MW United Airlines just set a daily record for bookings, but that isn't helping the stock

By Claudia Assis

Rising jet-fuel prices are a worry for the industry, and fuel has jumped more than 44%

A United Airlines jet taking off at Los Angeles International Airport in January. U.S. airlines are in the middle of one of their busiest seasons of the year, and United says it's breaking booking records.

Rising crude-oil prices have been a major drag on U.S. airlines stocks, but in the midst of spring-break season, and as people look ahead to summer travel, United Airlines says it is breaking booking records.

United $(UAL)$ confirmed on Wednesday to MarketWatch that its bookings by revenue broke a record on Tuesday. It declined to provide details.

Chief Executive Scott Kirby on Monday had told the Wall Street Journal that the airline had its biggest day for bookings by revenue ever, with that measure rising 36% from the same day a year earlier.

Kirby predicted a new one-day record on Tuesday, which came to pass. He did not say how far out bookings went. U.S. airlines are in the middle of one of their busiest segments of the year as college students and families with school-age children enjoy spring break, with many flying to their destinations.

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According to Transportation Security Administration's checkpoint data, Sunday was the second busiest day of the year so far for airport security lines, with 2.78 million passengers coming through - just short of the 2.82 million passengers passing through the checkpoints on Jan. 4.

Although there was no word on the composition of the fares United is highlighting - timing and fare class, for example, "advanced bookings strength, all else equal, is a good sign," said Stephen Trent, an independent airline analyst who spent decades at major investment banks in New York.

Summer vacation is also around the corner, and, since airlines have cut capacity in recent months, travelers may be looking at fewer flights to choose among and booking their tickets earlier.

United said last week it expects to operate an average of 4,900 flights a day during the spring-break season, which typically starts in late February and runs through mid-April. United operates about 4,300 flights a day on average through the year; it said in January it surpassed 5,000 daily flights in the summer of 2025.

Delta Air Lines $(DAL)$ and American Airlines $(AAL)$ did not immediately return a request for information about their bookings.

See also: Airline stocks dive as oil-price spike could trigger a tipping point for travelers

Jet fuel is the second largest expense for an airline after labor.

U.S. Gulf Coast jet-fuel prices have risen 44% since the start of the Iran conflict, with spot prices at $3.45 a gallon as of Tuesday, according to OPIS pricing data. Prices in energy hubs such as New York Harbor and Los Angeles trade at a premium over the Gulf Coast hub.

The actual fuel price paid by airlines varies, as some companies hedge their costs through derivatives and other mechanisms, and also differ depending on geographic sourcing and inventories.

Unlike some of international counterparts, U.S. airlines generally do not hedge fuels, although Delta owns a refinery in Pennsylvania through one of its subsidiaries. That offers Delta a "natural" refining-margin hedge, analysts at Raymond James said in a recent note.

The analysts deemed contractor airline SkyWest $(SKYW)$ the least exposed to fuel-cost pressure in the near term, with its low earnings exposure to fuel and fares risk. Alaska $(ALK)$ is among the more exposed, as its network is the most exposed to the higher West Coast fuel margin premiums.

Among airlines providing explicit fuel guidance, JetBlue guided toward the lowest implied raw jet-fuel cost, the Raymond James analysts said.

Crude-oil prices (CL00) have rallied since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, coming close to $120 a barrel on Monday.

Prices have moderated since then on news that developed nations were coordinating on an emergency release of crude reserves, which was formally announced Wednesday.

Despite that release, however, New York-traded crude futures shot up more than 4% on Wednesday, as the move didn't seem to quell fears of a protracted war in the Middle East and as a standstill at the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint, continues. There are 399 oil tankers stuck on either side of the strait this week, commodity-data analytics company Kpler said.

-Claudia Assis

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March 11, 2026 15:14 ET (19:14 GMT)

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