Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments. As of December 31, 2021, United had firm commitments and options to purchase aircraft from The Boeing Company ("Boeing") and Airbus S.A.S. ("Airbus") presented in the table below:


		Scheduled Aircraft Deliveries
Aircraft Type	Number of Firm Commitments (a)	2022	2023	After 2023
Airbus A321XLR	50	—	—	50
Airbus A321neo	70	—	12	58
Airbus A350	45	—	—	45
Boeing 737 MAX	367	53	109	205
Boeing 787	8	8	—	—
(a) United also has options and purchase rights for additional aircraft.

The aircraft listed in the table above are scheduled for delivery through 2030. To the extent the Company and the aircraft manufacturers with whom the Company has existing orders for new aircraft agree to modify the contracts governing those orders, or to the extent rights are exercised pursuant to the relevant agreements to modify the timing of deliveries, the amount and timing of the Company's future capital commitments could change.

The table below summarizes United's commitments as of December 31, 2021, which include aircraft and related spare engines, aircraft improvements and all non-aircraft capital commitments (in billions):


2022	$	5.7
2023	6.9
2024	5.0
2025	4.3
2026	3.3
After 2026	8.9
	$	34.1

Legal and Environmental. The Company has certain contingencies resulting from litigation and claims incident to the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2021, 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 its defenses and assertions in pending legal proceedings have merit and the ultimate disposition of any pending matter will not materially affect the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The Company records liabilities for legal and environmental claims when it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount is 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, 2021, United is the guarantor of approximately $2.1 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 consolidated 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 2041.

As of December 31, 2021, United is the guarantor of $106 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, 2021, United had $371 million of surety bonds securing various insurance related obligations with expiration dates through 2025.

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, 2021, the Company had $13.2 billion of floating rate debt with remaining terms of up to 11 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 11 years and an aggregate balance of $10.1 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, 2021, approximately $1.8 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, 2021, the Company's contingent exposure was approximately $343 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 2056. The Company concluded it was not necessary to record a liability for these indirect guarantees.

Regional Capacity Purchase. As of December 31, 2021, United had 251 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, 2021, United, including its subsidiaries, had approximately 84,100 employees. Approximately 85% of United's employees were represented by various U.S. labor organizations. This total includes employees who elected to voluntarily separate from the Company pursuant to the Voluntary Programs but who are still on pre-separation leave of absence with pay and benefits.