That moment when it’s nearly time to board your airplane and you suddenly have to run to the restroom. Or when a storm hits and you want to hunker down in the nearest airport restaurant or bar to wait out the flight delay.
With the revamped United Airlines mobile app, lugging your carry-ons while wandering around and hoping there’s a restroom or restaurant near your gate is a thing of the past. With the app’s easy-to-use hub maps, you can find whatever type of facility you need and find the fastest walking route to get there.
“Travelers are accustomed to using maps and navigation apps throughout their daily lives – and that shouldn’t end when they walk into the airport,” said Scott Wilson, United’s vice president of eCommerce and Merchandising. “These new features of our app will make travel easier and more personal for our customers.”
United teamed with San Francisco tech company LocusLabs, which specializes in information-rich indoor maps to create and scale-out the custom indoor experience for the app. Maps available in the United Airlines mobile app include major airports in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The app uses the gate your flight is scheduled for as the starting point, but it will soon be able to pinpoint your exact location in the airport. An indoor location feature, which uses low-power Bluetooth beacons placed around United hubs that communicate with the app, is currently being tested in New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. United plans to expand the feature to other airports based on customer feedback.
United is also expanding the self-service functions available to customers in the event of a flight delay, cancellation or missed connection. Through a few clicks in the United Airlines mobile app, passengers can choose from a variety of flight options—including alternate airports. If a confirmed seat isn’t available on your preferred alternate flight, you can also use the app to add yourself to a standby list.
