Ted was one of two airline divisional brands of United Airlines. It targeted vacation locations primarily served by the low cost airline market, in contrast to the company's high-end premium transcontinental brand, United p.s. (which focused on business travelers between United's two California hubs and New York City). "Ted" comes from the last three letters in the United brand name.[3] United marketed Ted anthropomorphically and attempted to personify Ted; it used phrases such as Meet Ted or I've Met Ted.
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.[4] The Ted aircraft were refitted with a First Class cabin and re-incorporated into United's mainline fleet to compensate for the retirement of United's entire Boeing 737 fleet. Operations were folded back into the mainline brand on January 6, 2009.
History
Ted's creation was announced November 12, 2003, and service began February 12, 2004. It began service out of United's hub in Denver International Airport to compete with JetBlue Airways. The airline had 56 Airbus A320-200s with 156 all-economy seats, allowing United to compete with low-cost airlines such as Frontier Airlines