United Airlines Covid Rules

What is United doing to ensure a safe journey?

Committed to ensuring a safe journey, United is putting health and safety at the forefront of every customer’s trip. Intending to deliver a safe travel experience and an industry-leading standard of cleanliness, United has implemented more than a dozen new policies, protocols, and innovations designed with the safety of customers and employees in mind:

• New travel planning and preparing tools.
• United CleanPlus program.
• Travel flexibility.

Having implemented more than a dozen new protocols and innovations and having redefined cleaning and health safety procedures from check-in to landing, United was the first airline among the four largest U.S. carriers to be awarded Diamond status by APEX Health Safety powered by SimpliFlying for its cleanliness and sanitation efforts.

New Travel Planning and Preparing Tools

To help customers navigate the new travel restrictions and plan and prepare for their journey, United developed a few online tools:

• The Destination Travel Guide – Interactive Map. If you’re ready to travel but haven’t decided yet where to go, you can use United’s interactive map to quickly check where you can travel and what you can do there for your next trip. The interactive map is a color-coded guide that filters options and lets you know if local restaurants and tourist attractions are open, there are social distancing measures, wearing a mask and self-quarantining is required, and more. Reinventing the way people are searching for flights, United also introduced an interactive map feature powered by Google Flight Search Enterprise Technology. This new digital tool is a quick and easy way to see all your travel options in one place. Displaying fares directly on the map, the interactive map allows you to compare travel to various destinations.
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates. United is offering all information that you need to know about how the pandemic changed the travel experience: travel restrictions, travel waivers and updates, what to expect when you fly, how to change your flight, and use travel credit, United Club closures, etc.
• United’s Travel Ready Center. To make sure your travel planning goes as smoothly as possible after you booked your flight, United launched this online tool to ease your burden. You can use United’s Travel Ready Center to find out and prepare what you need for your future trip in one place: find COVID-19 testing requirements and local testing providers, schedule a test, upload any required testing and vaccination records for domestic and international travel.
• COVID-19 testing for United travelers. To make COVID-19 testing more accessible for its customers, United partnered with mail-in and on-site U.S. testing providers, such as ADL Health and XpresCheck. For travel to the U.S., you can find a local COVID-19 testing provider through United and TrustAssure.

United CleanPlus program

In partnership with Clorox and Cleveland Clinic, to consult on and redefine the cleaning and disinfection procedures and protocols, United is committed to delivering a healthier and safer environment throughout your travel journey through its United CleanPlus program in three distinct ways:

• Delivering industry-leading cleanliness:
  • Aircraft cleaning standards meet CDC guidelines. Disinfection is done using electrostatic sprayers in the cabins and Ultraviolet C (UVC) lighting wands on the pilot flight decks. High-touch areas onboard and in the terminal, like armrests, door handles, seat belts, handrails, charging stations, counters, etc., are also disinfected.
  • At the airport, Clorox Total 360 Electrostatic Sprayers are used to disinfect gate areas and sneeze guards were installed at key interaction points.
  • Onboard air, a combination of outside air and HEPA filtered air, is renewed every 2-3 minutes. State-of-the-art HEPA filters circulate air and eliminate at least 99.97% of airborne particles. The downward flow of the air, from ceiling to floor, minimizes the particle spread between rows.
• Prioritizing your well-being:
  • The wearing of face masks is optional on domestic flights and at U.S. airports, except where local laws and regulations impose it. When traveling internationally, whether face coverings are required is dependent upon the local laws and regulations..
  • All travelers are required to complete a “Ready-to-fly” checklist during the check-in process to acknowledge they don’t have symptoms for COVID-19 and to agree to follow United’s policies.
  • To reduce interactions and touchpoints, all travelers are encouraged to use the online options to check in and pay baggage charges, to complete the touchless check-in at select airports by printing bag tags using United’s touchless-capable kiosks, and to self-scan boarding passes at the boarding gate.
  • New policies and procedures promoting social distancing, safety, and cleanliness were put in place at United Club locations to ensure a safer United Club experience.
• Innovating for a healthier tomorrow:
  • Testing emerging technologies such as UV sanitation deployed by drones and hand-held wands, antimicrobial shield for airport and aircraft surfaces, artificial intelligence that can assist with temperature screenings and crowd detection.
  • Inaugurating antimicrobial technology on its aircraft, a deep-cleaning robot that uses an antimicrobial spray to add an extra layer of disinfectant on board.
  • Evaluating biometric boarding pass options.
  • Adding touchless lavatories starting with select aircraft.
  • Launching Agent on Demand, a video-enabled platform that allows you to connect remotely with customer service agents via call, text, or live video chat, at your preference, to resolve day-of-travel questions.

Travel Flexibility

Wanting you to enjoy more flexibility, United permanently renounced change fees for most Economy tickets (Basic Economy not included) and all premium cabin tickets (United First, United Business, United Premium Plus) for travel within the U.S., between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean, and international travel originating in the U.S.

For travel originating outside the U.S., no change fees apply for tickets purchased on or before September 30, 2021, excluding Basic Economy tickets.

Basic Economy tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable.

If your flight has been affected by a significant schedule change or if your flight was canceled without another option, you may be able to request a refund online or by contacting United.

In addition to removing change fees, United also changed its same-day standby policy. If you are departing from anywhere in the United’s network and want to take an earlier flight on the same day, you are now able to join the standby list for free. If a seat is available, it will be assigned to you before departure.

More information here >>