It's never too early to prepare for college football season, given all the exciting action and anticipation that comes from players and fans alike. This is why United Airlines is helping college football fans ease their travel preparations this coming fall by adding more than 120 new flights to its schedule. The new additions will include never-before-flown connections to several away games, an undoubted thrill for fans to look forward to.

Listening to the customers

It might seem strange for the Star Alliance member airline to ramp up that many flights while still struggling with scheduling woes. But, the increase comes after results from a recent survey of the airline's loyalty customers showed that more than 80% of avid college football fans are likely to fly to see a game this season. And it wasn't just the customers but United Airlines staff who were equally devoted college football fans. Considering the high levels of eagerness from both customers and staff, it seems understandable that the airline would seek to ramp up its schedule.

The new connections will include some of the country's biggest powerhouses. Michael Weeks, Managing Director of domestic schedule development and publication at United Airlines, said:

"College football fans love following their team on the road, and this year, we're making it easier than ever. We're flying nonstop to some of the most historic football towns in the country, including South Bend, Columbus, and Baton Rouge. We're also significantly expanding our service on the west coast to help more PAC 12 fans travel to cheer on their teams."

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Kendall Lane (pictured) is a current First Officer with United Airlines and a former Southern Illinois University Football player. Photo: United Airlines

To align with the game schedules, United Airlines has arranged its flight schedules as such:

Date

New flights

Game

September 9th to 11th

Two direct, round-trip flights between Birmingham and Austin

University of Alabama at the University of Texas Austin

One direct, round-trip flight between Spokane and Madison

Washington State University at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

September 16th to 18th

One direct, round-trip flight between Oklahoma City and Lincoln

University of Oklahoma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

September 23rd to 25th

One direct, round-trip flight between San Jose and Seattle

Stanford at the University of Washington

September 22nd to 25th

One direct, round-trip flight between Madison and Columbus

University of Wisconsin-Madison at Ohio State

October 7th to 9th

One direct, round-trip flight between Knoxville and Baton Rouge

University of Tennessee at the Louisiana State University

October 14th and 16th

One direct, round-trip flight between State College and Detroit

Penn State University at the University of Michigan

October 21st to 23rd

One direct, round-trip flight between Cedar Rapids and Columbus

University of Iowa at the Ohio State

November 4th to 6th

One direct, round-trip flight between Birmingham and Baton Rouge

University of Alabama at Louisiana State University

One direct, round-trip flight between Greenville and South Bend

Clemson University at the University of Notre Dame

November 25th to 27th

One direct, round-trip flight between Sound Bend and Los Angeles

University of Notre Dame at the University of Southern California

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The increased schedule will help plump United Airlines' domestic sector, which cancelations have plagued throughout the summer. Photo: United Airlines

Compensating for a plagued domestic sector

In light of the scheduling woes that United Airlines has been struggling with for the past few months, the airline's domestic sector has been taking quite the hit as it was faced with heavy cancelations. The cancelations weren't due to a lack of staff on United Airlines' end, and the airline's Chief Executive Officer has suggested that the aviation industry is slowly improving in terms of delays and rates of cancelations. Nonetheless, boosting up its fall domestic schedule by pairing it with the college football seasons is certainly a strategic play by United Airlines in compensating for an unfortunate summer.

However, the fall season is shy by a couple of months, which still gives the possibility that the chaos within the aviation industry can either continue improving or snowball to worse. Should thngs continue on the path of improvement, college football fans will undoubtedly experience the thrill of having several travel options with United Airlines. On the other hand, if the chaos were to snowball, the fans might experience what so many passengers have been experiencing all summer - cancelations, delays, missing baggage, and pure frustration.