United Airlines will deliver food and other essentials to your gate

United Airlines is testing a new service that will give you the the ability to order food, medicine and travel essentials through its app and then have them delivered straight to your gate. At the moment, the company is running a pilot only for select flights departing from or connecting through nine designated gates at Newark Liberty International's Terminal C. If you're flying through that terminal, you may soon receive a pre-departure push notification via the United app or an email. 

From there, you can choose from a selection of salads, sandwiches, chips, candies and kids meals, as well from a selection of drinks. You'll also be able to purchase over-the-counter medicine, travel pillows and charging cords. United will place pickup shelves at your gate, where you'll be able to claim your purchases. 

The pilot program will be available for both domestic and international flights departing from the select gates. United is teaming up with OTG, the company managing the dining and shopping experiences at Newark's Terminal C, for this preliminary testing period. It's planning to expand its pilot to Houston later this year before making it widely available, if it passes muster. United says it will integrate the service into its in-flight entertainment systems in the future if it decides on a wide rollout so that transit passengers can order items before they even land.

In addition to this new service, United also recently launched a new feature that will let you join standby lists through its app in case of disruptions. If you're ever rebooked to a later flight, the new feature will let you sign up for standby on up to three earlier flights and then rebook your reservation quickly once a seat becomes available.