Fresh off hours-long security delays at some major airports across the country – including nightmarish lines at one of its biggest hubs in Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) – United Airlines announced it will begin displaying current wait-time estimates at some of its biggest airports in its smartphone app.
In an update rolling out to travelers Wednesday, the airline says it will display current security wait times – for both standard security queues as well as for TSA PreCheck® – at seven of its biggest hubs in what it's calling a “pilot program.” That list includes:
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD)
- Denver (DEN)
- Houston-Intercontinental (IAH)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Newark (EWR)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD)
Travelers flying out of one of those hubs will be able to pull up the latest estimates in the “Travel” section of their app.
Now more than ever, anxiety about airport lines is sky-high – and an easy way to check before heading to the airport has been a frequent request among passengers. Many major airports track and display current wait times online, and there's a handful of third-party services that do the same – some better than others. But United is the first major U.S. airline to bring that within its app, though Delta recently rolled out an online dashboard tracking delays at its biggest hubs.
“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,” Jason Birnbaum, United’s chief information officer, said in a statement.
While long lines have faded from airports and national headlines as weeks' worth of backpay finally began going out to TSA agents earlier this week, this is yet another savvy move from United, striking while the iron is hot.
Just last week, the Chicago-based airline went viral, debuting snazzy new cabins and its upcoming “Relax Row” feature for lie-flat seats in economy – a decades-old concept it's borrowing from Air New Zealand. Its partnership with Starlink to provide blazing-fast, free Wi-Fi is rolling out quickly … and other airlines are clearly scrambling to catch up. And its smartphone app is widely viewed as the best by far among major U.S. carriers.
With this latest addition, it gets even better.
Adding TSA wait times might seem easy in comparison to installing onboard internet or a brand-new business class suite, but it all comes down to the data.
Some of the data that passengers have previously relied upon to gauge how early to get to the airport is borderline worthless. That includes TSA's own smartphone app, which uses a blend of historical averages and user-reported wait times.
For this new in-app tracker, United says it's collecting and calculating its own wait times at every airport except Houston, where it says it's relying on estimates from the airport itself. In our experience, those are fairly accurate.
Still, the airline warns: “Estimated security wait times are based on data available to United and may not reflect actual wait times, which may vary from the estimates.”
Bottom Line
United will display security wait time estimates in its smartphone app at seven of its biggest hubs.
Honestly, I'm amazed another airline didn't do this years ago. But after the nightmare of the last few weeks, it's better late than never.
Lead photo courtesy of United Airlines
