How United is building a post-COVID airline

Air travel came back from COVID looking different. The corporate traveler did not disappear, but leisure travelers began taking longer trips and paying more for experiences they actually wanted.

United did not necessarily see that shift coming. But it’s responded faster than almost anyone else.

The airline has added destinations other U.S. carriers would not touch, ordered hundreds of airplanes, redesigned its cabins, expanded its lounges, improved an already good app, signed up for Starlink, and started investing in its brand again.

Those moves can look like a collection of announcements. They are really parts of the same bet: win the premium-leisure traveler.

The money is already moving in that direction. United’s premium revenue rose 16% last quarter, while Delta’s rose 17%. The question is how an airline turns that demand into an advantage.

United’s answer is to change almost every part of the trip at once.

The destination comes first

A premium-leisure traveler usually chooses where to go before choosing an airline, and so United’s response started with its network.

Its recent route announcements read like a travel wish list: Ibiza, Madeira, Nuuk, Ulaanbaatar, Bari, Split, and dozens more.

In 2027 United plans to add ten international cities, including eight that no other U.S. airline serves nonstop from the United States. It is giving customers a reason to open the app before they’ve even chosen a vacation.

I wrote more about how these routes also make MileagePlus and United’s credit cards more valuable in this thread.

United can attempt these routes because its hubs pool demand from across the country. Newark feeds Europe. San Francisco supports one of the strongest transpacific networks in the United States. At Narita, United can carry passengers from America and continue them to places such as Mongolia and Palau on a smaller aircraft.

In this way, New York alone does not have to fill Ibiza, and San Francisco alone does not have to fill every flight to Asia. The network assembles enough passengers to make unusual destinations work.

Through its decisions, I think United is trying to own the most interesting answer when someone asks, “Where should we go next?”

The fleet has to support the map

That destination strategy creates an aircraft problem. San Francisco to Singapore needs a 787. Ibiza does not.

Its new premium-heavy 787-9 is built for enormous global markets. The A321XLR is built for thinner destinations such as Ibiza or Valencia that can support a premium nonstop, but not a much larger widebody.

The XLR gives United 32 premium seats on a single-aisle airplane. That lets the airline try a smaller market without giving up the lie-flat experience people expect on a long flight. I went deeper on the routes it could make possible in this thread.

United has nearly 600 aircraft on firm order. That is the capacity behind the map. It gives the airline room to experiment, keep the routes that work, and move airplanes when demand changes.

Larger mainline airplanes are also replacing small regional jets, bringing more passengers from smaller U.S. cities into United’s international hubs. Airport projects in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Dulles, San Francisco, and Los Angeles create room for those aircraft and connections.

Every part of the trip becomes an upgrade

The route gets a traveler interested. United still has to persuade them to pay more to get there.

The A321XLR gets lie-flat Polaris seats and Premium Plus. The new 787-9 gets a larger first-row Polaris Studio. A couple can buy an economy row with the middle seat blocked. Eventually, three economy seats can turn into a Relax Row couch. Screens are getting larger throughout the airplane.

United is creating more choices between basic economy and business class. Each one gives a traveler paying with their own money another reason to spend up.

The airport follows the same idea. Club Fly gives a connecting passenger a quick coffee and snack. The expanded Chicago Polaris lounge is designed for someone who wants to arrive early, eat a meal, and stay awhile.

The seats are easier to fix than the service

United can order the same seat and install the same screen across hundreds of airplanes. It cannot guarantee the same crew interaction on thousands of flights.

The airline says it spent more than $150 million improving food and beverages in 2025. The new cabins add better meals, a Polaris snack bar, and a self-service snack bar at the back of the A321XLR.

I still think service is the hardest part of this strategy. A traveler spending their own money notices when an expensive seat comes with forgettable food or an indifferent crew.

United can prove what it spent. It has to earn the rest on every flight.

The app is great. The Wi-Fi needed fixing.

United’s app is already one of the best parts of the airline. It helps travelers make connections, track bags, rebook disrupted trips, and find a new seat without standing in line. More than 85% of United customers use it on the day they travel.

The Wi-Fi sucked. It was slow, unreliable, and different from one airplane to the next. Starlink is United’s attempt to make connectivity as dependable as the app.

United moved quickly. It signed the Starlink agreement in 2024 and had installed the system on 450 aircraft by June 2026. The full fleet is supposed to be complete by the end of 2027.

When the airline becomes a brand

Once the routes and products become distinctive, United has something better to market.

The airline used to announce new routes with a press release. Then it started asking people to guess the destinations. This year it produced The Cabin: Destination Decoded, a 13-minute reality show with contestants, alliances, clues, and ten route reveals.

I would never have expected an airline route announcement to need a reality show. But I watched it.

Ibiza, Nuuk, Ulaanbaatar, and Madeira are much better brand material than another advertisement promising friendly service. They make United feel global, adventurous, and a little more interesting than the other large U.S. airlines.

What United does next

I think United will keep pushing the same bet for the next decade. The A321XLR will open more premium-leisure routes from Newark and Dulles. Premium-heavy 787s will add more Pacific flying from San Francisco and more seats on the largest Atlantic routes.

Larger domestic airplanes and additional gates will feed those flights. The app will keep improving. Starlink should finally make the Wi-Fi consistent.

The harder question is whether United can make the food and service feel as good as the seats, lounges, and technology. That will determine whether someone who pays more once becomes a customer who comes back.

United is rebuilding the airline around people who want to see the world and will pay more to enjoy the trip. The routes create the desire. Everything else has to deliver it.