United Airlines Adds Interactive Map to iOS App

United Airlines announced an update to its mobile app that now includes an interactive airport map. The move is said to help passengers find amenities close by the airport area.

The United app is created in order to help customers go to their destinations just within the terminal. It is even capable of providing users an estimate of walking times. The airport maps can also provide navigational information for hotels and rental car facilities within the vicinity.

It can be recalled that United is also the first American airline to allow customers to have their passports scanned when checking in for international flights thru their mobile devices.

More than 20 million downloads have been done for the app since it was introduced in 2013 November. It is also listed as among the top 5 travel apps available in the Apple app store.

By default, the map will begin navigation at a particular gate location of a customer who stores his boarding pass in the app. Or, users can also opt to indicate their location on the map by placing a pin on it.

At the present time, the app features seven of its hubs including Denver, Chicago, Newark/New York, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington. United is planning to add more hubs in the future.

There is also an upcoming feature of the app currently on trial in their Newark hub that will make use of Bluetooth in order to determine a user's location inside the airport and help the user go to different locations without the need to pin a user's location. The feature will be expanded into the present app depending on customer feedback.

United Airlines in collaboration with LocusLabs developed the interactive map for their United app.

Travellers will also have another reason to download the app because UA will add booking features so that a customer can easily add themselves to another flight or rebook flights.