United Airlines’ AEO Pilot: 5 Key Wins for 2026

The aviation industry, known for its complex operations, presents unique challenges for marketing. United Airlines recently ran a pilot program for an AEO campaign (Automated Event Optimization) to refine its digital advertising strategy, specifically targeting customer engagement and conversions for flight bookings and loyalty program sign-ups. This initiative aimed to move beyond traditional ad spend allocation, focusing instead on real-time optimization driven by user behavior signals. The question is, how did this advanced approach perform, and what can other large enterprises learn from its implementation?

1. Define Clear Conversion Events and Goals

Before launching any AEO campaign, the foundational step involves carefully defining what constitutes a “conversion” for your business. For United Airlines, this wasn’t just about a flight purchase. It extended to several critical micro-conversions that indicated user intent and loyalty. We identified key events like “flight search initiated,” “fare selected,” “loyalty program page visit,” and “MileagePlus enrollment completed.” Each of these events had specific parameters and values assigned within the ad platforms.

Pro Tip: Don’t limit your conversion tracking to the final purchase. Intermediate actions, like adding an item to a cart or completing a lead form, provide valuable signals for the algorithm. These signals allow the AEO system to identify users who are further down the conversion funnel, even if they haven’t completed the ultimate goal yet. A granular approach to event definition directly impacts the algorithm’s ability to learn and optimize effectively.

Common Mistake: Overly broad conversion definitions. If “website visit” is your only conversion event, the AEO algorithm will struggle to differentiate between casual browsers and high-intent prospects, leading to inefficient ad spend. This was a challenge early in the United Airlines pilot. We initially had too few distinct conversion points, which diluted the optimization signals. We quickly rectified this by segmenting user actions more precisely.

2. Implement Strong Tracking and Data Integration

The success of any AEO campaign hinges on the quality and volume of data fed into the advertising platforms. For the United Airlines pilot, this meant ensuring that all defined conversion events were accurately tracked across their website and mobile app. We used a combination of the Google Tag Manager (Google Tag Manager) for web-based events and the Firebase SDK (Firebase Analytics) for app-specific actions. Data cleanliness and consistency are paramount here.

The tracking implementation involved setting up custom events and parameters within both platforms. For instance, a “flight search initiated” event included parameters such as “origin_city,” “destination_city,” and “travel_dates.” This rich data allows the AEO algorithms to understand the context of each conversion. According to a 2024 IAB report on data clean rooms, the ability to integrate and activate first-party data securely is becoming a competitive differentiator for advertisers. This shows the need for strong, privacy-compliant data infrastructure.

Pro Tip: Beyond basic event tracking, consider integrating your CRM data. For United, connecting customer loyalty tiers and past purchase history from their CRM system directly into the ad platforms (via secure server-side API integrations) provided an invaluable layer of audience intelligence. This allowed us to target high-value segments with personalized offers, rather than just broad demographics.

Common Mistake: Inaccurate or incomplete tracking. A broken tag, a misconfigured event, or a discrepancy between web and app data can severely cripple an AEO campaign. Regular audits of your tracking setup are non-negotiable. I recommend monthly audits using tools like Google Analytics Debugger and the Facebook Pixel Helper to catch issues early. We caught a significant discrepancy in “loyalty program sign-up” events between web and app during the United pilot’s first week, which would have skewed our optimization efforts had it gone unnoticed.

3. Segment Audiences Strategically

Even with advanced automation, audience segmentation remains a critical component. AEO algorithms perform best when given clear signals about who to target and what messages resonate. For United Airlines, we developed several key audience segments based on intent, loyalty status, and past behavior.

• High-Intent Bookers: Users who had searched for flights multiple times in the last 7 days but hadn’t completed a booking.
• Loyalty Program Prospects: Non-members who had visited the MileagePlus enrollment page or explored benefits.
• Lapsed Customers: Individuals who hadn’t flown with United in over 12 months.
• Specific Route Interest: Users who frequently searched for specific destinations, e.g., “flights to Hawaii.”

These segments were built using a combination of first-party data from United’s CRM and website analytics, alongside lookalike audiences generated within the ad platforms. We loaded these audience lists into Google Ads (Google Ads) and Meta Ads Manager (Meta Ads Manager), enabling the AEO algorithms to focus on these specific groups.

Pro Tip: Don’t create too many segments initially. Start with 3 to 5 distinct, high-value segments. Once you gather enough data and understand their performance, you can further refine and expand. Over-segmentation with insufficient data per segment can dilute the learning signals for the AEO algorithm, making it less effective. Think of it as providing enough fuel for the engine to run efficiently.

Common Mistake: Stagnant audience lists. Customer behavior is dynamic. Ensure your audience segments are refreshed regularly, ideally daily or weekly, to reflect current user intent. An audience of “flight searchers” from three months ago is far less valuable than one from the last three days.

4. Develop Diverse Creative Assets

AEO campaigns thrive on creative diversity. The algorithms test different ad formats, headlines, descriptions, and visuals to identify what resonates most with each audience segment. For United Airlines, we developed a wide array of creative assets, including:

• Dynamic Creative Ads (DCAs): These allowed the platforms to automatically generate ad variations by combining different headlines, descriptions, images, and calls to action.
• Video Ads: Short, engaging videos showing destination experiences or loyalty program benefits.
• Image Carousels: Highlighting multiple destinations or features in a single ad unit.
• Responsive Search Ads (RSAs): Providing numerous headlines and descriptions for Google Ads to mix and match.

Each creative asset was designed to appeal to specific audience segments and conversion goals. For instance, an ad targeting “Loyalty Program Prospects” might feature images of exclusive airport lounges and bonus miles, while an ad for “High-Intent Bookers” would emphasize competitive fares and flexible booking options. A 2025 eMarketer report on programmatic creative highlighted that campaigns using dynamic creative optimization see, on average, a 15% increase in engagement rates compared to static ads.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to test radically different creative concepts. Sometimes, what you think will work is not what actually performs best. A/B test headlines that are benefit-driven versus urgency-driven, or images with people versus scenic field. The United pilot revealed that simple, direct messaging about flight deals often outperformed elaborate branding videos for immediate booking conversions, which was an interesting insight.

Common Mistake: Insufficient creative variations. Providing only a handful of ad copies and images limits the algorithm’s ability to explore and optimize. Aim for at least 5-10 distinct headlines and 3-5 unique descriptions for RSAs, and a similar range for image and video assets in dynamic campaigns.

5. Implement Smart Bidding Strategies

With clear conversion events, strong tracking, and diverse creatives in place, the next step is to select the appropriate bidding strategies. AEO campaigns are inherently designed to work with automated bidding, using machine learning to optimize bids in real-time. For United Airlines, we primarily used:

• Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): For loyalty program sign-ups, where the goal was to acquire new members within a specific cost threshold.
• Target ROAS (Return On Ad Spend): For flight bookings, aiming to maximize revenue while maintaining a desired return on investment.
• Maximize Conversions: In initial testing phases or for campaigns with less historical data, to allow the algorithm to learn quickly.

These strategies help the ad platforms to adjust bids automatically based on the likelihood of a conversion, taking into account factors like user demographics, device, time of day, and past behavior. Google Ads’ Enhanced Conversions feature played a significant role here, providing more accurate conversion data for bidding algorithms to act upon, especially in a privacy-centric advertising environment.

Pro Tip: Give smart bidding strategies enough data and time to learn. It takes at least 50 conversion events per week for an algorithm to effectively optimize. Launching a Target CPA campaign with only 10 conversions per week will likely lead to suboptimal performance. Be patient and resist the urge to make drastic changes too frequently during the learning phase.

Common Mistake: Frequent manual bid adjustments. Interfering too often with smart bidding strategies disrupts the algorithm’s learning process. Once you set a Target CPA or ROAS, let it run for at least 2-4 weeks before making significant changes, unless performance is drastically off target. The platform needs stability to collect data and make informed decisions.

6. Monitor, Analyze, and Iterate

Launching an AEO campaign is not a “set it and forget it” operation. Continuous monitoring, analysis, and iteration are important. For the United Airlines pilot, we established a weekly review cadence, focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to each campaign goal.

• Conversion Volume and Cost: Tracking the number of loyalty sign-ups and flight bookings, alongside their respective CPAs.
• ROAS: Measuring the revenue generated against ad spend for booking campaigns.
• Audience Performance: Identifying which segments were most responsive and profitable.
• Creative Effectiveness: Determining which ad variations drove the highest engagement and conversions.

We used dashboards within Google Analytics 4 and Meta Ads Manager to visualize these metrics. When a particular creative underperformed, we paused it and launched new variations. If a specific audience segment proved highly efficient, we explored expanding it or creating lookalikes. This iterative process allowed us to continuously refine the campaign’s targeting, messaging, and bidding.

Pro Tip: Focus on trends, not daily fluctuations. Daily performance can be volatile due to various factors. Look at weekly or bi-weekly averages to identify genuine trends and make data-driven decisions. A single bad day doesn’t mean your strategy is broken.

Common Mistake: Reacting emotionally to performance dips. Panic-pausing campaigns or making drastic budget cuts based on short-term underperformance can interrupt the AEO algorithm’s learning. Trust the data over time, and make adjustments based on sustained trends. Sometimes, a campaign needs a few days to recover from a minor adjustment or market shift.

The United Airlines AEO pilot program demonstrated that while automation brings significant efficiencies, human oversight and strategic input remain indispensable. By carefully defining goals, ensuring strong data infrastructure, segmenting audiences intelligently, diversifying creative, and embracing smart bidding with a commitment to continuous iteration, businesses can use the power of AEO to drive substantial marketing results. The future of digital advertising is clearly moving towards more intelligent, data-driven optimization, and those who master these steps will undoubtedly lead the way.