How to Apply to United Airlines (2026): Step-by-Step

United's volume hiring is flight attendants, ramp and customer service agents at its hubs, Tech Ops, contact centers, and a growing digital technology group, with pilots handled separately through Aviate and pilothiring.united.com. The careers site runs on Phenom and applications submit through it (job IDs reference a Taleo back end), so there is no Workday account. What surprises applicants: flight attendant postings can close within hours, the published path has nine stages including an in-person day in Houston, only two in-person attempts are allowed in five years, and reapplying is possible only 12 months after your first application.

Where the United Airlines application lives

Official careers site: careers.united.com. Applications run on United's Phenom-based careers site (careers.united.com).

• Path to Inflight (flight attendants) — The nine-stage flight attendant roadmap from application to Houston training.
• Pilots — Routes to pilothiring.united.com with separate Aviate, First Officer, and Military tracks.
• Students & early career — Internships and co-ops with fixed posting months and a published review timeline.

Step by step: applying to United Airlines

1. Search careers.united.com. Postings for high-volume roles can close within hours, so have your resume ready before a window opens.
2. Click Apply and submit through the site's own flow with your email and resume. Job alerts and the talent community are separate sign-ups.
3. Complete the online talent assessment sent after applying. United warns it may take some time before the team reaches out.
4. Flight attendants: an optional Flyer Friendly Q&A session, then a pre-recorded video interview run by a third-party vendor with 24/7 technical support, then a 30-minute live virtual interview on role competencies.
5. In-person interview in Houston with group and individual exercises. Language-qualified roles add a virtual test of reading, speaking, writing, and comprehension.
6. Conditional Training Offer contingent on DOT background checks, drug screening, fingerprinting, and vision and hearing tests, followed by 6.5 weeks of training in Houston with a $140 weekly stipend and a hotel provided.

Tips from United Airlines applicants

• Flight attendant applicants must be 21 and hold a passport with at least 12 months of validity and two blank consecutive pages at the time of application.
• Interns and co-ops: fall co-op postings open in January; spring co-ops and summer internships open in September, and reviews take two weeks to two months after windows close.
• Pilots apply at pilothiring.united.com under the Aviate, First Officer, or Military track rather than through the main job search.
• Email recruiting@united.com with process questions; the site's FAQ page was still a placeholder as of 2026.

How long the United Airlines process takes

Indeed respondents describe anywhere from under a day (a ramp assessment and video interview back to back) to about two months for agent roles, with badging and background checks the slowest part. Flight attendant candidates commonly report a multi-month wait between the assessment and interview invitations.

Before you hit submit

Two quick wins: check your resume against the posting with the resume keywords for your role, and attach a tailored letter — see the cover letter examples by role. Decide your answers to the standard screening questions once — see desired salary and work authorization — and keep a record in a tracker.

Apply faster

United Airlines applications run on United's Phenom-based careers site (careers.united.com). JobRizzer focuses on the major ATS platforms (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and more) and can still speed up the common fields on many forms — and you can prep fast with the free ATS Resume Checker and Cover Letter Generator.