Privacy policy

Your privacy is important to us

United Airlines, Inc., and its United Cargo division, respect your privacy. This United Cargo Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) discloses United Cargo’s privacy practices for cargo transactions, including those conducted on this website, www.unitedcargo.com.

While United Cargo strives to take reasonable measures to protect your information, this Policy is not a contract and does not create any legal rights or obligations. Rather, the following are guidelines for protecting your information. By using this website and/or any United Cargo services, you consent to the handling of your information as described in this Policy.

Scope of this policy

This Policy applies only to United Cargo transactions conducted on this website and offline.

For the privacy policy of other United Airlines websites and mobile sites, such as united.com, please refer to those websites or mobile sites. This Policy does not apply to any other United Airlines websites or any website not owned and managed by United Airlines.

Information we collect about you

We collect and maintain information, including personal information, about you directly from you (online, offline, and through the cargo credit application process), automatically when you use this website, and from third parties. This information may be collected online, over the telephone through our United Cargo Customer Contact Center, or in person at United Cargo facilities. The type of information we collect about you depends on your particular interaction with us.

Information we collect directly from you

The information that we may collect directly from you may include, but not be limited to, the following:

• your or your company’s owner’s name;
• personal contact information;
• date of birth and gender;
• driver’s license number;
• passport information and image;
• payment information (e.g., credit card information);
• United Cargo account number;
• information about your business (e.g., contact and financial information);
• purchase information (both with United Cargo and third parties); and
• MileagePlus account number and information.

MileagePlus information

When you enroll in MileagePlus, or if you are already a MileagePlus member, United Airlines collects specific information such as your name, address, phone number(s), email address, MileagePlus account number, and password or other account security authentication information. If you create a traveler profile, United Airlines will collect the information that you choose to provide, which may include but not be limited to: payment information (e.g., credit card information, billing name/address), telephone numbers, email addresses, general requests or special needs, travel preferences and loyalty program information.

Off-line purchases: Transactions by telephone or at a counter

In order to book a cargo shipment with our United Cargo Customer Contact Center or United Cargo Contact Center Agents (collectively, “Customer Contact Agents”), such Customer Contact Agents may collect the information set forth above, and in addition, may collect information such as: the shipper’s and consignee’s name, addresses, desired flights, telephone numbers, United Cargo and/or IATA account numbers, and credit card numbers, as well as the nature of the desired cargo shipment including contents, value, weight, and dimensions. Telephone calls to Customer Contact Agents may be monitored and/or recorded and by continuing with the call, you are deemed to consent to such monitoring and/or recording.

Information we collect automatically

We may automatically collect information about your use of unitedcargo.com. Such information includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Domain name;
• Browser type and operating system;
• IP address;
• Web pages you view;
• Links you click;
• Length of time of your visit;
• Your activities on our websites including your movement through these websites; and
• The referring URL or webpage that led you to our website.

We may combine this information with information that we already have collected about you. Please refer to the section “Use of cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies” below for more information.

Information we collect from third parties.

We may collect information about you from third parties, including personal, demographic and aggregate information. We may also obtain information about you from our marketing partners, advertisers and other third parties.

How We Use Your Information

General – applicable to all sources of information

We primarily use your information, including personal information, to provide our cargo services to you and to fulfill your requests. We may combine your information with other information that we have about you, that is publicly available and/or that we have obtained from third parties (either individuals or in the aggregate). We also may use your information for the following purposes:

• To improve your user experience. To tailor the content and information that we may send or display to you, offer customized location information, personalized help and instructions, and to otherwise personalize your experiences while using our website or services.
• For operational needs and providing services. To process cargo credit applications, to carry out our operations and services, to facilitate your transactions or requests, and to award you MileagePlus miles in connection with certain cargo transactions. In addition, United Cargo uses information you submit to facilitate the cargo services you request. We also provide information about shipments and shippers to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as required by federal regulations, including in connection with the Known Shipper Program. Under the TSA's air cargo security regulations, all shipments from all customers are subject to inspection. Please see our security page on unitedcargo.com for additional information. We may also provide information about shipments and shippers to Customs worldwide and national security agencies located outside of the United States.
• For marketing and advertising. United Cargo may use your information, either individually, in the aggregate and/or combined with demographic information that we maintain or collect from third parties for marketing and advertising purposes (via email, direct mail, web or other electronic advertising) and to send you news and newsletters. Specifically, we may use the information that we collect about you to send you email or direct mail communications about offers, including those offered by United Airlines, United Cargo, its partners or other third parties, that might be of interest to you. We may also use your information to determine appropriate advertising channels and venues and to place ads on such channels and venues, including placing advertising on social networking sites.
• For surveys and promotions. From time to time, we may offer you the opportunity to participate in a survey or promotion. We use survey results for various purposes, including to enhance our services and websites and to develop improved promotions, and, if you provide your name, we may contact you to further discuss your comments. Unless otherwise stated in the promotion or survey, we use the contact information that we collect through promotions for the purpose of notifying the winner. If you win a promotion, we may request additional information (e.g., social security number for income tax purposes depending upon the prize).
• To improve and maintain our website and our services. We use your information to improve and maintain our websites and services, respond to user desires and preferences, for other research and analytical purposes, and for security purposes, including, but not limited to, protecting ourselves and users of our services.
• As permitted by law.

In addition to the above, specific examples of how we use your information are described below:

Emails - We may use email addresses to deliver information relevant to our customers, such as shipping promotions, surveys, notification services and for administrative reasons. We hope you will find these updates interesting and informative. Of course, if you would rather not receive this information, you may opt-out of receiving such emails as described below.

Flight status/shipping status alerts - our customers can register for a flight status alert and/or shipment status notifications by providing basic flight information and other relevant information. The contact information you provide will be used for delivery of those services. Participation in the flight status alert or shipment status notification services is optional.

Disclosing your information

United Cargo may disclose your personal information to the following persons/entities:

• Affiliates. We may disclose the information we collect from you to our affiliates or subsidiaries. Our affiliates and subsidiaries may use your information for various purposes, including marketing their products and services to you.
• Service Providers. We may share your information with third parties that assist us and perform functions on our behalf. These entities may include technical support, website hosting, service/order fulfillment, customer service, and credit card processing, among others, including airline partners, trucking companies, multimodal transportation organizations, freight forwarders, logistics companies, and similar entities related to global shipping. In some cases such third party service providers, such as information technology and data processing vendors, data storage services, and global shipping partners, etc. may be located outside the United States and your personal information may be processed or stored in other countries.
• Aggregate Information. Aggregate information such as demographic information, domain names, other website traffic information, etc., may at times be shared with our partners.
• Non-Affiliated Third Parties. We may share your information with contracted corporate customers as part of our management of agreements we have with them.
• Law enforcement / Legal processes / Other Uses. United Cargo may also disclose your information: if required to do so by law, court order, subpoena or other legal process; as requested by a governmental or law enforcement authority; to protect the rights or property of United Cargo, its customers, its websites or website users; or when we believe in good faith that it is in the interests of aviation security or that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable. In certain circumstances, United Cargo’s third party service providers may be required to disclose information to government or law enforcement authorities. Security, health, and customs and immigration laws in the U.S. and many other countries require all airlines, including United Airlines acting through its United Cargo division, to provide border control agencies or other governmental authorities with cargo shipment data. In order to comply with these laws, we may disclose information about your travel and your cargo’s shipping arrangements to such authorities.
• Business Transactions. If United Airlines is acquired by or merges with another entity, if any of our assets are transferred to another entity, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, we may transfer the information that we have collected from and about you to the other entity.
• For Protection. To protect our rights and interests, and the rights and interests of other users of our website and our services.

Use of cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies.

We and our third party service providers collect information by using technologies and methodologies, such as “cookies”, tags, web beacons or other similar technologies that enable tracking as you browse our websites. We use these technologies to authenticate you as a user, remember your preferences for using the website, to present you with offers that may be of interest and to facilitate transactions such as flight searches and purchases. We and our third party service providers also use these tools to analyze use of our websites and our services. We may use this information in the aggregate or we may combine it with information that we have already collected about you.

Cookie. “Cookies” are small bits of information that are stored on your computer by your web browser. Web beacons or “pixel tags” are small strings of code placed on a web page or in an email message for the purpose of transferring information. Cookies and the other technologies discussed in this section allow us to recognize your preference information, keep track of your transactions and facilitate effective website administration.

Cookies help establish a user session and allow our server to correctly provide website users with the appropriate information, advertisements and services. We also use cookies to ensure you obtain the information you request, to authenticate your authority to access the website, and to track the usage of our websites in order to improve the website(s) according to our customers’ needs. For example, if you are a registered user on our website and you elect to have the website store your MileagePlus number, the cookie stored on your computer will contain your MileagePlus number.

If you do not want your information to be collected through cookies, you can change the preferences in your particular Internet browser. Some website functionality may not function properly if your browser does not accept cookies. Although you cannot log into the website as a registered user if you disable our cookies, you can still purchase on the website by logging in as a “Guest”. Please consult your chosen Internet browser for instructions on how to change your cookie settings.

Local Storage Objects. We may use Flash Local Storage Objects (“Flash LSOs”) to store your preferences and to personalize your visit. Flash LSOs are different from browser cookies because of the amount and type of data stored. Typically, you cannot control, delete, or disable the acceptance of Flash LSOs through your web browser. For more information on Flash LSOs, or to learn how to manage your settings for Flash LSOs, go to the Adobe Flash Player Help Page, choose “Global Storage Settings Panel“ and follow the instructions. To see the Flash LSOs currently on your computer, choose “Website Storage Settings Panel” and follow the instructions to review and, if you desire, to delete any specific Flash LSO.

Clear GIFs, pixel tags and other technologies. These technologies allow us to recognize your preference information, keep track of your transactions and facilitate effective website administration. Clear GIFs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on your computer’s hard drive, clear GIFs are embedded invisibly on web pages. We and our third party service providers may use clear GIFs (a.k.a. web beacons, web bugs or pixel tags), in connection with our websites and services to, among other things, track the activities of visitors, help us manage content and compile statistics about usage. We and our third party service providers may also use clear GIFs in HTML e-mails to you to help us track e-mail response rates, identify when our e-mails are viewed, and track whether our e-mails are forwarded.

Targeted advertising

United Airlines and United Cargo use third party companies and ad networks, including but not limited to DoubleClick and Google Analytics, to deliver advertisements on our websites and on third party websites. United Airlines through its United Cargo division may use its cookies and web beacons when working with these companies to provide them information regarding your use of the website (whether individually or in the aggregate) to assist them in determining relevant advertising. These companies also may use the information about your visit to provide you with information or offers about United Cargo or other third party products and services that may be of interest to you.

In addition, some third-party advertising technology used by United Cargo to deliver advertisements may use separate cookies. This technology may be delivered via visits to our website, email messages, or otherwise. Web beacons on some pages of our website, in conjunction with these advertising cookies and our other cookies, enable the third party advertising technology to better understand onsite activity in the aggregate, to recognize a browser's cookie when a browser visits this website or other websites, and to learn which advertisements bring users to our website or otherwise take action.

Third party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. These third party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party’s specific privacy policy, and not this Policy.

Third party ad networks may be members of either the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) or About Ads-Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAI”). If they are members and you do not want to receive targeted advertisements from these third party ad networks you may opt-out. Information as to member companies, the practices of such third party ad networks and your choices regarding having information used by these companies, including how to opt-out, can be found at either: https://thenai.org/opt-out/ for NAI members or http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ for DAI members. Information on how to opt-out of the use of your information by DoubleClick can be found at http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads and how to opt-out of Google Analytics at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Opting out of one or more NAI or DAI members only means that those particular members no longer will deliver targeted content or ads to you. It does not mean you will no longer receive any targeted content or ads on our websites or other non-United websites. If your browser is configured to reject cookies when you visit one of the above referenced opt-out pages, you subsequently erase your cookies, use a different computer or change web browsers, your NAI or DAI opt-out may no longer be active.

Your access to your information

You can create, view or update your personally identifiable information collected by United Cargo by contacting us.

Protecting information collected

United Cargo maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information. When you book cargo shipments, access your shipping information, access your United Cargo account, or engage in other transactions on this website, we use secure servers to protect your personal information. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software encrypts the personal information that is transmitted between you and our website. Although United Cargo takes reasonable steps to safeguard and to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information, it cannot be responsible for the acts of those who gain unauthorized access, and United Cargo makes no warranty, express, implied, or otherwise, that we will prevent unauthorized access to your personal or private information.

If a third party, including but not limited to a family member, friend, co-worker, airline partner, trucking company, multimodal transportation organization, freight forwarder, logistics provider, consignor, consignee, or other shipper seeks to transact business with United Cargo on your behalf, that party will be asked to provide us with the same personal information we would collect directly from you to complete your transaction. Unless and until we are advised otherwise, we consider that such third party has your consent and authorization to provide us with your personal information and make such transactions, including any subsequent changes, on your behalf in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If such third party who has your full name and booking reference contacts us and seeks information on your booking or requests changes to it, we will disclose your booking information and allow such third party to make changes as we will conclude you have given them your consent to do so. Please note that the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by a third party is subject to your dealings with them and, if applicable, any of their privacy policies and practices. If you do not want an individual to obtain information on or make changes to your booking, you should not share your booking reference with them.

Your role in protecting your information

To protect your privacy and United Cargo’s proprietary databases and systems, you should not share any of your information, such as account number, user ID/login, or password, with any unauthorized individuals or third-party information aggregators that would allow them access to your sensitive account information.

Location of your information/data transfer/notice to non-US persons

United Cargo will transfer, store and process information that we collect about you, as described in this Policy, in the United States, which may not provide the same level of protection for your personal information as your home country. In addition, we may further transfer your information outside the United States for the purposes described in this Policy. By submitting any personal information or by using the website and without limitation to any other rights or obligations we have, you consent to such transfer to, and processing in, the United States and these other countries, and acknowledge that your information may be subject to access by law enforcement and other government entities, including courts and tribunals, in accordance with laws applicable in those jurisdictions.

Opting out

If you do not want United Cargo to use or share your personal information for the purpose of sending you marketing or promotional related emails, please update your email preferences by contacting us. In addition, emails sent to you will also contain a message on how to opt out of that type of communication in the future. Regardless of your opt-out preferences, we reserve the right to send you emails or other communications for administrative purposes.

Other websites/digital channels

Our websites and our online services may contain links to third-party websites. Any access to and use of such linked websites is not governed by this Policy but instead is governed by the privacy policies of those third party websites. We are not responsible for the information practices of such third party websites.

Contact us

If you have comments or questions about this Policy, please submit your inquiry through by contacting us. Please reference this Policy in those communications.

Legal effect and changes to this policy

As previously stated, this Policy is not a contract nor does it otherwise create any legal rights or obligations. Rather, this Policy merely reflects guidelines setting forth United Cargo’s intended business practices. However, by using our website, and/or by providing any information to United Cargo online or off-line, you consent to the collection and use of such information by United Airlines, United Cargo, its affiliates, partners, contractors and permitted agents as herein described and consistent with applicable laws. Also, United Cargo, in its discretion, may amend, interpret, modify or withdraw any portion of this Policy and related business practices at any time by posting updated text on this website, and your continued use of our digital channels or offline outlets constitutes your consent to those changes. A version of this Policy has been effective since March 2007 and was last updated on August 16, 2021.

Thank you for taking the time to read this United Cargo Privacy Policy.