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REVENUE RECOGNITION
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
REVENUE RECOGNITION REVENUE RECOGNITION
Passenger Revenue. Passenger revenue is recognized when transportation is provided.
Passenger tickets and related ancillary services sold by the Company for flights are purchased primarily via credit card transactions, with payments collected by the Company in advance of the performance of related services. The Company initially records ticket sales in its Advance ticket sales liability, deferring revenue recognition until the travel occurs. For travel that has more than one flight segment, the Company deems each segment as a separate performance obligation and recognizes revenue for each segment as travel occurs. Tickets sold by other airlines where the Company provides the transportation are recognized as passenger revenue at the estimated value to be billed to the other airline when travel is provided. Differences between amounts billed and the actual amounts may be rejected and rebilled or written off if the amount recorded was different from the original estimate. When necessary, the Company records a reserve against its billings and payables with other airlines based on historical experience.
The Company sells certain tickets with connecting flights with one or more segments operated by its other airline partners. For segments operated by its other airline partners, the Company has determined that it is acting as an agent on behalf of the other airlines as they are responsible for their portion of the contract (i.e. transportation of the passenger). The Company, as the agent, recognizes revenue within Other operating revenue at the time of the travel for the net amount representing commission to be retained by the Company for any segments flown by other airlines.
Refundable tickets expire after one year from the date of issuance. Non-refundable tickets generally expire on the date of the intended travel, unless the date is extended by notification from the customer on or before the intended travel date.
United initially capitalizes the costs of selling airline travel tickets and then recognizes those costs as Distribution expense at the time of travel. Costs to sell a ticket include credit card fees, travel agency and other commissions paid, as well as global distribution systems booking fees.
Advance ticket sales. Advance ticket sales represent the Company's liability to provide air transportation in the future. All tickets sold at any given point in time have travel dates through the next 12 months. The Company defers amounts related to future travel in its Advance ticket sales liability account.
Estimate of tickets not expected to be used ("ticket breakage"). The Company estimates the value of Advance ticket sales that will expire unused and recognizes revenue and any changes in estimates in proportion to the usage of the related tickets. To determine ticket breakage, the Company uses its historical experience with expired tickets and certificates and other facts, such as recent aging trends, program changes and modifications that could affect the ultimate expiration patterns.
In the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, the Company recognized approximately $5.3 billion, $5.7 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, of passenger revenue for tickets that were included in Advance ticket sales at the beginning of those periods.
Revenue by geography. The Company further disaggregates its operating revenue by principal geographic region for the years ended December 31 is presented in the table below (in millions):
202420232022
Domestic (U.S. and Canada)$34,067 $32,400 $28,474 
Atlantic11,097 10,982 9,072 
Pacific6,462 5,267 2,927 
Latin America5,437 5,068 4,482 
Total$57,063 $53,717 $44,955 
The Company attributes revenue among the geographic areas based upon the origin and destination of each flight segment. The Company's operations involve an insignificant level of revenue-producing assets in geographic regions as the overwhelming majority of the Company's revenue-producing assets (primarily U.S. registered aircraft) can be deployed in any of its geographic regions.
Ancillary services. The Company charges fees, separately from ticket sales, for certain ancillary services that are directly related to passengers' travel, such as baggage fees, premium seat fees, inflight amenity fees, and other ticket-related fees. These ancillary fees are part of the travel performance obligation and, as such, are recognized as passenger revenue when the travel occurs. The Company recorded $4.5 billion, $4.1 billion and $3.4 billion of ancillary fees within passenger revenue in the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Ticket Taxes. Certain governmental taxes are imposed on the Company's ticket sales through a fee included in ticket prices. The Company collects these fees and remits them to the appropriate government agency. These fees are excluded from the contract transaction price and are therefore not included in passenger revenue. We record a liability when amounts are collected and reduce the liability when payments are made to the appropriate taxing authority.
Frequent Flyer Program. United's MileagePlus loyalty program builds customer loyalty by offering awards, benefits and services to program participants. Members in this program earn miles for travel on United, United Express, Star Alliance members and certain other airlines that participate in the program. Members can also earn miles by purchasing goods and services from our network of non-airline partners. We have contracts to sell miles to these partners with the terms extending from approximately one to five years. These partners include domestic and international credit card issuers, retail merchants, hotels, car rental companies and our participating airline partners. Miles can be redeemed for free (other than taxes and government-imposed fees), discounted or upgraded air travel and non-travel awards.
Miles earned in conjunction with travel. When frequent flyers earn miles for flights, the Company recognizes a portion of the ticket sales as revenue when the travel occurs and defers a portion of the ticket sale representing the value of the related miles as a separate performance obligation. The Company determines the estimated selling price of travel and miles as if each element is sold on a separate basis. The total consideration from each ticket sale is then allocated to each of these elements, individually, on a pro-rata basis. At the time of travel, the Company records the portion allocated to the miles to Frequent flyer deferred revenue on the Company's consolidated balance sheet and subsequently recognizes it into revenue when miles are redeemed for air travel and non-air travel awards.
Estimate of miles not expected to be redeemed ("breakage"). The Company's breakage model is based on the assumption that the likelihood that an account will redeem its miles can be estimated based on a consideration of the account's historical behavior. The Company uses a statistical model to estimate the probability that an account will redeem its current miles balance and reviews its breakage estimates annually. The Company's estimate of the expected breakage of miles requires management judgment. Changes to breakage assumptions, or to program rules and program redemption opportunities, may result in material
changes to the deferred revenue balance as well as recognized revenues from the program. We recognize breakage proportionally as the remaining miles are redeemed.
Estimated selling price of miles. The Company's estimated selling price of miles is based on an equivalent ticket value, which incorporates the expected redemption of miles, as the best estimate of selling price for these miles. The equivalent ticket value is based on the prior 12 months' weighted average equivalent ticket value of similar fares as those used to settle award redemptions while taking into consideration such factors as redemption pattern, cabin class, loyalty status and geographic region. The estimated selling price of miles is adjusted by breakage that considers a number of factors, including redemption patterns of various customer groups.
Co-Brand agreement. United's most significant contract to sell MileagePlus miles is with its co-branded credit card partner JPMorgan Chase Bank USA, N.A. ("Chase"). Chase awards miles to MileagePlus members based on their credit card activity. United identified the following significant separately identifiable performance obligations in this contract (the "Co-Brand Agreement"):
•MileagePlus miles awarded – United has a performance obligation to provide MileagePlus cardholders with miles to be used for air travel and non-travel award redemptions. The Company records Passenger revenue related to the travel awards when the transportation is provided and records Other operating revenue related to the non-travel awards when the goods or services are delivered. The Company records the cost associated with non-travel awards in Other operating revenue, as an agent.
•Marketing – United has a performance obligation to provide Chase access to United's customer list and the use of United's brand. Marketing revenue is recorded to Other operating revenue as miles are delivered to Chase.
•Advertising – United has a performance obligation to provide advertising in support of the MileagePlus card in various customer contact points such as United's website, email promotions, direct mail campaigns, airport advertising and in-flight advertising. Advertising revenue is recorded to Other operating revenue as miles are delivered to Chase.
•Other travel-related benefits – United's performance obligations are comprised of various items such as waived bag fees, seat upgrades and lounge passes. Lounge passes are recorded to Other operating revenue as customers use the lounge passes. Bag fees and seat upgrades are recorded to Passenger revenue at the time of the associated travel.
We account for all the payments received under the Co-Brand Agreement by allocating them to the separately identifiable performance obligations. The fair value of the separately identifiable performance obligations is determined using management's estimated selling price of each component. The objective of using the estimated selling price based methodology is to determine the price at which we would transact a sale if the product or service were sold on a stand-alone basis. Accordingly, we determine our best estimate of selling price by considering multiple inputs and methods including, but not limited to, discounted cash flows, brand value, volume discounts, published selling prices, number of miles awarded and number of miles redeemed. The Company estimated the selling prices and volumes over the term of the Co-Brand Agreement, at the inception of the contract, in order to determine the allocation of proceeds to each of the components to be delivered.
Frequent flyer deferred revenue. Miles in MileagePlus members' accounts are combined into one homogeneous pool and are thus not separately identifiable, for award redemption purposes, between miles earned in the current period and those in their beginning balance. Of the miles expected to be redeemed, the Company expects the majority of these miles to be redeemed within two years. The current portion of the Frequent flyer deferred revenue is based on expected redemptions in the next 12 months. The table below presents a roll forward of Frequent flyer deferred revenue (in millions):
20242023
Balance at January 1$7,143 $6,675 
Miles earned3,563 3,297 
Travel miles redeemed(3,150)(2,723)
Non-travel miles redeemed(115)(106)
Balance at December 31$7,441 $7,143 
In the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, the Company recognized, in Other operating revenue, $2.9 billion, $2.7 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively, related to the marketing, advertising, non-travel miles redeemed (net of related costs) and other travel-related benefits of the mileage revenue associated with our various partner agreements including, but not limited to, our Co-Brand Agreement. The portion related to the MileagePlus miles awarded of the total amounts received from our various partner agreements is deferred and presented in the table above as an increase to Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue.
Cargo Revenue. Cargo revenue is recognized when shipments arrive at their destination.