#united-airlines — Public Fediverse posts

Flights to nowhere can be fun

I hadn’t planned on my brief visit to Vancouver for Web Summit’s second annual conference there to include any flying between my landing at Vancouver International Airport Monday and my departure from YVR Thursday morning. But sometimes, your event schedule has a gap just large enough for somebody to pilot a floatplane through.

That idea of taking an aerial tour of Vancouver got lodged in my head at Web Summit Vancouver last May–when I found myself distracted by aircraft departing from and arriving at Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, next to the convention center and its bitmapped-orca Douglas Coupland sculpture.

And as I was nearing the end of my first five appointments on an overscheduled Tuesday, I realized that a) I had almost two hours before my next appointment and b) the weather looked ideal for flying, at least compared to Wednesday morning’s forecast of clouds and possibly rain. So I booked a 20-minute tour flight on Harbour Air’s site at what seemed a workable time before I had to walk a few blocks away for an offsite panel.

The flight on this 67-year-old de Havilland DHC-3T Turbine Otter was what I hoped and expected it to be, going from my experience taking a floatplane ride above Seattle out of Lake Union 13 years ago. Taking to the air and returning from it without solid ground below the wing feels like cheating at flying; being in a plane small enough where you can see the pilot adjust the controls and almost immediately see and feel the aircraft respond provides an extraordinary demonstration of aerodynamics at work; the views from a large and non-pressurized window maybe 1,000 feet above ground are magical.

(The timing of this particular flight was less than magical, in the sense that it seemed that Harbour consolidated its 3 and 3:15 p.m. tour flights into one that departed at 3:20 and then left me hustling to get to my panel. I’ll expand on my avoidable scheduling fail in this Sunday’s weekly recap.)

Avgeeks sometimes call out-and-back bookings like this “flights to nowhere,”1 and I’ve now taken enough of them to realize I may have a bit of a flying problem.

My introduction, as far as I can remember, took place at a 1997 air show at College Park’s airport–the oldest continuously-operated airfield in the world–at which I recall paying $20 in cash for a flight in what years-later searching suggests was a Stearman Model 75 Kaydet biplane.

I then went almost 16 years before the next such flight, my Lake Union joyride–and then followed that days later with a balloon excursion above Sonoma County, Calif., that remains my slowest-ever aviation experience.

2014 bought a work-related flight to nowhere, a hop out of Austin during SXSW on the inflight WiFi operator Gogo’s business jet. That company invited me to try out the ground-to-air connectivity on this Canadair CL-600 by texting people, so I taunted a friend on the ground with “I’m texting you from a private jet. How are you?” and got the reply I deserved.

I had another Gogo flight to AUS and back in 2016 on the 737-500 that Gogo had acquired in the meantime, on which I saw a travel journalist successfully ask the pilots for a chance to experience takeoff in the cockpit jumpseat. That led me to make the same request before another Gogo flight on that 737 in 2017, treating me to an EWR-departure experience unlike any other.

In 2019, a friend took my wife and I on a tour above Sonoma County in his Diamond Star DA40 single-engine, four-seat aircraft. That remains my smallest-plane experience, and the only one in which I got to touch the controls. Briefly.

In 2021, I had my loudest-plane experience when I spent $450 to fly on a 1945-vintage B-25 bomber out of Hagerstown, Md., my only flight to date to allow a view from a tail gunner’s seat.

And in 2023, JSX treated me and other invited journalists to a DAL-DAL hop to try out Starlink WiFi on an Embraer 145.

The last two years tacked on ORD-ORD and LAX-LAX flights courtesy of United Airlines to test their deployment of Starlink on an Embraer 175 and then a Boeing 737. And with this week’s joyride above British Columbia’s metropolis, I have to accept that I’ve developed a moderately expensive habit here.

Which is okay with me.

1. The bad kind of “flight to nowhere” involves a long-haul international flight that experiences some sort of malfunction that requires returning to the departure airport, even if that requires backtracking across much of an ocean. ↩︎

United Airlines is to open two new routes linking Chicago and San Francisco with Japan later this year in a bid to capture growing demand for travel between the two countries. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/05/15/companies/united-airlines-new-routes-japan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #companies #unitedairlines #airports #us #aviation #airlines #chicago #sanfrancisco #naritaairport #hokkaido

Kent County Airport, Grand Rapids, Michigan Postcard

#UnitedAirlines #DC6 #Airport #Travel #Michgan #GrandRapids #History #Aviation #Avgeek #AirportArchitecture

A United flight arriving at EWR (Newark NJ) hit a bakery truck on the frickin' New Jersey Turnpike this afternoon. (Apparently the plane hit a light pole that hit the truck.) You need to watch the video to appreciate. The driver and the passengers are reportedly ok.

#EWR #UnitedAirlines

https://xcancel.com/BNONews/status/2051052111354273997#m

In case you missed it, the United Airlines Fleet website moved. There you can get niche information on UAL aircraft status or find a tail number with an equipment number #AvGeek #Aviation #UnitedAirlines https://www.unitedfleetsite.com/

Spirit Airlines rescue effort frustrates an industry waiting for it to fail

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theaircurrent.com/airlines/spirit-airlines-trump-administration-bankruptcy-bailout-jetblue/

#unitedairlines
#latestagecapitalism
#capitalism

United Airlines Airbus A320-200 85th Anniversary Retrojet - A320 Friend Ship

@united @flysfo #UnitedAirlines #Airbus #A320 #A320FriendShip #AviationPhotography #Aviation #Travel #SFO

April 23, 2026 at 07:54PM

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DXf5WGtn9q5/

United Airlines Airbus A320-200 85th Anniversary Retrojet - A320 Friend Ship

@united @flysfo #UnitedAirlines #Airbus #A320 #A320FriendShip #AviationPhotography #Aviation #Travel #SFO

April 23, 2026 at 07:53PM

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DXf5TEPn3ja/

United Airlines Airbus A320-200 85th Anniversary Retrojet - A320 Friend Ship

@united @flysfo #UnitedAirlines #Airbus #A320 #A320FriendShip #AviationPhotography #Aviation #Travel #SFO

April 23, 2026 at 07:53PM

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DXf5NQAH1Bo/

United Airlines Airbus A320-200 85th Anniversary Retrojet - A320 Friend Ship

@united @flysfo #UnitedAirlines #Airbus #A320 #A320FriendShip #AviationPhotography #Aviation #Travel #SFO

April 23, 2026 at 07:51PM

via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DXf5EQ4n8uF/

Boeing’s 737 Max engine anti-ice fix finally in the air

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theaircurrent.com/aircraft-development/boeing-737-max-eia-fix-certification-patent/

A friend and I were dorking around at SBA this evening and ended up with this (well, two versions—hers, not shown here, and mine). I’m standing inside the historic 1942 terminal. The United Airbus stayed hidden behind foliage on approach, so this was equal parts composition and compulsively glancing at the tracking app.
#unitedairlines #N4888U #AirbusA319

A United Airlines flight in Denver was halted on the runway after a suspected bomb threat, forcing passenger evacuation. Another flight was diverted over a security scare. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/bomb-scare-halts-united-airlines-flight-in-denver-passengers-evacuated-o5g19us5?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #USA #UnitedAirlines #Denver #BombThreat

Weekly output: Internet Archive, Roblox parental controls, Google travel-search tools, T-Mobile yanks free WiFi from United flights, Mark Vena podcast, talking to local user groups, AST SpaceMobile

LAS VEGAS–I’m typing this from a press room in the Las Vegas Convention Center barely three months after I spent too much time in that facility for CES. Credit or blame for this trip goes to a different Washington-area trade group, the National Association of Broadcasters. Tuesday, I will be moderating an NAB Show panel about the state of content creation that features two people who are better at Instagram than me: Juliana Broste and my fellow former USA Today columnist Jefferson Graham.

4/13/2026: Journalists Applaud the Internet Archive’s Role In Preserving the Public Record, Fight for the Future

A staffer with Public Knowledge e-mailed me a few weeks ago to ask if I would be willing to sign a letter supporting the Internet Archive’s efforts to preserve the history of the Web and possibly provide a quote about how I’d used the Archive. Having repeatedly relied on the Archive’s Wayback Machine to link back to my own past published work, I said I would be happy to do that–having already donated $100 to that San Francisco non-profit in January.

4/13/2026: Roblox Adds Account Restrictions for Younger Users, Expands Age Verification, PCMag

I attended a press roundtable Monday morning featuring some Roblox trust-and-safety executives, allowing me to enrich this writeup of the platform’s changes with quotes from that conversation.

4/15/2026: T-Mobile Grounds Free In-Flight Wi-Fi Benefit for United Airlines Passengers, PCMag

I had the dumb luck to see this change firsthand on a flight from Denver to San Jose Tuesday, then needed the rest of that day to get some responses from T-Mobile and United. The airline’s switch to free Starlink connectivity will fix this problem, but we are months away from that rollout reaching a significant fraction of United’s mainline fleet.

4/17/2026: Like It or Not, Google Wants to Be Your AI Travel Buddy This Summer, PCMag

I wrote up this post off an embargoed copy of Google’s announcement that we had to correct the next day because I had missed two of the finer points of this bundle of news. In my halfhearted defense, it is more work than you might realize keeping track of Google’s ongoing efforts to infuse AI into its existing services.

4/17/2026: How NTT Research’s Upgrade 2026 Helps Silicon Valley Get Ready for The Future, Mark Vena

My industry-analyst pal had do a quick video from NTT Research’s Upgrade conference in San Jose, Calif.–with that firm covering my travel costs–about some of its initiatives.

4/18/2026: 2026 Consumer Electronics Show and Lots More!, Potomac Area Technology and Computer Society/Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Personal Computer User Group/Washington Apple Pi

Despite that title–picked by the organizers at PATACS, pronounced “Pat-Aces”–I spent more time talking about other topics. Among them: my switch from Evernote to Obsidian just in time for CES, the sad state of tech policy in Washington, and my takes on self-driving cars and what’s befallen the Washington Post. As I have in previous appearances before these folks, I showed up with a bag of trade-show swag and gave away all of it.

4/19/2026: Blue Origin Rocket Launches, Then Loses AST SpaceMobile BlueBird Satellite, PCMag

I watched the third launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on my phone as I was walking up to the security checkpoint at Dulles early Sunday morning, started writing up what I thought was a successful launch, then learned–via painfully slow inflight WiFi–that New Glenn’s second stage had failed to deliver AST’s mobile-broadband BlueBird satellite to the intended orbit. This is a real black eye for Blue that should outweigh its achievement in reflying a New Glenn booster and then landing it on a barge in the Atlantic.

What to watch this week

Despite — and perhaps because of — a week of waffling headlines on peace talks with Iran, two…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #AlaskaAirGroup #breakingnews #earningscalendar #earningsreports #IntelCorporation #Iran #marketsentiment #preliminaryreading #stockmarket #TaiwanSemiconductorManufacturingCompany #unitedairlines
https://www.newsbeep.com/491931/

United plane makes emergency landing in Pittsburgh over ‘possible security issue’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/18/united-plane-emergency-landing-pittsburgh #Pennsylvania #UnitedAirlines #Fbi #UsNews

United Airlines' CEO pitched the idea of merging with American Airlines in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in late February, sources said, raising a deal likely to be met with significant regulatory scrutiny. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/04/14/companies/united-american-airlines-tie-up-trump/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #companies #travel #airlines #us #donaldtrump #americanairlines #unitedairlines

United Airlines CEO reportedly pitched merger with American Airlines, sparking competition fears https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/14/united-airlines-merger-american-airlines #Business #Travel #UnitedAirlines #DonaldTrump #AirTransport #UsNews

When #UnitedAirlines CEO Scott Kirby recently said he doesn’t think #eVTOL #aircraft will be #airport taxis, he was reacting to very real safety concerns surrounding conflicts between #helicopters and fixed-wing traffic at busy airports. Behind the scenes, however, the FAA is doing a lot of careful work to facilitate their safe introduction in the future. Full story in The Air Current: https://theaircurrent.com/air-traffic-control/united-skeptical-evtol-airport-taxis-faa-simulations-scott-kirby/

United CEO is skeptical of eVTOL airport taxis, but FAA has a more nuanced take

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theaircurrent.com/air-traffic-control/united-skeptical-evtol-airport-taxis-faa-simulations-scott-kirby/

All Content from Business Insider | United is rolling out 'basic business class' to make premium flying cheaper. Here's how it will work. by Taylor Rains

United wants more people to book its premium seats, so it found a way to make them cheaper — though less flexible.Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

United Airlines is introducing "basic" business class on long-haul flights later this year.These unbundled tickets can be cheaper because they let flyers only pay for what they value.Some industry analysts say the move could make business class more expensive over time.United Airlines is changing how people fly in its most expensive cabins.

The airline said Friday it's soon rolling out new "basic" fares for its Polaris business class and Premium Plus premium economy cabins that strip out some perks — like seat selection and lounge access — in exchange for lower prices.

United's Polaris lounge is more upscale than its regular Club lounges.United joins a larger basic business class trendRead the original article on Business Insider

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-uniteds-new-basic-business-class-will-work-2026-4

#airlines #business-class #polaris-business-class #premium-travel #unitedairlines #unitedairlines

Caught between Airbus and airlines, Pratt prioritizes the grounded fleet

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theaircurrent.com/engine-production/pratt-airbus-airlines-gtf-prioritizes-grounded-fleet/

Weekly output: Most Innovative Companies, Serve Robotics, Android 17, United Airlines’ ambitions, Polymarket’s pop-up bar

CHICAGO–This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., but it doesn’t show up in my work travel as often as I’d like. So I’m delighted that the Online News Association decided to move its annual conference from late summer to early spring and then stage this year’s event here–in a hotel that should be familiar to everybody who’s seen The Fugitive.

Patreon readers got a bonus post that I’d meant to have written weeks earlier: a recap of MWC Barcelona in which I also gave away a global eSIM to the first reader to ask for it.

3/24/2026: The most innovative robotics and engineering companies of 2026, Fast Company

This list, the product of months of research and editorial back-and-forth, finally emerged online this week. And then we had to run a quick correction after one of the companies honored said that we’d mentioned an achievement that they did not want disclosed.

3/25/2026: Delivery Robots Have a Mapping Problem, PCMag

I sat down in a hotel lobby in Austin during SXSW with MJ Burk Chun, co-founder and vice president of product and design at Serve Robotics, to talk about the issues that company is working to address as it tries to scale up having four-wheeled robots cart food deliveries to customers.

3/27/2026: Google Ships Latest Android 17 Beta. Here’s What’s New, PCMag

In between having so many longer stories to write, I was happy to get one that I could bang out in an hour or so.

3/28/2026: United’s New Upgrades Aim to Keep You Online and Fully Charged at 35,000 Feet, PCMag

My week started with me flying to another one of United’s hubs–with the airline covering my airfare and lodging–for its United Elevated event at LAX. In addition to looping me into UA’s ambitions for its onboard product, this event doubled as a reunion with some of the avgeek journalists I met at Cranky Dorkfest in September and with my former Washington Post colleague Lori Aratani, who interviewed United CEO Scott Kirby onstage Tuesday morning.

3/29/2026: Pints meet prop bets: Polymarket’s “Situation Room” pop-up bar in DC, Ars Technica

I thought I saw an opportunity to write for this occasional client for the first time since the summer of 2023; fortunately, my editor then and now agreed.