Exhibit 12.1 UAL Corporation and Subsidiary Companies Computation of Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges and Preferred Stock Dividend Requirements Three Months Ended March 31 ------------------ 1999 1998 ---- ---- (In Millions) Earnings: Earnings before income taxes $ 123 $ 96 Losses of affiliates 2 - Fixed charges, from below 293 269 Undistributed earnings of affiliates (19) (20) Interest capitalized (19) (26) ---- ---- Earnings $ 380 $ 319 ==== ==== Fixed charges: Interest expense $ 92 $ 80 Preferred stock dividend requirements 49 40 Portion of rental expense representative of the interest factor 152 149 ---- ---- Fixed charges $ 293 $ 269 ==== ==== Ratio of earnings to fixed charges 1.30 1.19 ==== ====