thing keeping it from being perfect. You’re hitting it at the right time of day though, so at least you’re getting the light through those big windows. Have you tried the spots by the windows on the far side, or does the angle still not quite work for you?