United is making it easier to get on an earlier flight — and have food waiting at your gate

United Airlines is on a roll.The carrier just announced an exciting 13-route global expansion, is fresh off introducing all-new Polaris business class suites, is on the verge of adding a fancy plane to the lineup, has improvements coming to the economy cabin, and will soon add some of its biggest-ever lounges to the network.But while new planes, lounges and business-class suites are impressive, sometimes it's the smaller day-to-day travel improvements that matter even more. To that end, United has two more announcements this week that could help when travel disruptions strike — or when you're simply pressed for time between flights and need something to eat or drink.Getting on an earlier United flight is becoming easier during disruptionsWhen flight disruptions happen, getting on with your journey as quickly as possible is usually the main goal.United is making that easier with a new function in its app. It will allow delayed customers who are rebooked on a later flight to keep their confirmed seat while also selecting up to three earlier United flights to the same destination to wait for on standby.UNITED AIRLINESThe big addition here is that United will actively monitor seat avai...