Here is what I wish all apps had:
1) An easy introduction page with all the vital (and bonus) information
Of note, there's access to your membership number (greyed out), one's account balance, one's status tracker (to always show you how close or how far you are from your next status goal), and how many upgrade points you have available, if you choose to use them.
What is unique about United's app is that they include your lifetime miles. If any program's million miler status is actually important to the program itself, it should make one's progress towards that aspirational status clear. I am, apparently, over 700,000 miles away from that goal.
2) Future flight bookings and the ability to check in by clicking on the booking
I don't have an upcoming flight and so I can't really demonstrate. However, it is easy to access all of my upcoming booked flights. One can view details about the flight and make changes to or cancel the flight. One can check into the flight and store boarding passes for flights.
3) Flight arrival times and departure times are easily found and easily interpreted.
Flight information is bold and clear. If there is a delay, there's typically a small message above the flight information telling you what is happening or why it is delayed. You can click "where is this aircraft coming from" to help you decide when it is time to go to the gate: obviously if the incoming flight hasn't arrived yet when it is officially boarding time for your flight, there's no point in leaving the lounge to go to the gate. Grab another drink in the lounge. Not every airline has this feature.
4) Accurate, clear information about where you are on the standby list and upgrade list and
5) A seat map that is always up to date and always viewable, even until two days after the flight.
There is no question about where you are on the standby list and the upgrade list. Unlike other airlines, once the flight is closed, you can still see what the list looked like. You can use this information to let you know how likely the flight is to be full when you're flying this route in the future. If you're into seeing who is non-rev and upgrading, you can figure that out easily (everyone from And, R. and below are are non-rev). Furthermore, the seat map is always active and up to date which is also a nice source of information.
I quite like that once the flight is closed, you can pull up the seat map to see if that empty seat beside you really is free -- you can move your baggage from under the seat in front of you one seat over to increase legroom. Very hand to know.
6) Ability to book flights and check out award seats
Like with virtually every airline app out there, you can book either award seats or revenue seats. If you lived in America, you could purchase and pay for the seats right on the app itself. What I wish was for the ability to pay using other currencies; Canadians aren't allowed to buy tickets because most of us do not have an American address (for the credit card) nor a USD-funded bank account.
It seems pretty basic, but all of the features make the app very functional to me. If it could allow me to book things in Canadian funds, I think this app would be kind of perfect. Now I just have to wait for the other airlines to catch up ...
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