Ted is one of two airline divisional brands of United Airlines. Ted targeted to compete in the low cost airline market. In contrast to United's high end divisional "sub-fleeted" brand called United p.s., the rather uniquely named "Ted" comes from the last three letters in the United brand name, thus giving rise to the quip "Ted is United without U 'n' I". United marketed Ted anthropomorphically and attempted to personify Ted; it used phrases such as Meet Ted or I've Met Ted.[1][2]
Due to the airline crisis caused by spiking fuel prices, on June 4, 2008, United announced that the Ted brand and services would be discontinued with the Ted aircraft being fitted with United's First Class cabin and eventually being incorporated into United's regular fleet to compensate for the removal of United's entire 737 fleet. The changes are expected to be completed by the end of 2009. [3]
History
Ted's creation was announced November 12, 2003, and service began on February 12, 2004. It began service in Denver, a United hub, to compete with Frontier Airlines. The airline is equipped with 57 Airbus A320 aircraft, in a 156-seat all-economy configuration. It was created to give United a way to compete with low-cost airlines, such as Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest.
All Ted flights are operated by United Airlines crew flying under the United Airlines operating certificate, as Ted is not actually a certificated airline, but rather a brand name applied to differentiate the all-economy service from United's mainline flights. Sometimes, because of operational needs, Ted aircraft operate as mainline United flights. More often however, mainline United aircraft operate as Ted flights because of equipment substitutions.
Destinations
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Ted currently flies to 23 destinations throughout Mexico and the United States, including Puerto Rico. Upcoming schedule changes will decrease Ted's destination count to 18 when the airline ends service to Bozeman and Missoula, on September 1, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on September 2, and Rapid City on September 30, 2008. Ted's primary hub is at Denver International Airport, and the airline maintains focus cities at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Washington Dulles International Airport.
Fleet
A Ted Airlines Airbus A320 taxiing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in December 2005.
As of September 2008, United Airlines has 57 aircraft in its fleet dedicated to "Ted" operations:[4]
Ted Fleet
| Aircraft |
Total |
Passengers |
Routes |
Notes |
| Airbus A320-200 |
57 |
156 |
ALL |
Offering Economy Plus and Economy Class |
As of September 2008, Ted's average fleet age was 8.7 years old.[5]
Cabin
Ted A320's are configured in 1 class that is split into 2 sub-classes. Economy Plus is the first sub-class which includes rows 1-11. Economy Plus provides an extra 4 inches to the existing 31 inches of legroom for economy. Ted planes are equipped with 20 overhead retractable LCD screens known as "Tedevision" which are used to play videos throughout the flight. First class seating is not available on Ted flights. On every Ted seat there is TedTunes which has 12 music stations including a station that plays live feed from Air Traffic Control (channel 9), at the pilot's discretion.
See also
- Shuttle by United a low-cost subsidiary of United that operated from 1994 until 2001 and preceded Ted
- Delta Express a low-cost subsidiary of Delta from 1996 until 2003 that preceded Song
- Song a low-cost subsidiary of Delta that operated from 2003 until 2006 that replaced Delta Express
- MetroJet a low-cost subsidiary of US Airways that operated from 1998 until 2001
- Air Canada Tango a low-cost no-frills service offered by Air Canada that operated from 2001 to 2004
References
External links
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