United Airlines

Is United safe?

Yes, though it has had a rougher few years than its rivals. No passenger on a United mainline flight has died in a crash since before 2000, and the FAA's 2024 review found no significant safety issues. We score United 78, below Delta and above American. The reasons: the oldest fleet of the three, a cluster of incidents in 2024 and a 767 that hit a truck on a motorway on approach to Newark in May 2026.

What happened at Newark in May 2026?

On Sunday 3 May 2026, flight UA169 from Venice was on final approach to Newark, whose approach path crosses the New Jersey Turnpike. The Boeing 767-400 was low enough that, according to New Jersey State Police, a landing gear tyre and the underside of the aircraft struck a light pole and a tractor-trailer. The pole then hit a Jeep. The aircraft landed safely with 221 passengers and 10 crew, none of them hurt. The truck driver had minor injuries.

The NTSB classified the event as an accident because of the damage to the aircraft and took the flight recorders; United removed the crew from duty. An aircraft that low over a motorway is close to the type of approach accident that kills people, so we treat it as the most serious event in United's recent record, ahead of any mechanical failure.

Why did the FAA review United in 2024?

In February and March 2024, United had a run of unrelated events in the space of a few weeks. A Boeing 777 lost a wheel after take-off from San Francisco and a 737 MAX rolled off a taxiway into grass in Houston, among others. The FAA said it would take "an even closer look" at United and paused some of its certification work, such as approval of new routes and aircraft, for about two months. The pause ended in May 2024. In October 2024, the FAA said its review of United had found no significant safety issues.

Earlier, on 20 February 2021, a fan blade broke in a Pratt & Whitney engine on Boeing 777 flight UA328 over Denver, and engine parts fell on a suburb. The crew landed safely. The NTSB traced the failure to a fatigue crack in a fan blade that inspections had not caught.

The deadly accidents in United's history

The last passenger death on a United mainline flight in an accident was on 28 December 1997, when a Boeing 747 hit severe turbulence over the Pacific and a passenger was killed. Two United aircraft were hijacked on 11 September 2001; our methodology lists acts of terrorism separately.

Within our 20-year window, the deadliest crash on a United-family flight was on 12 February 2009. Colgan Air 3407, a Dash 8 Q400 flown as Continental Connection, stalled on approach to Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. Continental merged into United in 2010. The NTSB blamed the captain's reaction to a stall warning, and the crash led to new US rules on pilot fatigue and training.

Four mainline aircraft were written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in the same window without anyone hurt. A 737-300 hit a lavatory truck during pushback at O'Hare in 2008. A 757 struck its tail landing at San Diego in July 2014, and another 757 bounced on landing at Newark in June 2019 hard enough to buckle its forward fuselage; the NTSB blamed the landing technique in both. In May 2026 a catering truck hit a parked A320 at Washington National, and United scrapped it. Two of the four were ground handling accidents, which say more about ramp procedures than about flying.

The oldest fleet of the big three

United's 10-K gives an average age of 15.3 years for its 1,066 mainline aircraft at the end of 2025, against 14.8 for Delta and 14.3 for American. The oldest are 37 Boeing 767-300ERs at 29.8 years, 40 Boeing 757-200s at 28.9 and 19 Boeing 777-200s at 28.5. The newest are 243 737 MAX 8s and 9s averaging under 3 years, 59 A321neos and 81 787s. With 150 more 787s and 167 737 MAX 10s on order, the average should drop quickly, if Boeing delivers.

Before you fly United

• Expect Newark disruption. In 2025, radar and radio outages at the facility handling Newark approaches led the FAA to limit flights there. If you have a choice, a connection through Chicago or Denver is often more reliable.
• Check the operator on short flights. United Express flights are flown by five regional airlines on smaller jets; the booking page shows which one.
• Keep the seat belt fastened at cruise, especially across the Pacific.

How we scored it

FAA oversight (90) and an accident record free of mainline crash deaths (82) are United's strengths. A run of incidents (64) and fleet age (64) pull it to 78. We will review the score when the NTSB publishes its report on UA169.