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The reimagined United app: What you need to know

By The Hub team , January 22, 2019

Starting on January 24, customers will be able to access the updated United app. With useful enhancements that provide intuitive assistance every step of the way, the United app still includes the features you know and love. And now, thanks to dynamic messaging, the updated app provides useful information throughout your journey whether at the airport or on the go.

How to install the updated app

If you've enabled automatic updates, the United app will automatically update. Otherwise, you'll need to manually update the app to see the updated version. Once you've updated the app, you'll no longer be able to use the previous version. If your phone is set to auto-update, the app will automatically appear on your device and stay. Otherwise, you'll have the previous mobile experience until you manually update.

Dynamic messaging

The United app will now display the most useful and relevant information throughout your journey. For example, 24 hours before departure, the home screen on the United app will prompt you to check-in. Once checked in, an option to get your boarding pass will populate right on the home screen so you'll no longer need to access it via the boarding pass tab on the current version of the app.

Locating your boarding pass

If you're signed in to your MileagePlus® account, access to your boarding pass will appear on the app's home screen along with other details about the flight. If you're not signed in to a MileagePlus account, you'll need to go to "My Trips" on the bottom navigation bar. (Please note that mobile boarding passes are available for flights departing from all U.S. airports and select international airports.)

Accessing your profile and United Club℠ card

All this information will now be accessible from a "My Profile" section, so you can see everything in one place. You can find the "My Profile" section by selecting the icon of a person in the top right corner.

New options on the navigation bar

The new bottom navigation bar provides quick access to the most popular and helpful features. Find information about upcoming flights under the "My Trips" section that houses important information like your boarding passes and flight details. You'll also find an inbox icon section that stores important and useful information including gate changes, flight status updates and boarding alerts. You can also easily toggle back to your home screen from the bottom navigation bar.

Personal device entertainment

If personal device entertainment is offered on your flight, you'll see a tile titled Inflight Entertainment within the "Just for you" section on the home screen. The "Just for you" section will also give you access to other features such as how you can locate a United Club or how to earn award miles. You can also select "Wi-Fi & entertainment" from the More menu, located at the upper left hand of the app's home screen.

Finding the seat map

You can access the seat map for your flight via Flight Status on the bottom navigation bar or within Trip Details — when you have an upcoming flight there will be an option to view the seat map.

How to add or remove flights from your Flights Status list

Any upcoming flights will be displayed in the Flight Status section of the app. There is no option to remove a flight as the Flight Status section will be automatically update itself two days after your travel is completed.

Changing the image on the home screen

There is no way to change the image on your home screen manually. Instead, the image will update once a day based on the destinations most commonly searched for by our customers.

The new United Polaris lounge at LAX has arrived

By The Hub team , January 12, 2019

Today, Los Angeles' International Airport (LAX) welcomed the newest lounge to the United Polaris® family. Similar to its predecessors, the new United Polaris lounge offers elevated comfort and service from lounge to landing, providing our international premium cabin customers with a truly unique experience.

Distinct features and seating to meet all needs

With sweeping views of the airport and its surroundings, including the iconic space-age Theme Building, the new United Polaris lounge lets customers enjoy their preferences of three distinct experiences: an area to relax, an area to recharge and an area to engage. A custom scent, curated music playlist and subtle mood lighting all come together to create a memorable sensory experience.


Food and drink selections with regional and global influences

Visitors can look forward to a culinary journey with an inventive, seasonal menu that manages to be familiar and far-reaching at once. Food and drink selections include nods to both the local area and the popular destinations we serve from Los Angeles. Behind the menu is Chef Tritia Gestuvo who delivers a culinary experience that is welcoming and familiar with global flair, using her extensive culinary training under L.A. legend Joachim Splichal and more than 10 years of experience in French cuisine to develop these distinctly tailored offerings. This menu is a true reflection of the love and passion Chef Gestuvo has for her hometown. Customers can grab something from the buffet before boarding or settle in for a full meal in the private dining space, which sits up to 16 people. Whether indulging in the street taco trio or sipping on a High Altitude Bloody Mary, travelers have plenty of choices to fuel up for their long flight ahead.

A labor love

The focus behind the United Polaris experience has always been to provide our long-distance travelers with what they've asked for: better sleep in the sky. Hundreds of customers and employees were involved in more than 12,000 hours of research leading to the development of United Polaris. Through many focus groups and hours of on-the-ground and inflight product simulations — including overnight sleep tests for the new United Polaris seats — we explored a wide variety of product and service offerings and received feedback on what worked and what didn't. Only the best features went on to become a part of the United Polaris experience.

Take a look at how the United Polaris lounge at LAX was built:

The United Polaris lounge at Los Angeles' International Airport joins other lounges Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport follows closely follows the debut of the United Polaris lounge at San Francisco International Airport in April and the United Polaris lounge at New York/Newark last month. The United Polaris lounge at Los Angeles International Airport will open later this fall.

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The United app is getting even better

By The Hub team , January 08, 2019

Introducing an all-in-one travel partner that provides a more dynamic experience — the United app now interacts with you as you move throughout your entire travel journey. With enhancements that provide intuitive assistance every step of the way, the app still includes features you know and love.

How we got here

Enlisting the help of over 500 participants during our research and discovery phase, the feedback we received helped to guide the design as well as app improvements. And during the beta test phase, we expanded testing to include real users (we invited more than 1,000 employees and customers) to ensure the updates would drive the intended value. With 3,500 bookings created and 22,000 reservations viewed, we made sure the updates to the app were functional and helped to improve a user's overall experience.

"As we continue to improve the customer experience, we are looking at our digital channels to create better experiences for our customers. We are reimagining the United app and giving our customers a more dynamic experience to make managing their travel seamless. The improved app includes several new useful enhancements while keeping the same features our customers know and love from the previous version of the United app," said Linda Jojo, Executive Vice President for Technology and Chief Digital Officer.

Dynamic experience

The United app will open to the most useful and relevant information throughout your journey.

For example, 24 hours before departure, the home screen on the United app will prompt you to check-in. Once checked in, an option to get your boarding pass will populate right on the home screen so you'll no longer need to access it via the boarding pass tab on the current version of the app.


Once inflight, the app's home screen will update to display flight status and onboard entertainment options, making it even easier to find exactly what you're looking for.

In the event of a connection, you'll also find directions from your arrival gate to your connecting gate on the app. If you've reached your final destination, information on where to collect your baggage will be displayed via the baggage carousel number.

Quick access

Updates to the app also include a new streamlined navigation bar at the bottom of the home screen, giving you quick access to the most popular and helpful features. The navigation bar will also include a My Trips button that will house important information like boarding passes and flight details.

Additionally, you'll also find an inbox icon in the navigation bar that stores other useful and important information such as gate changes, flight status updates and boarding alerts.

Also featured in the app is a profile icon in the right corner at the top of the screen. Accessing this icon allows you to easily find your account information, and any associated United credit cards and club passes.

Coming soon

Expect to see the improved United app debut soon and stay tuned as this update is laying the foundation for other robust enhancements that will be rolled out throughout the year.

Take advantage of personal device entertainment options on your next flight

By The Hub team

This past year, we've been working towards improving Wi-Fi on our flights as well as expanding our onboard entertainment options. Through our personal device entertainment (PDE) service, we now offer more free entertainment streamed directly to your personal device than any other airline in the world. Our PDE option is available on all aircraft with DIRECTV live streaming for purchase, and at least one free entertainment option is available on all aircraft equipped with Wi-Fi. You can also access a library filled with movies and TV shows that you can watch on your personal laptop, Apple iOS device and Android device.

Make sure to download the latest United app to access personal device entertainment on your mobile device before your next flight. Then, visit www.unitedprivatescreening.com to learn about what entertainment options will be available on your upcoming flight where you can watch movie trailers and filter content by language, genre, audio description and closed captioning availability.

As 2018 comes to an end, we looked back on our top ten most-watched movies and TV shows viewed on PDE this year.

Top 10 movies

  1. Black Panther
  2. 12 Strong
  3. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
  4. American Made
  5. The Greatest Showman
  6. Coco
  7. Murder on the Orient Express
  8. Downsizing
  9. Darkest Hour
  10. Book Club

Top 10 TV shows

  1. Friends
  2. The Big Bang Theory
  3. Silicon Valley
  4. Game of Thrones
  5. How I Met Your Mother
  6. Big Little Lies
  7. Veep
  8. A.P. Bio
  9. Sex and the City
  10. 30 Rock

Better Boarding lives up to its name

By The Hub team , November 20, 2018

As part of our ongoing commitment to putting customers at the center of everything we do, we identified boarding as an opportunity to improve the airport experience. Three months into "Better Boarding", and just in time for the busy holiday travel period, it's clear the new process is living up to its name.

Boarding start notifications

Customers with the United app can now receive a push notification once their flight starts boarding.

Our goal is to provide customers with more information throughout the boarding process so that they will feel more at ease. Customers will only receive the notification if they've opted in for push notifications and have a mobile boarding pass in the app's wallet.

"Your notifications are outstanding!" – (General Member)

Less lanes

Goodbye, five-lane boarding process. Hello, two-lane boarding process.

By reducing the number of boarding lanes, there is more space for customers to enjoy the gate areas, many of which have been completely remodeled with more comfortable seating and in some airports, the ability to have food and drinks from within the airport delivered directly to the gate area.

With the additional space, we've also been able to add additional seating to gate areas in numerous airports.

Improved customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction as it relates to our boarding process has increased in the three months since we introduced Better Boarding.

"UAL has taken appropriate action to recognize & reward their most serious & loyal Premier members by including us in Group 1." – (Gold Member - BOS, 10/5)

"I loved how the gate crew handled the boarding process. Kudos to the Chicago team, it was great - fair and speedy!! – (General Member - ORD, 10/4)

Better Boarding is just one of the steps we are taking to improve the customer experience. We will continue to collect feedback from customers on ways we can further improve boarding — you may receive a post-travel survey to tell us more about your experience.

Find United in New York's Penn Station

By The Hub team

In July 2015, through an effort to showcase our dedication to the New York/New Jersey area, we opened a branded experiential space in New York's Penn Station. The space was created to allow our customers the opportunity to engage with employees, as well as to help provide information on new routes, promotions, sponsorships and amenities. During the work week, a few of our Customer Service Representatives are available as additional resources for customers to help with upcoming travel plans, booking future travel or just simply to provide travel inspiration.

Since opening, there have been a number of events and promotions such as teaming up with TSA for a TSA Pre✓® enrollment event and offering Global Entry interviews to make the process even more convenient for you. Events and promotions take place throughout the year so be sure to stop the next time you're traveling through Penn Station.

Our United space at Penn Station is located near the main concourse and Amtrak waiting area. There are Customer Service Representatives available at the space Monday through Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM, as well as promotions and events taking place live Monday through Friday from 7:30AM to 9:30AM and from 4:00PM to 6:00PM; schedule pending holidays and government observances.

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