United Airlines officials have repeatedly said the air travel industry will not return anywhere close to what it was until there are wide-scale vaccinations around the globe. But, that hasn’t stopped the airline from introducing a number of initiatives aimed at helping the select few who still are traveling for business.
On Monday, the airline launched its “Travel-Ready Center” — what it is calling a digital solution where customers can review COVID-19 entry requirements, find local testing options and upload any required testing and vaccination records for domestic and international travel.
The airline said it will soon include scheduling a COVID-19 test as an available feature.
United, the main carrier out of Newark Liberty International Airport and still one of the largest employers in the state, is believed to be the first airline to do so.
United’s chief digital officer, Linda Jojo, said it’s all about making traveling easier in a complicated time.
“While pre-travel testing and documentation are key to safely reopening global travel, we know it can be confusing for customers when they’re preparing for a flight,” she said. “Our ‘Travel-Ready Center’ gives customers a personalized, step-by-step guide of what is needed for their trip, a simple way to upload required documents and quickly get their boarding pass, fully integrated within our app and website.”
In the weeks and months ahead, United will add more innovative, industry-first features to the Travel-Ready Center platform to make navigating evolving entry requirements even easier. United customers will soon be able to:
- Schedule a COVID-19 test at one of more than 15,000 testing sites around the world, right from the app or website;
- Access the recently launched “Agent on Demand,” a United-exclusive feature that gives customers the ability to video chat live with a customer service agent to answer any questions about pre-travel requirements or documentation;
- View details about visa requirements for the countries they plan to visit.
Customers with an active reservation can access the Travel-Ready Center through the “My Trips” section of the United App and on united.com.
The Travel-Ready Center will provide tailored details on requirements for all travelers 18 and older on a customer’s itinerary, with status indicators noting if they are travel-ready based on specific requirements each individual needs to meet in order to board their flight, including any additional requirements for connecting flights.
Documents uploaded by a passenger will be reviewed by designated personnel for verification. The individual status indicators for each passenger will then note whether they are “travel ready” and they will be allowed to complete the check-in process. Customers should still plan to bring the physical documents to the airport in case further inspection is needed along their journey.
