Laid off from United Airlines.
United's CFO disclosed the 2025 management cut on the October 2025 earnings call, putting management headcount 4% below a year earlier with another 4% planned for 2026. All 63 United filings in our tracker predate 2022, and 31 of them date to 2020 and 2021.
At a glance
What's known about United Airlines severance and layoffs
- 4% lower than a year earlier · Management headcount, October 2025
- Another 4%, per the CFO · Further management cut planned for 2026
- Mainly natural attrition, as reported · How the 2025 reduction happened
- About 113,200, about 83% union-represented · United's workforce on December 31, 2025
- 63 across 19 states · WARN filings in our tracker, all-time
- None in our tracker · United filings since the start of 2025
- 31 of the 63 · Tracker filings dated 2020 or 2021
Recent United Airlines layoffs
United Airlines said in October 2025 that management headcount was down 4%
On its October 2025 earnings call, United's chief financial officer said management headcount was 4% lower than a year earlier and that the airline was planning to shrink it another 4% in 2026. Reporting on the disclosure said the reduction had already happened, mainly through natural attrition. Our tracker has no United row since the start of 2025.
Previous rounds
United Airlines layoff history
Most of what's on record about United's 2025 management cut fits in three sentences from an earnings call. In October 2025 chief financial officer Mike Leskinen said United was making process changes and using AI to make the work of its headquarters management team more efficient, that management headcount was 4% lower than a year earlier, and that “we’re planning to shrink another 4% in 2026.” Reporting on the disclosure added that the reduction had already happened, mainly through natural attrition, at a company with about 5,000 people at its Willis Tower headquarters and more than 17,000 across Chicago. United didn't say which management functions shrank. Nothing in the reporting we track mentions separation terms, which is a thin record to plan around if your job was inside that 4%.
That 4% belongs to a narrow slice of the airline. United counted about 113,200 employees as 2025 closed, roughly 83% of them represented by unions, and the CFO was describing the headquarters management team. The same October reporting said United planned to add 5,400 jobs in Chicago over the next two years. Its 2025 annual report lists no severance line among its special charges for 2023, 2024 or 2025; the labor item for 2025 is a $561 million charge for a proposed contract ratification payment to flight attendants represented by the AFA.
Our tracker describes an earlier United. Its 63 United filings span 19 states, and none is dated 2022 or later, let alone since the start of 2025. The count follows the rule that filings by any entity United owns today are included and divested units aren't. Of the 63, 59 carry the United Airlines or United Air Lines name, three were filed as Continental Airlines, the corporation renamed United Airlines, Inc. after the 2013 merger, and one came from United Ground Express, a wholly owned subsidiary. A 2000 Georgia filing by Covia, the divested reservation-system unit, is left out. Thirty-one of the 63 fall in 2020 and 2021, the pandemic years, so the WARN record mostly shows how United has run big reductions before, and it holds no row tied to the 2025 management cut.
When United did cut deep, its own filings show the sequence. Federal payroll aid barred airline job cuts through September 30, 2020. In July 2020 United sent WARN notices to about 36,000 employees, then worked the furlough count down to about 13,000, partly through voluntary options about 9,000 employees chose, and booked $575 million for the reduction, severance, pay continuance and benefits. For management the terms were set out in a memo from human resources chief Kate Gebo, obtained by Live and Let’s Fly, which said United was planning for a management and administrative group at least 30% smaller and that no cash severance would go to anyone in that group leaving on October 1. It pointed them to a voluntary separation program with pass travel, medical benefits and some continued pay. In March 2021, after the House passed an extension of the aid, United withdrew furlough warnings it had sent to about 14,000 employees, and about 4,500 people left under voluntary programs that year, with pay continuation, health coverage and travel benefits that turned on work group, age and years of service.
None of that history obliges United to do the same again, so weigh any offer against the rules where you work. At the Chicago headquarters, the Illinois WARN Act applies once an employer has 75 full-time employees or more and requires 60 days' warning to workers and local officials before any mass layoff or plant closing. An employer that gives no notice is liable to each affected worker for back pay and benefits over the violation period, to a maximum of 60 days, and the Illinois Department of Labor's page carries a complaint form. If you're being steered toward a voluntary exit, ask in writing whether your job would be eliminated anyway before you choose, because United's 2020 memo put voluntary leavers and October 1 departures on different terms.
Reporting on previous United Airlines layoff rounds
October 2025, headquarters management · Management headcount 4% lower than a year earlier, which the CFO tied to process changes and AI, with another 4% planned for 2026. United didn't say which functions shrank.
Mainly natural attrition, as reported; no terms on record.
2021 voluntary separations · About 4,500 employees chose to leave. Furlough warnings sent to about 14,000 people were withdrawn in March after federal payroll aid was extended.
Pay continuation, health care coverage and travel benefits set by work group, age and years of service, per the annual report, plus, for certain U.S.-based front-line employees, a one-time notional Retiree Health Account contribution of $125,000 for full-time employees or $75,000 for part-time employees.
2020 pandemic furloughs and management cuts · WARN notices to about 36,000 employees in July, then about 13,000 furloughs. 1,400 management jobs were among the 16,370 involuntary cuts United planned that September.
No cash severance for management and administrative staff departing effective October 1, 2020, per a memo from the HR chief reported by Live and Let’s Fly. Its voluntary separation program offered pass travel, medical benefits and some continued pay.
2017 technicians' early-out · About 1,000 Teamsters-represented technicians and related employees elected to leave in the first quarter.
A severance payment based on years of service, capped at $100,000 a person, per the annual report.
What to do after being laid off from United Airlines
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. United Airlines's biggest hubs: Illinois, California, New Jersey, Colorado. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what United Airlines's hub states run: Illinois, California, New Jersey, Colorado, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
United Airlines layoff and severance questions
Is United Airlines laying off employees in 2026?
The plan on record is the one United's CFO described in October 2025, when he said the airline was planning to shrink management headcount another 4% in 2026. Beyond that, nothing in the reporting we track adds a separate 2026 announcement, and our tracker holds no United filing in 2026 or anywhere since the start of 2025.
Did United Airlines replace managers with AI?
Its CFO connected the two. He said United was making process changes and using AI to make the work of its headquarters management team more efficient, and in the same breath that management headcount was 4% lower than a year before. United didn't say which functions shrank, and reporting on the disclosure said the reduction came mainly through natural attrition.
What severance has United Airlines given laid-off managers?
It has changed from round to round. In 2020 a memo from United's HR chief said no cash severance would go to management and administrative staff departing effective October 1, 2020, pointing them to a voluntary program with pass travel, medical benefits and some continued pay. United's filings record $14 million of management severance in 2019, while the 2025 reduction has no terms on record. An earlier round's terms don't carry forward on their own, so the figures that count are the ones in the document you're handed.
How many WARN notices has United Airlines filed?
Our tracker holds 63 United filings across 19 states, with nothing dated 2022 or later and so none since the start of 2025. Thirty-one of them date to 2020 and 2021, when United sent WARN notices to about 36,000 employees ahead of the October 2020 furloughs.
Do United Airlines' management cuts affect pilots and flight attendants?
The CFO's figures described the headquarters management team. About 83% of the roughly 113,200 people United employed on the last day of 2025 were represented by unions, so if you're a pilot, flight attendant, technician or airport worker, start with your union contract and your local. In 2020 the planned involuntary cuts included 6,920 flight attendants and 2,850 pilots alongside 1,400 management jobs.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from United Airlines?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. United Airlines's biggest U.S. hubs are Illinois, California, New Jersey, Colorado. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at United Airlines?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at United Airlines?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from United Airlines?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.