United Launches North Pole Hub, Fantasy Flights on 12 Routes This Holiday Season

Updated: June 15, 2026, 7:43am CDT

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United’s Fantasy Flights for 2025
Final Thoughts

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Deserving children and their families can fly to meet Santa Claus this holiday season, thanks to United’s new “Fantasy Flights” on 12 different routes. All of these flights will take them to United’s new hub for the holidays at the North Pole.

Let’s check out these flights and the customized on-the-ground experiences created by United staff and volunteers to spread holiday cheer.

United’s Fantasy Flights for 2025

United Airlines is creating a temporary hub at the North Pole (airport code JOY) for the holiday season. Flights to meet Santa, explore his hometown, and create memories will depart from 12 airports worldwide.

United Airlines Christmas Fantasy Flights — Image Credit: United Airlines

United employees and local volunteers will curate the experiences, both on the ground and in the air. Some will include meeting Santa and his elves, and each will be customized locally. For some, the plane will actually fly for a short time; other trips will remain on the ground.

In either situation, the plane will arrive at a customized location that has been made over to resemble the North Pole. Each experience includes meeting Santa himself, and United says each local experience has been “elf-iciently” decorated by 500+ volunteers and spearheaded by United employees to welcome over 2,000 children.

United fantasy flights graphic 2025 — Image Credit: United Airlines

Trips will be available for preselected children and their families. On some routes, United is partnering with Make-A-Wish to provide trips to deserving children. Other partnerships include local hospitals and nonprofit organizations to help identify passengers.

Flights will be operated by United aircraft and will run on the following days in December for domestic trips:

Honolulu (HNL): Multiple dates
Fort Lauderdale (FLL): December 2
Guam (GUM): December 5
Newark (EWR): December 6
Washington-Dulles (IAD): December 6
Los Angeles (LAX): December 6
Chicago-O’Hare (ORD): December 6
San Francisco (SFO): December 6
Cleveland (CLE): December 9
Denver (DEN): December 13
Houston Bush (IAH): December 13
Tampa (TPA): December 19

There will also be departures from London (LHR) and Tokyo (NRT) this year.

Hot Tip:

If you’re in the holiday spirit and want to make a donation, you can donate miles or money to United through December 31, 2025, to have your donation matched. United will match up to 5 million miles of donations. Check out our guide to other ways to donate points and miles to charities.

Final Thoughts

United is operating 12 Fantasy Flights from numerous airports this holiday season. These holiday-themed flights will take children and their families to visit Santa at the North Pole. The flights will run from December 2 to 19, 2025.