United Airlines will be revealing a new livery on April 24th. According to a statement put out by United, it is not the same “leaked” livery from a few weeks ago. This leaves us with a bit of a guessing game as to what United’s new livery will look like.

United Airlines inherited their current globe livery after their merger with Continental Airlines. The “new” post-merger livery (at the time) was barely discernible from the one used by Continental. This undoubtedly saved costs with repainting aircraft, in addition to being an easy replacement for United’s older “Tulip” livery. Furthermore, much of the new United Airlines took on elements from Continental Airlines, including Continental CEO Jeff Smisek.

Aside from “UNITED” and a slightly more vibrant blue tail fin, United took this livery from Continental. Needless to say, this new livery didn’t really strike a chord of brand recognition in the same way as United’s Tulip. The globe was justified as a way to highlight United’s global footprint that keeps expanding. Now, it seems that United is looking to get a new visual identity to help build their brand recognition.

The most recent change to their livery was the new “Swoop”. With their new 787 and 737 MAX aircraft, United introduced a “Swoop” livery. This modified livery saw a gold stripe that flows along the aircraft instead of cutting straight across in a line.

United’s pre-merger livery was cordially referred to as the “Tulip”. When United emerged from bankruptcy in the mid-2000s, they introduced a brand new livery to mark the start of a new chapter in their history. They decided to keep the Tulip because of brand recognition. In fact, compared to the gray “Battleship” livery, the “Rising Blue Tulip” emphasized the tulip on their tail fin. This new livery also had a coordinated color scheme of blue, white, and small hints of red retained from years past. However, with the end of United and the start of United-Continental, the Tulip saw its end.

United could revive the Tulip. Many frequent fliers recall the Tulip and it still has a strong brand association with United. On the other hand, United has been doing quite a bit of reworking of their color scheme. For starters, United has introduced “Pacific Purple” into their color scheme, with their new Premium Plus seats featuring a purple color. It wouldn’t be surprising to see some purple introduced in the new color scheme.

For now, we eagerly wait for April 24th, 2019.

www.simpleflying.com/united-new-livery/

United Airlines came from somewhat humble beginnings in the early days of the US aviation industry.

William Boeing founded Boeing Airplane Company in 1916 as an aircraft manufacturer. With successful releases of Boeing Aircraft models, the company transitioned into operating as an air carrier for mail. The first successful mail delivery was in 1919. By 1928 a subsidiary, United Aircraft Corp, was established to operate as a full-service airline.

Under the United Aircraft Corp., the airline began to expand its business operations through a series of mergers and acquisitions across the US. United Aircraft Corp grew to include First Pacific Air Transport, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, and Stout Air Services, who were already operating as a passenger airline.

A fast-growing airline, Varney Airlines, was also acquired by United Aircraft Corp, who had then become United Aircraft and Transportation Corporation (UATC). Founded by Walter Varney, Varney Airlines reflected modern airline operations after it expanded its business from mail to passengers using a Boeing 247 aircraft.

United is now the first U.S. airline to give customers non-binary gender options while booking their flights, the carrier announced Friday. 

“United is excited to share with our customers, whether they identify along the binary of male or female or not, that we are taking the steps to exhibit our care for them while also providing additional employee training to make us even more welcoming for all customers and employees,” United’s Chief Customer Officer Toby Enqvist said in a statement.

The airline has worked with LGBTQ organizations The Human Rights Campaign and The Trevor Project on training employees in conjunction with these updates. Such training includes the use of preferred pronouns.

“By providing non-binary gender selection for ticketing and the gender-inclusive honorific ‘Mx’ in user profiles, United Airlines is taking an important step forward for non-binary inclusion,” Beck Bailey, acting director of the Workplace Equality Program at the Human Rights Campaign, added in the same statement.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/03/22/united-first-airline-offer-new-non-binary-gender-booking-options/3243718002/

United Airlines (UAL +0.1%) announces it broke ground on a technical operations center at Los Angeles International Airport.

The company says the new facility will include two connected buildings – a ground service equipment and facilities maintenance building and a line maintenance hangar, including an engine support shop that will focus on the aircraft’s Dreamliner fleet.

The new investment pushes the United’s commitments at its Los Angeles hub to nearly $1B in recent years.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3438667-united-airlines-invests-lax-operations

In January, United Airlines rolled out a redesigned version of its smartphone app designed to cater to not only frequent fliers but those who fly with United once a year, Linda Jojo, the airline’s chief digital officer, told Business Insider in a recent interview.

Such consideration is crucial, considering roughly 85% of the airline’s customers fly with United once or not at all in a year, United Airlines President Scott Kirby has said.

According to Jojo, the new app is keenly focused on transparency and helping alleviate travelers’ stress and anxiety by providing them with useful information without overwhelming them.

One feature of the app is groundbreaking: the flight-delay notification.

From the outside, it might not seem particularly interesting, but seeing it in action is pretty impressive.

The apps of almost all major airlines will tell you if your flight has been delayed or your gate has changed. But United’s app takes things one step further.

https://www.businessinsider.com/united-airlines-app-cool-feature-2019-1

You can now cook your favourite airline meals at home with this new recipe book.

While United Airlines often find themselves at the tail end of plane-related jokes, this is no laughing matter.

More than just peanuts and pretzels, the book contains 40 recipes from the airline’s executive chefs that are served in Polaris business class. As an example, it includes a recipe for a fancy-sounding “coconut soup with sambal oelek chicken”.

On the more dubious side, it also includes a selection of recipes used for its international economy passengers. I’m not sure I’ll be knocking up its oily pasta concoctions at home.

So it’s good to hear that a portion of the sales will go to The Trotter Project, a non-profit organisation that provides culinary and educational programs for students of the restaurant industry in the United States.
Read more: http://www.traveller.com.au/united-airlines-release-a-cookbook-so-you-can-make-airline-food-at-home-h19pui#ixzz5bumkALzr
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As the world remembers the life of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, I was made aware of a story that took place in 2010 aboard a United Airlines flight to Beijing.

Reader Ken sent me the following e-mail, which I want to share with you.

Dear Matthew,

I thought you might appreciate this story about George H.W. Bush. In the spring of 2010 I was flying from Chicago to Beijing in United Airlines first class. I thought I was first to board the flight, but noticed several people standing in the first class cabin. As I made my way to my seat in 1A, lo and behold there was George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara already seated in the cabin. Mrs. Bush smiled at me and the former president nodded his head.

While I figured they probably just wanted to be left alone, how often do you get to spend 13 hours with a former President of the United States? I eventually worked up the courage to approach them and was struck at how kind President Bush was. Perhaps gentle is the better word. We briefly made small talk about China and why he was flying commercial. Giving me his undivided attention, he made me feel like I was the only person in the world. He also asked about my reasons for going to China and actually seemed happy to engage in conversation. While most of his entourage retreated to business or economy class, one agent kept a close eye on me as we spoke. But I got the sense this sort of thing happens often. It was an incredible memory to speak to him.

What a great memory this is. I’ve flown with many politicians over the years, but never had the chance to fly with an ex-president. As the world remembers the life of George H. W. Bush, this anecdote is a reminder of his approachability and humility.

When George H.W. Bush Flew United Airlines First Class

United Airlines is shaking up the way it boards planes with a revised process that should look awfully familiar to those who have been flying with the carrier for a while. Starting Tuesday, Sept 18, United will pare back the number of boarding lanes at its gates from the current five to just two. Lane number one will be denoted with a blue sign and will be reserved for priority boarding while lane number two will be used primarily by economy travelers and will have a green sign.

We wrote about these planned changes in June when United began testing the concept at select airports including its hubs in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. See that here United will finally roll out the revised procedure systemwide on Tuesday. At SFO, the new procedure has been in use at some gates for several months now. (Have you tried it? Tell us about it in the comments.)

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