United Airlines News

United’s David Kinzelman discussed the importance of eliminating friction for travelers at Skift Aviation Forum 2025.

AI is reshaping travel’s workforce faster than executives can publicly acknowledge. The winners are efficiency and automation, and the losers, at least for now, are thousands of people.

Premium customers may be driving travel spending these days, but United’s David Kinzelman said airlines can’t forget about economy travelers.

The “big four” U.S. airlines are getting bigger, according to Breeze Airways’ CEO.

Airlines continued to cancel flights as staffing shortages worsened during the 40th day of the government shutdown. While it looks like Congress is on track to reopen the government this week, air traffic controllers are set to miss a second paycheck on Tuesday.

The FAA’s flight reductions will impact major U.S. airlines differently. Those operating a greater number of flights with high frequencies will most likely be insulated from the effects of the cuts. But if the cuts continue through Thanksgiving and the holiday travel season, then airlines could take a significant hit.

American, Delta, and United said they would offer refunds to customers who want to cancel their flights during the government shutdown, even if their flights aren’t impacted by the FAA cuts.

The move is an interesting play for United — most airlines phased out debit reward cards after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But now, United thinks it can attract a wider customer base with the offering.

Airline industry leaders are now amping up the pressure on Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to reopen the government as air traffic controllers miss their first paychecks and delays caused by staffing shortages continue to pile up at airports across the U.S.

If the AWS glitch showcased anything, it was how much of the travel industry depends on Amazon’s cloud business.