What happened
Star Alliance has released an update to its alliance-wide lounge access rules. The primary change concerns United Polaris Lounges, which are now designated as "ultra-premium exclusive lounges." Consequently, International First Class passengers traveling on Star Alliance member airlines (other than United, which does not have a First Class cabin) are excluded from entering Polaris lounges. The update also clarifies existing rules for Star Alliance Gold members, confirming they retain access to Business Class lounges and First Class lounges (excluding ultra-premium ones) when traveling in First Class. The Gold member rules themselves are largely a text cleanup rather than a substantive policy shift