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Commitments and Contingencies
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES    
Commitments. As of December 31, 2020 (adjusted to include the effects of the February 26, 2021 agreement with The Boeing Company ("Boeing") discussed below), United had firm commitments and options to purchase aircraft from Boeing, Airbus S.A.S. ("Airbus") and Embraer S.A. ("Embraer") presented in the table below:
Scheduled Aircraft Deliveries
Aircraft TypeNumber of Firm
Commitments (a)		20212022After 2022
Airbus A321XLR50 — — 50 
Airbus A35045 — — 45 
Boeing 737 MAX188 21 40 127 
Boeing 78711 11 — — 
Embraer E1754 4 — — 
(a) United also has options and purchase rights for additional aircraft.
On February 26, 2021, the Company entered into an agreement with The Boeing Company ("Boeing") for a firm order of 25 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for delivery in 2023, and to reschedule the delivery of 40 previously ordered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to 2022 and 5 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into 2023.
The aircraft listed in the table above are scheduled for delivery through 2030. To the extent the Company and the aircraft manufacturers with which the Company has existing orders for new aircraft agree to modify the contracts governing those orders, the amount and timing of the Company's future capital commitments could change.
In March 2020, the Company entered into a confidential settlement with Boeing with respect to compensation for financial damages incurred in 2019 due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. In June 2020, the Company entered into an amended and restated confidential agreement with Boeing which provides for the settlement of additional items related to aircraft delivery and updates the scheduled delivery for substantially all undelivered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The compensation to the Company under the amended and restated settlement agreement is in the form of credit memos to be issued upon the satisfaction of certain conditions related to aircraft deliveries. The Company is accounting for this settlement as a reduction to the cost basis of future firm order Boeing 737 MAX aircraft deliveries and previously-delivered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which will reduce future depreciation expense associated with these aircraft.
United also has an agreement to purchase 11 used Boeing 737-700 aircraft with expected delivery dates in 2021. In addition, United has an agreement to purchase 17 used Airbus A319 aircraft, which it intends to sell, with expected delivery dates in 2021 and 2022.
The table below summarizes United's commitments as of December 31, 2020 (adjusted to include the effects of the February 26, 2021 agreement with Boeing), which include aircraft and related spare engines, aircraft improvements and all non-aircraft capital commitments (in billions):
2021$4.9 
20222.9 
20232.8 
20241.6 
20252.0 
After 202510.1 
$24.3 
Legal and Environmental. The Company has certain contingencies resulting from litigation and claims incident to the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2020, management believes, after considering a number of factors, including (but not limited to) the information currently available, the views of legal counsel, the nature of contingencies to which the Company is subject and prior experience, that the ultimate disposition of the litigation and claims will not materially affect the Company's consolidated financial position or results of operations. The Company records liabilities for legal and environmental claims when a loss is probable and reasonably estimable. These amounts are recorded based on the Company's assessments of the likelihood of their eventual disposition.
Guarantees and Indemnifications. In the normal course of business, the Company enters into numerous real estate leasing and aircraft financing arrangements that have various guarantees included in the contracts. These guarantees are primarily in the form of indemnities under which the Company typically indemnifies the lessors and any tax/financing parties against liabilities that arise out of or relate to the use, operation or maintenance of the leased premises or financed aircraft. Currently, the Company believes that any future payments required under these guarantees or indemnities would be immaterial, as most liabilities and related indemnities are covered by insurance (subject to deductibles). Additionally, certain real estate leases include indemnities for any environmental liability that may arise out of or relate to the use of the leased premises.
As of December 31, 2020, United is the guarantor of approximately $1.9 billion in aggregate principal amount of tax-exempt special facilities revenue bonds and interest thereon. These bonds, issued by various airport municipalities, are payable solely from rentals paid under long-term agreements with the respective governing bodies. The leasing arrangements associated with these obligations are accounted for as operating leases recognized on the Company's balance sheet with the associated expense recorded on a straight-line basis over the expected lease term. The obligations associated with these tax-exempt special facilities revenue bonds are included in our lease commitments disclosed in Note 11 of this report. All of these bonds are due between 2023 and 2038.
In connection with funding the BRW Term Loan Agreement, the Company entered into an agreement with Kingsland, pursuant to which, in return for Kingsland's pledge of its 144.8 million common shares of AVH (which are eligible to be converted into the same number of preferred shares, which may be deposited with the depositary for AVH's ADRs, the class of AVH securities that trades on the NYSE, in exchange for 18.1 million ADRs) and its consent to BRW's pledge of its AVH common shares to United under the BRW Term Loan Agreement and related agreements, United (1) granted to Kingsland the right to put its AVH common shares to United at market price on the fifth anniversary of the BRW Term Loan Agreement or upon certain sales of AVH common shares owned by BRW, including upon a foreclosure of United's security interest or any completed liquidation or dissolution of AVH, and (2) guaranteed BRW's obligation to pay Kingsland the difference (which amount, if paid by United, any such sale, as applicable, is less than $12 per ADR on the NYSE, for an aggregate maximum possible combined put payment and guarantee amount on the fifth anniversary of $217 million. Due to AVH's financial uncertainty due to its high level of leverage and the fact that the airline had ceased operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company recorded the full amount under this guarantee as a liability. In November 2020, the Company posted $217 million as cash collateral for a standby letter of credit in favor of Citibank, N.A. that serves as security for a loan from Citibank to Kingsland. Any drawings under the letter of credit would offset the Company's maximum possible put and guarantee payment to Kingsland by an equal amount. The posting of this collateral, and any potential credit against the Company's put and guarantee payment, are entirely related to the original transactions entered in 2018 and do not represent any new or incremental investment.
As of December 31, 2020, United is the guarantor of $119 million of aircraft mortgage debt issued by one of United's regional carriers. The aircraft mortgage debt is subject to similar increased cost provisions as described below for the Company's debt, and the Company would potentially be responsible for those costs under the guarantees.
As of December 31, 2020, United had $380 million of surety bonds securing various insurance related obligations with expiration dates through 2024.
Increased Cost Provisions. In United's financing transactions that include loans in which United is the borrower, United typically agrees to reimburse lenders for any reduced returns with respect to the loans due to any change in capital requirements and, in the case of loans with respect to which the interest rate is based on LIBOR, for certain other increased costs that the lenders incur in carrying these loans as a result of any change in law, subject, in most cases, to obligations of the lenders to take certain limited steps to mitigate the requirement for, or the amount of, such increased costs. At December 31, 2020, the Company had $9.8 billion of floating rate debt with remaining terms of up to 12 years that are subject to these increased cost provisions. In several financing transactions involving loans or leases from non-U.S. entities, with remaining terms of up to 12 years and an aggregate balance of $8.3 billion, the Company bears the risk of any change in tax laws that would subject loan or lease payments thereunder to non-U.S. entities to withholding taxes, subject to customary exclusions.
Fuel Consortia. United participates in numerous fuel consortia with other air carriers at major airports to reduce the costs of fuel distribution and storage. Interline agreements govern the rights and responsibilities of the consortia members and provide for the allocation of the overall costs to operate the consortia based on usage. The consortia (and in limited cases, the participating carriers) have entered into long-term agreements to lease certain airport fuel storage and distribution facilities that are typically financed through tax-exempt bonds, either special facilities lease revenue bonds or general airport revenue bonds, issued by various local municipalities. In general, each consortium lease agreement requires the consortium to make lease payments in amounts sufficient to pay the maturing principal and interest payments on the bonds. As of December 31, 2020, approximately $2.3 billion principal amount of such bonds were secured by significant fuel facility leases in which United participates, as to which United and each of the signatory airlines has provided indirect guarantees of the debt. As of December 31, 2020, the Company's contingent exposure was approximately $293 million principal amount of such bonds based on its recent consortia participation. The Company's contingent exposure could increase if the participation of other air carriers decreases. The guarantees will expire when the tax-exempt bonds are paid in full, which ranges from 2022 to 2051. The Company did not record a liability at the time these indirect guarantees were made.
Regional Capacity Purchase. As of December 31, 2020, United had 303 call options to purchase regional jet aircraft being operated by certain of its regional carriers with contract dates extending until 2029. These call options are exercisable upon wrongful termination or breach of contract, among other conditions.
Credit Card Processing Agreements. The Company has agreements with financial institutions that process customer credit card transactions for the sale of air travel and other services. Under certain of the Company's credit card processing agreements, the financial institutions in certain circumstances have the right to require that the Company maintain a reserve equal to a portion of advance ticket sales that has been processed by that financial institution, but for which the Company has not yet provided the air transportation. Such financial institutions may require additional cash or other collateral reserves to be established or additional withholding of payments related to receivables collected if the Company does not maintain certain minimum levels of unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (collectively, "Unrestricted Liquidity"). The Company's current level of Unrestricted Liquidity is substantially in excess of these minimum levels.
Labor Negotiations. As of December 31, 2020, United, including its subsidiaries, had approximately 74,400 employees. Approximately 84% of United's employees were represented by various U.S. labor organizations. On February 1, 2019, the collective bargaining agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association ("ALPA"), the labor union representing United's pilots, became amendable. The Company and ALPA are in negotiations for an amended agreement. On September 28, 2020, United's pilots approved an agreement to avoid furloughs, at least until June 2021. The agreement offered, among other things, an early separation option for certain eligible pilots.
The Company and UNITE HERE, the labor union representing United's Catering Operations employees, started negotiations for a first collective bargaining agreement in March 2019.
In December 2020, the Company reviewed the provision of the collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("IBT") for alignment with contract terms with other airlines' workgroups. This review provided a base pay rate increase for employees covered under this agreement.