Digital Transformation Solutions for United Airlines | DXC Technology Customer Story

Customer Stories | April 23, 2025

United Airlines improves travel above and below the wing

Flying nearly 5,000 planes each day across the globe while carrying ~500,000 passengers is a daunting task. From mobile check-in to baggage retrieval, a traveler’s journey is made up of numerous touchpoints—each one an opportunity to make the experience more human, more responsive and more connected to a traveler’s unique needs.

That’s why United Airlines is both modernizing its core infrastructure to ensure critical operations run smoothly and releasing a suite of mobile apps to access critical flight information, manage schedules for pilots and crew, and keep airline passengers connected and informed during every step of the journey.

DXC is helping United Airlines excel in both areas—above and below the wing—to ensure the reliability of United’s critical systems while also building more ambitious applications that propel the airline forward and create delightful travel experiences.

A powerhouse for critical tasks

You don’t need to be a pilot to know that flight networks are complicated and ever-changing. That’s why airlines rely on mainframes to help ensure that people and planes arrive where they are supposed to in the most efficient way possible.

“Modernizing the mainframe is key for us," said Grant Milstead, VP of Digital at United Airlines. "It’s not easy or glamorous work but it’s a big part of unlocking the value we want to create going forward, to continue to scale and grow.”

Delighting passengers at every turn

When you board a United Airlines plane, there’s a lot of work happening behind the scenes—involving flight attendants, pilots, crew and others—to make sure everything is tightly coordinated and that the plane leaves on time. Mobile apps keep airline passengers constantly connected and informed, giving them greater control over their journey.

"I think about mobile apps as kind of a travel concierge in your pocket," said Milstead. "It’s personalized, it’s contextual and it’s entirely self-service, so our customers have full control over their travel experience.”

The 'connected passenger' has become a reality

Providing a seamless, modern customer experience is crucial. And the good news is United does so through its customer app with features that elevate the passenger experience, including:

Personal flight info, boarding times, seat assignments

Family & friends trip planning

“Bag drop shortcut” to check bags ahead and drop them off

Flight-change notifications

Real-time baggage tracking

Agent-on-demand via talk, text or video chat

Digital menu for food service

The big picture

Our work with United Airlines is a great example of how, by taking the right approach to overcoming legacy challenges and embracing modern technologies, an enterprise can maximize the value of existing investments while building IT environments that are more agile, cost-effective and designed for future innovation and a customer-first mindset.

It’s also another great example of how we’re partnering with airlines at every step of the journey. Three out of the four largest airlines in the world trust DXC with managing critical data, simplifying passenger check-in, helping the crew track their fleet and modernizing their systems so that they can keep flying.

Go deeper

Reach out to Anand Srivastava to learn how our custom applications services can help you build, scale and innovate.