This past week, United Airlines announced a lot of news that was geared heavily toward travelers willing to pay top dollar.
Look no further than the airline’s most high-end plane yet — complete with a brand-new Polaris product and a whopping 99 total premium seats.
Plus, the airline announced lie-flat suites for two new aircraft configurations it unveiled, along with what might be the fanciest regional jet in America.
But the airline has also been busy rolling out some intriguing new developments for the coach cabin that, if we’re being honest, will affect a lot more travelers than any bells or whistles at the front of the plane.
Here’s some of what caught our eye.
A couch in the sky
The most exciting update was the reveal of United’s new “Relax Row.”
It’ll allow passengers to turn three economy seats into a bed. The airline is framing this as a great way for families traveling together to catch some shut-eye inflight.
United plans to price its Relax Row as an add-on option for travelers who book an entire row. Expect the best pricing for groups of three traveling in three separate seats.
This should be a similar product to what Air New Zealand has offered for years.
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
The Chicago-based airline plans to debut its Relax Row on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners and certain large Boeing 777s and is planning to install this setup on 200 planes by 2030.
Most planes will have around nine of these Relax Rows, but some jets could have up to a dozen.
What does Relax Row get you beyond a “bed” in the sky? The product will come with a children’s stuffed toy and extra bedding.
Starlink Wi-Fi
OK, this wasn’t a new announcement this past week, but we’d be remiss not to mention it — because it might be the biggest onboard development of all.
As TPG has reported extensively, United is in the process of rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi to its planes.
If you haven’t flown with an airline that offers Starlink, it might be the fastest onboard internet in the marketplace today.
I’ve been able to stream video, view a Zoom meeting and get work done (simultaneously) without interruption on aircraft with the technology.
On planes equipped with the service, it’s complimentary for United MileagePlus members.
United has said that it expects to have Starlink on at least 800 jets by the end of this year.
We should note that the carrier isn’t alone in adding Starlink service: Among other U.S. airlines, Hawaiian Airlines has it on Airbus planes today. Hawaiian’s sister carrier, Alaska Airlines, just started installing the service. Southwest Airlines also recently announced it’s outfitting its aircraft with the necessary equipment for Starlink service.
Better earbuds and blankets
From the high-tech and expensive to the practical: United this week said it would start offering a “softer, more stylish blanket” and “new, higher quality earbuds” with better audio in its coach cabins on longer flights.
While neither will offer the comfort of a lie-flat seat or premium economy recliner, both should make a long-haul trip in coach a little more comfortable.
That said, I tend to opt for my own headphones when I connect to United’s seatback screens. The carrier is in the process of rolling out Bluetooth connectivity across its fleet, which makes it easy to connect listening devices like Apple AirPods.
As for travelers who forget their headphones? Hopefully, better earbuds will prevent travelers from playing TikTok videos with the volume cranked up for all to hear — that’s now (officially) a no-no on United’s planes.
Onboard snack bars
If you’re a frequent Polaris or Premium Plus traveler, the upscale seats on United’s new Airbus A321 Coastliner and A321XLR planes may have stolen the show when the carrier announced two new aircraft configurations this past week.
But if you tend to fly in economy, two words may have caught your eye: snack bar.
The airline plans to add walk-up concession stations for its economy cabin on these spiffy new jets.
United will fly its Coastliner on prime transcontinental routes, especially those from its Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) hub.
Its XLR planes are headed to Europe.
Both will replace aging Boeing 757s.
Tiny planes, big (enough) overhead bins
Finally, much of the buzz about United this past week centered on one of its tiniest planes.
The carrier announced a newly configured regional jet it’s calling the CRJ-450.
Again, headlines around this United Express jet mostly dealt with the front of the plane — it’ll have first-class seats, which is a novelty for a plane of this size. Additionally, first-class passengers will have spacious lockers instead of overhead bins.
That’s great — if you fly in first class.
As for the back of the plane? There will be overhead bins — and United said they’ll actually be large enough to fit rollaboard bags. That’s typically far from a given on really small regional jets like this 41-seater; usually, if your bag has wheels on an aircraft like this, you have to valet tag it and wait for it after landing.
That should happen a lot less on this plane and the many other regional jets United is already outfitting with the more spacious bins.
Related reading:
Discussion about this post