New Routes And Flights On United Airlines Are Great News For Travelers

A few months ago, I made my first visit to Morocco, and it was amazing. Morocco is booming in popularity for American travelers, coupling great food, culture and amazing landscapes with a bevy of new luxury hotels and resorts.

I loved it, and while there is too much to see for one trip, and thus some hard choices, if you do go, the one must-visit city is Marrakech, which has the biggest medina, the top tourism attractions, the best food, new, a modern new international airport, and the best hotels. One of these, the Royal Mansour, is widely considered one of the very best luxury hotels anywhere on earth, and the rare property worth a long trip just to stay at (I wrote it about in detail here at Forbes).

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Marrakech—except getting there. Unfortunately, when I went, there was no way to fly non-stop from the United States. Now there is—thanks to United, who launched the new route in October. Not only is this the first non-stop to Marrakech, it’s the first non-stop on any U.S. carrier to the entire country of Morocco.

Marrakech is just the tip of an iceberg that’s of great interest to adventurous leisure travelers. United has taken a purposeful tact in recent years to go after routes no one else flies, often to underserved destinations, and to me that’s a big win for travelers. I’d rather have one non-stop choice than multiple airlines flying with one or more changes, especially these days. Every time you change planes you double your chances of delay or mishap.

Back in October, United Airlines announced the largest international flight expansion in the airline’s history, simultaneously adding eight new airports abroad by summer 2025. These include Marrakech, the first, as well as Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Nuuk, Greenland; Palermo, Italy; Bilbao, Spain; Madeira Island, Portugal; Faro, Portugal and Dakar, Senegal. The new flights to Greenland, Italy, Spain and Portugal all leave from Newark—and all go to cities not served by any other U.S. carrier. United now flies to more than 60 countries, more than any U.S. carrier.

Personally, I seem to always be just missing the boat on United, as I am flying to and from Bilbao in April, and just as with Marrakech, there is no direct service until the United flights start the following month, so I had to go via Frankfurt. Bilbao is the biggest city in the amazing Basque region of northern Spain, one of the world’s greatest culinary destinations, and nearby San Sebastian is famously home to more Michelin Stars per capita than any other city. Amazing food, nature and outdoor activities abound in the region, which I have been to several times, and Bilbao itself is home to the European Guggenheim art museum, an architectural wonder, and several other notable attractions.

Spain has been red hot as a tourism destination for Americans, especially with the current very strong dollar to Euro, but with the ongoing protests over over-tourism in Barcelona, it may be time to look elsewhere in the country, so this is a big addition for American travelers. Another great Spanish vacation destination is the island of Mallorca, with gorgeous beaches, world class cycling, amazing hiking, great food and about a dozen golf courses. This is another red-hot destination that no other U.S. airline flies to, except United, which added a non-stop to Palma, Mallorca’s capital, in the summer of 2022—right after I got back, of course.

In 2023 United added yet another new destination in Spain with a non-stop from Newark to Malaga. Other new routes that debuted that year included Stockholm, Sweden and Dubai, UAE. That’s a lot of news destinations across the globe in just two years.

Several of the new routes represent key growth areas for U.S leisure travelers. Portugal, like Spain, has been booming, and Faro opens up the sunny beaches and golf courses of the south, the Algarve, more directly. Likewise, Italy has long been the top dream destination for Americans, but many who have Italian ancestry trace their roots to Sicily, which while popular, has always been harder to reach than Rome or Milan. Thus, Palermo is a key addition.

Interestingly, it’s Mongolia that seems to be the media darling, and both Conde Nast Traveler and air travel fan favorite website ThePointsGuy.com picked this as one of “Most Exciting” new routes of 2025. As ThePointsGuy.com said, “United Airlines was a popular pick from everyone on staff, and how could it not be. The Chicago-based carrier’s network planning team has been aggressive the past few years with a bold international expansion featuring splashy, exotic additions. And 2024 was no exception, where Greenland, Mongolia and Morocco were only some of the highlights.”

Referring specifically to Mongolia, they wrote “Mongolia is about as far-flung and exotic a destination as you’ll find for a U.S. airline. United won’t be flying it nonstop from the U.S. but rather from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. Regardless, seeing United Boeing 737s flying into the Mongolian capital is easily one of the most interesting additions for a U.S. airline.”

For most exciting new routes, ThePointsGuy also picked the new Marrakech flights, saying “United’s Marrakech service, it’s operated with United’s so-called “high-J” Boeing 767, featuring a whopping 46 lie-flat Polaris seats, and unlocks a destination rated among TPG’s 29 best places to travel in 2025.”

Later in October, United announced that it will be flying its largest winter schedule ever, with nearly 4,600 flights per day during peak winter season. This includes new seasonal destinations such as Cebu, Philippines; Medellin, Colombia, and Dominica in the Caribbean. There’s a new year-round flight from San Francsico to Monterrey, Mexico and seasonal service to Belize City, Belize. The upgraded schedule also features more domestic flights this winter, including added routes of the east coast to seasonal hot spots such as Palm Springs and ski getaways Jackson Hole, WY and Bozeman, MT.

Last year United spent a billion dollars on upgrades to its Denver hub, including best-in-class new lounges, which I wrote about here at Forbes. They also added next generation lounges in Chicago and are currently upgrading their Houston hub. United is part of what I think is the best of the big three airline consortiums, Star Alliance, with top quality carriers in every region of the globe, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish, ANA, Air New Zealand, EVA Air, Singapore, Thai, TAP and several others. Members of any of these airlines’ loyalty programs can utilize points on the new United routes.

This post was originally published on here