ORLANDO, FL — United Airlines uses real-time operational data to hold connecting flights for delayed passengers. The airline, which is about to celebrate its centennial year, does so when the delay won’t impact final arrival times. Travelers worried about a missed connection receive a text with reassuring messages that transform potential stress into brand loyalty moments.
“If we can hold this flight for less than 15 minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, allow the customers to make the connecting flight,” the airline will do it, Maggie Schmerin, United Airlines’ chief advertising officer, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the ANA Masters conference. “We text you in the moment to say, ‘Take a deep breath.’ That’s literally what the text says. ‘We’re holding your next plane for you.’”
The Connection Saver program runs automatically without customer opt-in, analyzing downline aircraft impacts to determine when brief holds benefit passengers without disrupting schedules.
An addressable screen in the sky
United’s seatback entertainment systems represent uniquely addressable advertising inventory because the airline knows exactly who occupies each seat, enabling personalized content delivery based on purchase history and preferences.
“We truly have the world’s most addressable screen. When you think about the TV monitor on the seat back in front of you, we have the privilege of knowing exactly who is seated in seat 1A and seat 32B,” Schmerin said.
The airline aims to build completely customized experiences over time, serving relevant offers based on whether passengers previously purchased cruise vacations or might need rental car partnerships.
Customer-first transformation
United’s focus on customer experience drove major decisions like eliminating change fees during the pandemic despite losing up to $40 million daily, reflecting CEO Scott Kirby’s mantra to “just do the right thing.”
“We got rid of change fees at the height of the pandemic when one might argue we were losing up to $40 million a day and we said goodbye to a lot of additional revenue because we knew that was a pain point for customers,” Schmerin said.
This philosophy guides partnership decisions, including Spotify integration that enables passengers to access personal playlists and podcasts onboard, recreating home entertainment experiences at 30,000 feet.
In a sense, the partnership reflect United’s focus on extending its brand loyalty focus with its wider advertising and media strategies with Kinective Media, the carrier’s advertising network. As Khatidja Ajania, Kinective’s director of strategic partnerships, told Beet.TV in Cannes, travelers, particularly younger ones, expect more from an airline or hospitality brand than transactional loyalty perks.
Breaking the wifi barrier
One of the perks and comforts flyers especially care about is wifi. United is rolling out Starlink connectivity to provide what it calls “the literal fastest wifi in the sky,” addressing a longstanding passenger pain point that prevents productivity during flights.
“We recognize that wifi has been a barrier and a pain point, and so we like to say we’re breaking that wifi barrier with Starlink because we know that the sky is when a lot of people need to be productive,” Schmerin said. “They can’t say to their boss like, well, I wasn’t available, or the wifi wasn’t working.”
Speed drives relevance
United built marketing and communications functions that respond rapidly to cultural conversations, enabling the airline to participate authentically in moments when appropriate despite operating in a complex, regulated industry, Schmerin said, noting United’s upcoming 100th anniversary celebration.
“We’re really focused on partners that make our customers be able to do whatever it is they want to be able to do while traveling,” Schmerin said. “We’re really taking the outlook of ‘How can we recreate your living room? Your home experience in the sky?’ so it feels incredibly seamless and doesn’t feel like a big of a barrier to overcome when you really think about going to the airport.”
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