Okay, you're sitting down, and you're not holding any sharp objects, right?  And not drinking any hot liquids?  Good.

I am impressed with the improvements made by United Airlines.

I fly a lot, and the past couple of years have strongly prefered "new" airlines like Virgin and Jet Blue.  Everything about these airlines seems better; their planes, their seats, the inside-the-plane experience, WiFi, food, their reseveration websites, customer service, etc.

But of course I end up flying "old" airlines a lot too, because they have the routes, and I most often end up flying United.  And so it was that on my recent trip to Chicago and New York - originally booked on Jet Blue - I had to rebook at the last minute, and ended up on United.  And ... well ... it was great!  Their website was great - it showed me all the choices, cleanly, including - and this is a longstanding complaint of mine - how I could use miles to upgrade.  They have a spiffy facility for boarding passes on your phone - see Pre screenshot at left.  There was plenty of room on the plane, and WiFi, and [working] power at my seat.  And (can you believe) the food was good; I had a nice "tapas", a chicken wrap, etc., and plenty of diet cokes whenever I wanted.

Who knew?  United rock.