On the domestic front, United is looking at its largest domestic schedule in company history with increased flights at nearly 140 airports from January through March. That’s in part to sunny destinations in Florida as well as Phoenix, San Diego, and Palm Springs, California. The other part is for snow lovers: United has the most service to top ski destinations among US carriers — nearly triple the average daily flights of the other airlines and nonstop service to 11 cities famous for winter sports in Colorado, California, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.
Then there are the international options. United flies to the most international destinations among US airlines, with 800 daily flights to 147 places by next summer. Forty of those are ports of entry not served by any other US carrier. That includes one-stop connections to Taiwan, the Philippines, Mongolia, and Palau through Tokyo, as well as direct flights to Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Senegal. The latter builds on United’s current roster of the most US airline flights to Africa that includes South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and Morocco.
New or increased flights to the Caribbean with United make it easier to reach Dominica, St. Kitts, Bermuda, and Trinidad and Tobago. In Latin America, there will be more flights than ever to Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, and Guatemala. Both the Matador Network winner for Next Big Destination Award and the Readers’ Choice Award in the same category will also see service with United: El Salvador and Greenland (which United is the only US carrier to fly to).
In Europe, United has the only nonstop US airline route to Bilbao in Spanish Basque Country, as well as to the Portuguese destinations of Porto, Ponta Delgada, Madeira Island, and Faro. More transatlantic summer flights than ever (760 weekly) will be available in 2025 thanks to United’s largest international expansion that includes Venice, Athens, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, and Spain’s Palma de Mallorca.
Photo: United Airlines
Increased routes alone are a major plus, but how United gets people there matters, too. The company’s ever-improving Connection Saver AI technology helps relieve some stress from tight connections. Starting in 2025, United will start testing and rolling out free in-flight WiFi with the eventual target of being the airline with the largest free internet program for all passengers on more than 1,000 aircraft. The United app and mileage program continue to improve, with automatic changes to better seats and the ability for groups to pool miles for trips. United’s accessibility for people who use wheelchairs is unparalleled thanks to the industry-first digital sizing tool that has served tens of thousands of travelers.
Sustainability in the airline industry is tricky, but United continues to lead the way as the first to set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050 without voluntary carbon offsets. United has purchased more sustainable aviation fuel than any other US airline, and blends it into its fuel at five airports in Europe and the US. United even updated the livery on some of its planes to highlight the fuel.
These route expansions and commitment to a better flying experience make it easy to see why United continues to be a leader in aviation.
Nominations for the 2024 Matador Network Airline Award were sourced from across the well-traveled Matador Network team. The nominees were judged based on sustainability efforts, number of destinations and route growth, experience in all classes, affordability, rewards program, customer experience, and reliability.
Our other top nominees, in no particular order: