United flight tracker: live map of all UA flights

Track every flight worldwide here: Flight Radar.

How to track a United flight right now: the live map at the top of this page shows every United Airlines aircraft currently in the air, filtered on the United code UAL. Type a UA flight number, a route such as Newark to San Francisco, or an airport code into the tracker, and the map centers on that flight with its altitude, speed, aircraft type, and estimated arrival time. Because the radar only shows United traffic, you are not hunting for one plane among thousands: what you see ranges from a Boeing 737 hopping between Pacific atolls to a 787 arcing over the North Pole toward Tokyo. If you want the full picture of all airlines at once, switch to the main flight radar.

United flight numbers and where to find them

Every United flight has a number in the form UA plus one to four digits, for example UA 1 or UA 2418. You will find it on your boarding pass, in the confirmation email, and on the departure boards at the airport. Enter that number in the tracker and the map jumps straight to the flight.

Two things trip people up. First, United Express: flights with numbers roughly in the 3000 to 6000 range carry the UA code and United colors, but they are operated by regional partners such as SkyWest and Republic on smaller Embraer and CRJ aircraft. They appear on the map under the operating carrier’s code, so a United Express flight may show up as SKW or RPA rather than UAL. If a search on the UA number finds nothing, search the route instead.

Second, codeshares within Star Alliance. A ticket booked as a Lufthansa LH flight can be flown by a United aircraft, and the other way around. The tracker follows the aircraft, not the ticket, so always look up the operating flight number, which is printed on your itinerary next to the words “operated by.” For flights actually flown by the German carrier, use the Lufthansa flight tracker.

Is my United flight on time?

The United flight status line under the map answers this in one word, but the words are worth decoding. Scheduled means the flight has not left yet and no delay has been posted; the departure time shown is still the plan. Delayed means the airline has pushed the estimated departure back, and the tracker shows both the original and the new time so you can see how far it slipped. En route means the aircraft is in the air, and from that moment the arrival estimate is calculated from its live position and ground speed, which is usually more accurate than the airline’s app. Landed is confirmed by the aircraft’s own transponder the moment the wheels are on the runway.

One practical habit: before you leave for the airport, check the inbound aircraft. If the plane that will fly your leg is still sitting in Houston when it should already be over Kansas, your on-time departure is unlikely, whatever the official status says. And if you are picking someone up, add 30 to 45 minutes after the landing time for taxiing, deplaning, and baggage before you circle the arrivals curb.

Spotting the United fleet on the radar

United operates the largest widebody fleet of any US airline: Boeing 767s, 777s and a growing 787 fleet. On the map, the aircraft type code tells you what you are looking at. B77W is the 777-300ER, United’s biggest aircraft, flying trunk routes from Newark and San Francisco to Europe and Asia. B78X is the stretched 787-10, B763 the veteran 767-300ER, and B752 the 757-200, which United still sends across the Atlantic to smaller European cities where a bigger jet would not fill up.

Domestically you will mostly see B738 and B739, the 737-800 and 737-900, plus the A320 family and the newer 737 MAX variants. The odd one out is a lone B738 crawling across the empty middle of the Pacific: that is almost certainly the Island Hopper, and it is worth a closer look.

Seven hubs plus Guam, polar routes, and the Island Hopper

United’s network runs through seven hubs in the mainland United States, spread coast to coast: Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, Houston Intercontinental, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, plus an eighth hub in the Pacific at Guam. Each has a role you can see on the map. Transatlantic waves leave Newark and Dulles in the evening, San Francisco anchors the transpacific network, Houston is the gateway to Latin America, and Denver is the domestic crossroads where dozens of UA flights converge every few hours. That structure is very different from a point-to-point network, and it means one delayed hub can ripple through the whole system. For a contrasting hub setup, compare the American Airlines flight tracker.

Two route quirks make United tracking genuinely fun. Flights from the East Coast and Chicago to Asia often fly polar routes, arcing far over northern Canada and close to the North Pole, because on a globe that is the shortest line. And then there is the Island Hopper: flights UA 154 and UA 155 between Honolulu and Guam, a 737-800 that touches down on five Pacific islands along the way, Majuro, Kwajalein, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Chuuk, carrying its own mechanic and spare parts because there is no United maintenance base out there. The full run takes around fourteen hours.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my United flight to Asia fly over the North Pole?
Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest path from cities like Chicago or Newark to East Asia runs far north, not straight west across the Pacific. On the flat map this looks like a huge detour over the Arctic; in reality the polar route saves hours of flying time and fuel.

Can I follow the Island Hopper live on the tracker?
Yes. Search for UA 154 westbound or UA 155 eastbound. Note that receiver coverage between the atolls is thin, so the aircraft’s position may be estimated on some segments and refresh again as it approaches each island.

Why are United flights from Newark so often delayed?
Newark is one of the most congested airports in the country, with limited runway capacity shared with New York’s other airports and frequent air traffic flow restrictions. When weather or staffing cuts the arrival rate, United’s departure banks stack up. Tracking the inbound aircraft gives you the earliest warning.

Why does my United flight show up as SKW or RPA on the map?
Because it is a United Express flight: United sells it under a UA number, but SkyWest (SKW) or Republic (RPA) flies it with its own crew and aircraft, and the radar shows the airline that is actually flying. Search the route or the airport instead of the UA number and you will find the aircraft.