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I have long said that United Airlines has the best mobile app of any US carrier (perhaps any airline in the world). Today, United updated its app with five new features to help travelers this busy holiday travel season. The new features save travelers time, increase transparency, and create a more personalized journey across the airline. The upgrades come ahead of United’s busiest winter holiday season ever, with more than 10 million travelers expected to fly this year. Over 84% of United customers already use the app on the day of travel and early testing shows travelers appreciate the increased convenience and real-time communication these new features provide.
One of the most significant additions is Virtual Gate. This feature shows passengers exactly which boarding groups are being called and includes a progress bar displaying how many passengers have already boarded. This eliminates the need to linger around the gate area and reduces congestion. Another upgrade, the United Club℠ “closest and best” feature, helps travelers choose the most convenient lounge by recommending nearby locations based on distance from their gate and current capacity levels. Capacity insights are debuting at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and will expand to additional airports in 2026. This could be especially helpful for slower-moving travelers, those with families, and those attempting to use one-time passes.
United’s enhanced mobile bag tracker now functions much like a package-tracking interface. It offers real-time updates on passengers’ baggage location throughout the journey. Additional personalized features include guidance for travelers flying with strollers or wheelchairs, reminders for required travel documents, and instructions for biometric boarding when available. Upon arrival, the app now delivers live weather conditions, local arrival time estimates, and step-by-step instructions for connecting to rideshare services.
These updates build on United’s record of deploying industry-leading digital solutions. Recent innovations include a personalized connection experience with turn-by-turn directions and estimated walk times, expanded bag tracking support through Apple’s Share Item Location for AirTag users, automated rebooking tools that provide meal and hotel vouchers (when eligible), and real-time weather delay updates aided by generative AI.
David Kinzelman, United’s Chief Customer Officer, said:
The more information our customers have, the more confident they feel about their trip – and that’s particularly important during the holidays. The United app gives travelers personalized, real-time updates during their entire travel journey, helping our customers feel like they have a personal assistant guiding them every step of the way.”
Anthony’s Take: United’s latest app advancements are rolling out now and will be fully available before the holiday travel period. I love what United is giving customers this year and find the app even more intuitive and efficient than it had already been. Nice work, United.
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
