-By Elaine Wong

UAL Corp., an airline holding company and owner of United Airlines, has appointed Dennis Cary, currently svp-marketing, as its new chief marketing and customer officer to lead customer experience efforts.

Cary will continue to report to UAL evp and COO John Tague. The appointment merges the company's customer experience and marketing organizations, as Cary will now oversee brand strategy, customer communications, merchandising and the United.com Web site.

"By combining marketing and customer experience, we are creating an organization that can more holistically deliver products and services that our customers value," Tague said in a statement. "With our new international first and business class seat roll out well under way, now is a good time to make this move, which will enable Dennis and his team to build on the customer experience work."

The company also announced the promotion of Graham Atkinson from chief customer officer to president of Mileage Plus, the airline's loyalty program. Atkinson also reports to Tague. In his new role, Atkinson will be responsible for growing Mileage Plus into a standalone business, while developing relationships with core partners, per the company.