FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2020 file photo, United Airlines employees work at ticket counters in Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. United Airlines will pay more than $49 million to settle criminal and civil accusations of defrauding the post office in the handling of international mail. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)(AP) – United Airlines will pay more than $49 million to avoid criminal prosecution and settle civil charges of defrauding the U.S. Chicago-based United agreed to pay nearly $17.3 million in criminal penalties and forfeited revenue to end the criminal investigation, and separately United will pay $32.2 million in related civil penalties, according to the Justice Department. United and several other U.S. airlines trace their roots to air mail delivery contracts in the early part of the last century, and mail remains a source of revenue for them.