- United Airlines rolls out a small but key update that might just help you set up your connection
- Connectionsaer will now give you reversal of turning to make your connection flight at United’s Hubs
- It also shows relevant information in real time in the app
Let’s be real, having to catch a connection flight is not the easiest, especially if the time between your first flight and the second gets crazy tight as a result of a delay. It can be a very high stress moment, but now United Airlines is trying to make it a little less stressful.
We’ve already seen United adopt live activities on iPhone to make it easy to view key information without opening the app, and the airline has mapped many airports for easy navigation as well as rolling out some surprisingly useful features.
So now in time for the high season Summer Travel, United is updating his Connectionsaering technology to those who connect within one of his nodes-snewark, NJ, Chicago, Il, Denver, Co, Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, Ca, Washington, Dc, or Guam-To that I will see Flybstatus in Flybstatus in Real time, tips and a prominent message if the United’s connections are enabled.
With this, using AI and United’s team, they can keep the flight at the gate a little longer – and give you a countdown watch – without delaying your arrival to help you take the plane.
Even better, United will also inform your crew during flight, if that is the case, and also provide reversal of navigation instructions for turns. This way you don’t have to crawl from the plane and run out of the gate and don’t know if you need to go left or right. In a shared video that is preview of Techradar, the app will give reversing-by-turn directions and even inform you if you need to take a escalator for a tunnel or jump on a tram to reach the gate.
In a speech with Techradar, United’s Chief Customer Officer, David Kinzelman, told us that they have mapped out all their facilities, and “we are really good at the cards we have, and Times and the Distance” to give accurate real -time navigation.
I am particularly excited about the navigation in real time paired with Connectionsaver, as if you are lucky enough to stop through a hub with the first flight arriving late, these two features together can help you actually make the connection. Of course, it needs to be tested and you need to be stored with ‘Connectionsaver’. If the latter does not come through or if you come to the gate a little too late, you can also re -book via the United Airlines app and access customer service from there.
This update is being rolled out now and Connectionsaver has already been live. If you are eager to try it or at least access the navigation to turn, remember to update the United Airlines app on your iPhone or Android device.
And if you are a fan of the live activity on the iPhone, Kinzelman told us that they are exploring to integrate this update into this experience and that “we will at some point link the two”.
The second major technology ending for United Airlines so far in 2025 has been the start of its roll-out of Starlink-powered Wi-Fi for gate-to-gate connection at no cost to members of its Mileageplus Rewards program. It is already on several United Express regional jets, and the airline says it will be throughout the fleet at the end of the year, with the process of installing it on its larger main line rays to begin at the end of the year.
