UNITED FLYING TOGETHER: TRAVEL INFO
This information is years old, and although most of it is valid, United may have changed things. You REALLY need to go to the United Flying Together site: https://ft.ual.com and then click on the TRAVEL tab for ALL the up to date travel related topics. Advise us you if find any discrepancies. If you still can not find your travel answer, contact the United Employee Travel Center at this email address: [email protected] OR go to the United "HELP HUB" (login to United Flying Together, click "EMPLOYEE SERVICES", click "HELP HUB", then click the "Travel" button, go to bottom of that page to start a "CHAT" to get your answer.
IF YOU ARE HAVING LOGIN PROBLEMS, CALL THE UNITED SERVICE DESK:
If all else fails, you can call and talk to an actual human at the United Service desk at
(800) 255-5801 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK.
Another excellent source of non rev information on United, is that there are many FaceBook pages that deal with pass travel on United. Do a FaceBook search: "United New Pass Travel Policies", and you will find many sites that have a wealth of information, such as:
For the latest TRAVEL POLICIES and INFORMATION, visit the United "TRAVEL" page:
https://ft.ual.com
• login to the "Flying Together" page
• click the "TRAVEL" tab at the top menu bar
>> left side of page, under "Travel", click on the item about which you want information. Once logged in you can simply click on any sub-heading listed under the Travel headings to access the appropriate PDF file. Click on the "arrow" icon (not shown in example below) adjacent to each section to access the various sub-headings. The sample "links" below will not work; they are only to show you what is available on the United travel page. These topics and links may be changed by United periodically...if you see a change, please advise the webmaster (see email link below).
TRAVEL:
- Pass Riders
- Types of Travel
- Preparing for Travel
- Pass travel attire
- How to book travel
- Payments and refunds
- Travel embargoes
- International travel: Documents required
- Baggage and baggage fees
- Service charges, taxes and fees
- Helpful tips (do's and don'ts)
- International SOS and MedAir safety
- Travel Health Notices
- Trusted Traveler Programs
- United Club access
- Employee discounts for travel
- Route maps
- Boarding Priorities and Cabin Eligibility
- Boarding priorities and procedures
- Cabin eligibility
- Travel Policies
- Travel policies overview
- Pass travel guidelines
- Questions and Answers
- Boarding priority
- Company business travel
- Manage pass riders
- Retirees
- Unaccompanied minor pass travel
- United Club access
- Vacation passes
- W-2 pass travel tax reporting
- United App and Pass Travel
- W-2 Pass Travel Tax Reporting
- Additional information can be obtained on the flying together website by clicking on one of the blue colored blocks listed below the picture in the graphic below. These blocks contain information on booking a flight, updating pass riders and buddies, the pass travel report, other airline/interline travel and the myUAdiscount program.
FROM RUPA (Retired United Pilots Association), MORE INFORMATION (August 2025):
Standby Process Automation
This system continues to evolve, and if used by the agent, remains the best way to seat Non-Revenue Space Availables (NRSAs) in priority and seniority order. The logic continues to improve and recognize seat preferences.
IMPORTANT! Seat preferences MUST be selected for each individual flight as they do not carry over, even on multi-segment PNRs.
If SPA is used, it will honor seat preferences if available. If SPA is not used, then seat assignments are manually entered by the gate agent. This is indicated by an asterisk (*) next to the traveler's name on the cleared list shown on the app. An asterisk can also indicate a seat change initiated through the app by the pass rider.
The traveler's seat preference cannot be seen/recognized by the agent and most likely will not be honored if assigned by the agent. You can always ask the agent for a seat change if time permits.
Clear by Cabin or Clear All logic has finally been replaced to use SPA logic and will no longer make seat assignments from back to front! SPA runs twice per departure. Runs occur at 60 and 30 minutes before departure for domestic flights and at 75 minutes and 60 minutes before for international flights. If the load factor is 83% or lower, the first SPA run will seat up to 90% capacity for the aircraft. The second run will seat up to remaining capacity.
For flights with a projected load factor above 83%, seats will be assigned manually by the agent. So, for a domestic flight if 60 minutes has come and gone and you don’t see any standby seats assigned, it means the load factor is above 83% and all seats will be manually assigned by the agent.
If listed for First, Business, or Premium Economy and the traveler can be seat assigned in the first SPA run, the traveler will only be seated in Economy and remain on the upgrade list for First,
Business or Premium Economy. During the second SPA run, upgrades will be processed in priority and seniority order for pass riders listed for the higher class of service. So if you’re expecting to get seated in a premium cabin, don’t freak out if you are assigned an economy seat. It’s only temporary until upgrades are assigned. If you still don’t have a premium seat, its because none were available after all revenue upgrades and non-revenue upgrades of those with a higher seniority/priority.
SPA and Weight Restrictions
SPA has been programmed to recognize weight restrictions and will only seat up to the allotted number of passengers for the restriction placed by Load Planning. If operating a weight restricted flight, it is imperative that Captains coordinate with Dispatch AND Load Planning if able to accept more passengers.
Load Planning must update their restrictions in order for more NRSAs to be cleared into a seat. This can be an issue when operating at non-United stations or with newer CSRs who only know how to use SPA and not how to override the logic to seat more passengers/NRSAs. Note: Some Captains are on the ball and already do this. Others are not. If you spot the Captain in the boarding area on a weight restricted flight, ask he or she if they can coordinate with load planning and the gate agent to get on more S/As. One more note: often when the weight restriction has been reduced load planning will put on standby cargo before any additional of non-revs.
Social Media Pass Travel Advice
Many social media platforms have a pass travel forum. Please refrain from offering or following advice on policy/procedure on these forums as many of it is simply uninformed opinion and most comments offered on these forums are well intended but misleading or not accurate. What I hope we can do is refer the questioner to the policies and procedures section of the Travel section on Flying Together. It contains PDF files that cover every imaginable subject regarding our pass travel benefits.
The PDF files on Flying Together remain the controlling source documents for our travel policies and procedures.
ZED Updates
Our ZED agreements continue to improve and evolve. Please reference Flying Together and the Other Airline/Interline Travel page before planning offline trips.
Companion Passes is the new name for Star Companion Passes as their use has now expanded beyond the Star Alliance. There are now 21 carriers that permit anyone to travel with you using a companion pass, and quite a few permit companions to fly on Low ZED fares. Most of them permit companions to travel in Business, at mostly Medium and Low ZED fare levels. Remember, you must accompany your companions on all legs of their travel.
Your Enrolled Friends are now eligible for ZED travel on Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines as long as you accompany them on all legs.
myUAdiscount Economy Plus
Regular myUAdiscount ticket purchasers may have noticed that in the booking process, upgrades to Economy Plus seats are not discounted. This can be circumnavigated with the following process:
1. Purchase the discount ticket and select a seat that does not incur any extra charges.
2. After the reservation is purchased and e-ticketed, use the United App to navigate to the trip and expand the details.
3. From here, selecting to purchase the Economy Plus seat will now include the 20% discount.
