United Airlines News

Who says airlines and suppliers can't innovative? Every year, they file for many unusual patents to protect their intellectual property. The problem? Most of the ideas never hit the market.

For the past five years, Mark Schwab has tried to manage a complex alliance of nearly 30 airlines. Given the number of differing opinions involved, Schwab has had one of the more difficult jobs in the airline industry.

United's highest-paying customers have a new place to call home at Chicago O'Hare. The Polaris lounge opened late last week and will be followed with similar properties across the globe through 2018.

From a public relations perspective, United has had a near flawless rollout of its new Polaris Business Class. But with it now flying, can the airline meet customer expectations? Or did the carrier over-promise what it can deliver?

United surprised the airline community when it announced that its basic economy fares wouldn't allow for free overhead carry-on luggage this week. To many, that makes its upcoming basic economy fare worse than the competition. But will mainstream passengers care?

Jeff Smisek has been gone from United for a long time, but the airline is finally starting to change its strategy in meaningful ways. That's definitely good news for investors, and probably for consumers too.

During Jeff Smisek's reign, industry insiders used to poke fun at United for copying Delta on key decisions. But with its new Basic Economy product, United is thinking outside the box. United's new fare may not be great news for flyers, but investors should be happy.

American, United, and Delta are all introducing no-frills fares to try to thwart Frontier, Allegiant, and Spirit. It might work, or it might not. But it's worth a shot. The Big 3 do not want any of the discount airlines to grow to be as large and powerful as Ryanair.

It's a short reprieve, but this is good news for travelers. For the next couple of months, they can buy the cheapest tickets on American and United and still get all the perks that the airlines offer to customers who buy pricier tickets.

United's new international flights, especially those to secondary cities in China, could be massively profitable some day. But it generally takes long-haul flights some time to ramp up. It makes sense that United will now place more emphasis on its domestic network.