You’ve seen the headlines. A wheel falls off a plane in San Francisco. An external panel goes missing over Oregon. A Boeing 737 MAX rolls into the grass in Houston. It's enough to make anyone second-guess their booking.
Honestly, if you're feeling a bit jittery about United lately, you aren't alone. In early 2024, the airline hit a rough patch of very public, very "clickable" incidents that forced CEO Scott Kirby to send a mass email to millions of passengers. He basically promised that the airline was doubling down on safety training. But here we are in 2026, and the question remains: is United Airlines safe for your next trip?
The short answer? Yes. But the "why" is more interesting than just looking at a safety rating.
The Reality of the "Bad Luck" Streak
When we look at whether is United Airlines safe, we have to separate "scary-looking news" from "actual danger." In late 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wrapped up a massive, months-long audit of United. They called it a Certificate Holder Evaluation Program.
They found nothing. No systemic issues. No major safety gaps.
It turns out that United was mostly a victim of a statistical cluster. When you operate over 1,000 aircraft and fly thousands of flights a day, weird stuff happens. Usually, it happens privately. For United, it happened in front of smartphone cameras.
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- The San Francisco Tire: A Boeing 777 lost a landing gear tire on takeoff. It crushed a couple of cars in a parking lot. Scary? Absolutely. Fatal? No. The plane landed safely in LA.
- The Houston Excursion: A 737 MAX 8 slid off a rainy taxiway. Everyone walked off the plane.
- The Missing Panel: A 25-year-old 737-800 landed in Southern Oregon missing an external belly panel. The pilots didn't even know it was gone because it didn't affect the flight controls.
These things sound like a disaster movie, but in the aviation world, they are "incidents," not "accidents." There is a massive difference.
Comparing United to the Rest of the "Big Three"
United often gets a bad rap because it flies the oldest fleet among the major US carriers. If you fly Delta or American, you might notice the interiors feel a bit fresher. United’s 757s and some of their 767s are getting up there in age—some are pushing 30 years.
Does old mean dangerous? Not in aviation.
An airplane is basically a "grandfather’s axe." You replace the handle, then you replace the blade. Eventually, nothing is original, but the tool works perfectly. United’s maintenance hubs in Chicago and San Francisco are some of the most advanced in the world. In fact, AirlineRatings.com still gives United a 7/7 safety rating. They pass the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) with flying colors every single time.
The Numbers Talk
Through 2024 and 2025, United logged about 0.11 incidents per aircraft. That sounds like a lot until you realize that most of those are things like "bird strikes" or "precautionary engine shutdowns."
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Modern planes are built to fly on one engine. If a pilot sees a weird oil pressure reading and shuts an engine down, that’s actually the safety system working. It’s not a failure; it’s a choice. United pilots have been doing this for a long time. Excluding acts of terrorism, United hasn't had a fatal crash in over 30 years. That is a staggering record of success.
The Boeing Factor
You can't talk about United without talking about Boeing. United is one of the biggest customers for the 737 MAX. When a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight in early 2024, United had to ground their entire MAX 9 fleet for weeks.
They found loose bolts. Lots of them.
This wasn't really a "United" problem; it was a "Boeing" problem. But because United flies so many of these planes, the two brands are linked in the public's mind. Today, the FAA has a permanent presence on the factory floor at Boeing, and United has its own inspectors watching the planes being built. The level of scrutiny on a United plane right now is probably higher than at any other point in history.
What to Check Before You Fly
If you’re still feeling sort of uneasy, there are a few things you can do to feel more in control. Safety isn't just about the wings staying on; it's about how the crew handles the unexpected.
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- Check the Aircraft Type: If the 737 MAX makes you nervous, United’s app is great about showing you the "Equipment" for your flight. You can usually switch to an Airbus flight if it makes you feel better.
- Look at the Route: Long-haul international flights (the "Polaris" routes) use the big 777s and 787 Dreamliners. These are some of the safest machines ever built by humans.
- Watch the Safety Demo: Seriously. Most people ignore it. But United updated their training in May 2024 to include more "in-person" scenarios for flight attendants. If something goes sideways, these people are your best bet.
The Verdict on United
So, is United Airlines safe?
If you look at the data, you are safer in a United middle seat than you are walking across the street to get a bagel. The string of "mechanical luck" in early 2024 was a wake-up call that the airline actually answered. They’ve added more simulator time for pilots and centralized their training for new mechanics.
The FAA gave them a clean bill of health. The safety auditors haven't budged on their top-tier ratings. While the software outage in August 2025 was a massive headache that canceled a thousand flights, it wasn't a safety risk—the FAA confirmed that no planes in the air were ever in danger.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Flight
- Download the United App: It gives you real-time maintenance updates. If a flight is delayed for a "mechanical" reason, don't get mad. It means the system caught a minor issue before it became a major one.
- Check Recent FAA Advisories: If there’s a major grounding, it will be all over the news, but you can always check the FAA's official "Newsroom" for the latest on fleet safety.
- Trust the Professionals: United's pilots are some of the highest-paid and most experienced in the industry. They want to get home to their families just as much as you do.
Flying is a weird mix of physics and trust. Based on every available metric from 2024 through early 2026, United has earned that trust, even if they had a few embarrassing moments along the way. Your biggest risk on a United flight isn't the plane; it's probably just the guy in 14B stealing your armrest.