Travel to almost any destination — no matter where you live or work.
By Beth Chandler
Connecting people. Uniting the world.
It's United's purpose, and it's exactly what we do through our global route network – which is now the largest airline network in the world . With seven airport hubs in the U.S. and the help of our airline partners around the globe, we can get you just about anywhere in the world no matter where you live or work.
Here's how United's network helps business travelers all over the U.S. (and beyond) connect to their destinations.
United's route network
Airlines typically use one of two main network structure models – the hub and spoke model or the point–to–point model. Like most legacy carriers, United uses the hub and spoke model and has seven hubs in the U.S. – Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Houston Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Newark Liberty, San Francisco and Washington Dulles.
(We have an additional hub in Guam that serves as a gateway to the Pacific and Asia.)
“The spoke cities all fly into the hub. Passengers then change airplanes, then those flights disperse to different cities across the country,” explains Patrick Quayle, United's senior vice president of global network planning, in a Wall Street Journal interview.
Many low-cost carriers use the point–to–point model. With this model, a plane will travel from one point to another to another – for example, from San Antonio to Amarillo to Kansas City to St. Louis and then to Jacksonville.
Using the point–to–point model, a carrier might offer nonstop flights from a particular point, like San Antonio, to 20 different cities. On the other hand, a hub and spoke carrier like United would fly you from San Antonio to our hub in Houston where you could get to many destinations throughout the U.S., Latin America or across the Atlantic or Pacific.
Additional benefits of the United network
United's global network and our hub and spoke model allow us to provide you with benefits beyond the number of destinations you can access.
To start with, the hub and spoke model helps travelers from spoke markets make connections. The spokes are designed to feed travelers into the hub around the same time, which makes connections easier and more efficient. That's why you'll notice periods of high and low volume at hub airports.
Other benefits you'll experience with United's network and our hub and spoke model include:
More travel options when weather is bad: One of the major advantages of the hub and spoke model is that it provides travelers with more options for destinations, flight times and rebooking when the weather is bad. If the weather isn't cooperating on the day of your flight, we can fly you to another hub where you can be reaccommodated and get to your destination. During the key holiday travel days of December 2022, Storm Elliot ravaged much of the United States. Thousands of flights were canceled, and many travelers never made it home for the holidays. While nearly 36 percent of our flights were exposed to the severe weather, 90 percent of United customers made it to their destination within four hours of their scheduled arrival time during the week of the storm. We were able to reaccommodate many of our passengers and get them on their way.
In total, our network allows us to get travelers to more than 350 destinations around the world.
“I hope people appreciate the complexity and all the planning and work that goes in behind the scenes so when they show up at the airport, they can get on a flight and get from point A to point B and have it operate seamlessly,” notes Quayle.
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