United expects the December holiday travel season to be another record-breaker

United expects the December holiday travel season to be another record-breaker – continuing the trend we’ve seen during every other holiday season in 2024

United is planning for more than 9.9 million people to fly with us between December 19 –January 6, up 12% compared to last year.

On average – nearly 520,000 people will fly United every day during the year-end holiday period (based on current bookings) – about 62,000 more people per day than last year.

Friday, December 20, Friday December 27 and Saturday, December 28 are expected to be the busiest travel days with more than 540,000 people flying United each day.

United will operate nearly 4,500 flights per day and added nearly 500 flights a day on average to help manage this boost in demand.

The most popular New Year’s Eve destinations outside of United’s hub cities include: Orlando, Las Vegas, Cancun, Fort Lauderdale and Honolulu.

United flew a record number of travellers during every major holiday travel period this year, including the Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day and Thanksgiving travel periods, and had its highest customer satisfaction scores in one day ever during the Thanksgiving period.

Even with record passenger numbers, United is running a safe, reliable and efficient operation. Year-to-date, United ranks second among the eight largest U.S. airlines in on-time departure performance.

“Even as the number of travelers grows, our operational performance and customer scores are at their highest level in years,” said David Kinzelman, United’s Chief Customer Officer. “United is ready for the holidays – our teams on the ground and in the air look forward to delivering a great experience and we’ve added even more easy-to-use features to our app to help our customers stay informed and save time.”

Travel Tips and Hacks  

Yes, get to the airport early and double-check that you’ve packed all the necessary items, but these few simple things you can do ahead of time will make your day-of travel more streamlined:

Download the United mobile app before heading to the airport to make travel days easier, sometimes without even opening your phone. The app can save travelers up to 30 minutes on average at the airport with tools like mobile check-in, personalized wayfinding to your gate, live flight updates on your phone lock screen and Apple Watch, bag tracking and even access to free entertainment available inflight.

• Nearly 70% of customers used the United app to check-in during the Thanksgiving travel period.

Utilize United’s hacks to get the seat you want, when available.

• Stuck in a middle seat? United is the only airline where customers can log their seat preference in the app and move to a better seat – for free – if it opens up before departure.
• Want to sit with your family? United is also the first and only airline to offer a digital, dynamic seat map that allows children under 12 to be seated next to an adult in their party for free at time of booking. Since launching the feature last year, United has helped hundreds of thousands of families

Utilize United’s hacks to skip the line, too. Available at select airports, United customers can breeze through security without having to present an ID by simply opting-into Touchless ID when checking-in for their flight in the United app. With the app, customers can also get support with Agent on Demand – United’s virtual, on-demand customer service tool that lets customers video chat, text or call a real customer service representative.

• More than 28,000 Agent on Demand calls were made during the Thanksgiving travel period, alone.

Forget to prepare ahead of time and now onboard without your go-to’s? Grab one of United Children’s Travel Kits with activities for the littlest travellers, watch a holiday film on the airplane seatback screens or in the United app and enjoy one of the many food and drink options like the brand-new Economy cabin wine and Magnolia Bakery desert in United First.