United Airlines has rolled out yet another new feature in its award-winning mobile app, this time adding estimated TSA checkpoint wait times at seven of its biggest hub airports for both the standard security lane and TSA PreCheck.
While TSA officers are finally getting paid, the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues unabated, and that means that official sources for TSA checkpoint wait times aren’t entirely reliable.
In any case, rather than accessing the official TSA mobile app, individual airport websites, or third-party services to access checkpoint wait times, United passengers can now quickly find this information at a glance within the ‘day of travel’ page of the United app.
“We appreciate the work and professionalism of our TSA agents, and while most began receiving back pay earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues, and people want to stay informed about expected security wait times at our airports,” explained United’s Chief Information Officer, Jason Birnbaum.
“Our customers rely on our mobile app for all their travel needs, and this new feature lets them know what to expect and better plan their trip.”
The TSA wait time indicator is part of a new pilot program that is available at United’s seven largest hubs at Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles.
United warns, however, that the new service is only an indication and that wait times might vary from what the app is showing.
Despite that caveat, the TSA wait time indicator adds to United’s already impressive rollcall of features within its mobile app.
Late last year, United attempted to combat the scourge of ‘gate lice’ with a virtual gate feature that provides real-time boarding updates, indicating which group has been called to board, and a dynamic progress bar showing how many passengers have already boarded the plane.
In addition, United has upgraded its bag tracking feature so you can see exactly where your checked bag is at every point in the journey – just like you can see the progress of your Amazon delivery.
The airline has also introduced a slew of other welcome features to its mobile app, including a personalised connections assistant that guides transit passengers with layovers from one plane to the next.
The feature builds upon United’s industry-leading ‘ConnectionSaver’ tech that holds departing flights for a few minutes if customers who have a tight connection due to a delay have a realistic chance of getting to their next gate.
United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby recently told staffers that uncertainty from the war in Iran and rising fuel prices wouldn’t stop the carrier from investing in its increasingly impressive suite of customer-facing technology solutions.
Kirby has a vision of turning the United mobile app into an indispensable one-stop shop of information for flyers, and he has even admitted to wanting to buy the popular Flighty track tracking app to supercharge his own airline’s app.
Launched in 2019 by former Apple employee Ryan Jones, Flighty has become the go-to flight tracking app for frequent travelers.
In the end, Kirby decided not to try to acquire Flighty, but it sure seems like United’s own app engineers are taking inspiration from Jones and his team.
