United Pilots Approve Contract with 40% Wage Increases

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby offered a bleak outlook for ultra-low-cost carriers — which have been struggling with sluggish domestic travel demand — during a call with analysts Wednesday morning.

After Delta Air Lines shocked its SkyMiles elite members with significant increases in elite status requirements for the 2025 program year, the airline's loyalists went up in arms.

It should be the best of times for U.S. airlines with a travel boom still going strong, but investors are nervous demand may soften as the economy falters, making it harder to protect profits from soaring costs.

United Airlines executives outlined third-quarter earnings results in an October 18 conference call. Here are six of the most interesting takeaways. 

United Airlines’ revenue in the third quarter rose 12.5% with domestic demand remaining strong despite analysts looking toward signs of a softening U.S. market. 

United Airlines highlighted the capabilities of its new Bluetooth-enabled planes and announced plans to grow in-flight connectivity across most of its fleet in the coming years.

United Airlines is making changes to its boarding process in an effort to speed things up this fall.Starting October 26, the carrier will add a seventh boarding group and spread out economy flyers across four different groups based on whether they're booked in a window, middle or aisle seat (WILMA), according to an internal memo to airport staff that was shared with The Points Guy this week.There will be no changes to preboarding or groups one through three. However, group four—currently middle and aisle-seat passengers—will be split into two boarding groups, with group four including middle-seat passengers only and group five becoming aisle seats only.According to TPG, basic economy fare with no full-size carry-on passengers will move to a newly created group six in eligible markets.United said the changes are in response to longer-than-usual boarding times. According to the memo, the WILMA process will save up to two minutes of boarding time.The airline tested the new boarding process at one hub and four domestic outstations and said that net promoter scores were higher than those of the existing process.

For Royal Jordanian CEO Samer Majali, the war between Israel and Hamas creates multiple challenges.

Delta Air Lines hit a nerve with loyal fliers, arguably its most important customer bases, when it upended elite status qualification in its SkyMiles loyalty program last month. Customers provided the carrier with ample feedback of what CEO Ed Bastian described as a “360 [degree] view” of the controversial changes.

United Airlines thinks it has found a way to speed up the boarding process.

Delta, United, and American Airlines are three of the biggest airlines – not just in the United States but also globally.

Since the inception of Marriott Bonvoy in 2018, Titanium and Ambassador Elite members have been eligible for United Airlines' entry-level Premier Silver status through the RewardsPlus partnership. Likewise, United Premier Gold, Platinum, 1K and Global Services members have been eligible for Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status.