Ted (airline)

Ted
IATA UA	ICAO UAL	Callsign UNITED
Founded		2003
Hubs		Denver International Airport
Focus cities		O'Hare International Airport San Francisco Int'l Airport Dulles International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Mileage Plus
Member lounge		Red Carpet Club
Alliance		Star Alliance
Fleet size		57
Destinations		20
Parent company		United Air Lines, Inc.
Headquarters		Elk Grove Township, Cook County, Illinois
Key people		Glenn Tilton (CEO) Jack Brace (CFO)
Website: http://www.flyted.com/

Ted is one of two airline divisional brands of United Airlines similar in concept to the Delta Shuttle or the US Airways Shuttle, however specifically targeted in the United case to compete effectively 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".

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 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

Mexico

Baja California Sur

• San José del Cabo/Cabo San Lucas (Los Cabos International Airport)

Guerrero

• Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport)

Jalisco

• Puerto Vallarta (Lic. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport)

Quintana Roo

• Cancún (Cancún International Airport)

United States

Arizona

• Phoenix (Sky Harbor International Airport)

California

• Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport)
• Ontario (Ontario International Airport)
• San Francisco (San Francisco International Airport) Focus City

Colorado

• Denver (Denver International Airport) Hub

District of Columbia

See Virginia for Washington, D.C. service

Florida

• Fort Lauderdale (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport)
• Miami (Miami International Airport)
• Orlando (Orlando International Airport)
• Tampa (Tampa International Airport)
• West Palm Beach (Palm Beach International Airport)

Illinois

• Chicago (O'Hare International Airport) Focus City

Louisiana

• New Orleans (Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport)

Nevada

• Las Vegas (McCarran International Airport)
• Reno (Reno/Tahoe International Airport)

Virginia

• Dulles (Washington Dulles International Airport) Focus City

U.S. Territories

Puerto Rico

• San Juan (Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport)

Fleet

A Ted Airlines Airbus A320 taxiing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in December 2005.

As of January 2008, United Airlines has 57 aircraft in its fleet dedicated to "Ted" operations:^[1]

As of January 2008, Ted's average fleet age was 8.2 years old.^[2]

Inside Ted

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, at the pilot's discretion.

References

External links

• Ted Homepage
• Ted's shop
• United press release
• Ted Fleet Age