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- Jan 14, 2004
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At Least An Edsel Still Has Some Collector Value.
The Year 2007 apparently marks the end of one of the airline industry's most stunning lead balloons in marketing.
We're referring, of course, to Ted, where United got the brilliant idea to simply re-paint some A-320s, make 'em all economy class, put them right back in service, and, poof!, try to convince the public that it was now a "low cost" and "low fare" airline. The assumption, apparently, was that the entire naive flying public had fallen off a turnip truck.
Fares were no different than before, and the costs were (are) actually higher, as the whiz-kids who talked United into the scheme didn't know that going over 150 seats (to 156) required an additional flight attendant. So, unless the load factor was over 97% on every flight, it was a very expensive extra 6 seats, not including the hit from losing first class seats on some key hub-connect routes.
As a further indication that Ted was the product of folks who didn't know a flight coupon from a speeding ticket, United management got talked into spending millions installing dual jetways at Denver, just for Ted-designated flights. Fast turns, don't ya know, are critical to a low cost carrier, notwithstanding the fact that at Denver, Ted flights had to be timed with the hub banks of which they were an integral part.
The entire Ted concept landed like a baby grand piano off the 43rd floor, simply because it was an inside joke, one without a punchline, and one nobody outside of United understood. As being a differentiated product, it represented nothing except perhaps some incremental revenue for Sherwin-Williams. The public only saw that some United flights now had no first class section, and that the inflight safety video made strange references to somebody, or some creature, named "Ted". They didn't get the joke.
Sometime in 2007 all the hoopla about Ted ended. Advertising went dead. Silly marketing stunts were no more. Even gate announcements and signage stopped referring to "Ted.". Presumably, in 2008, United will quietly move to eliminate this side show.
Unless, that is, another memo comes under the door from whatever advisors United has on payroll. No telling what they might dream up. But they'll really have to work to out do the Ted fiasco.
The Year 2007 apparently marks the end of one of the airline industry's most stunning lead balloons in marketing.
We're referring, of course, to Ted, where United got the brilliant idea to simply re-paint some A-320s, make 'em all economy class, put them right back in service, and, poof!, try to convince the public that it was now a "low cost" and "low fare" airline. The assumption, apparently, was that the entire naive flying public had fallen off a turnip truck.
Fares were no different than before, and the costs were (are) actually higher, as the whiz-kids who talked United into the scheme didn't know that going over 150 seats (to 156) required an additional flight attendant. So, unless the load factor was over 97% on every flight, it was a very expensive extra 6 seats, not including the hit from losing first class seats on some key hub-connect routes.
As a further indication that Ted was the product of folks who didn't know a flight coupon from a speeding ticket, United management got talked into spending millions installing dual jetways at Denver, just for Ted-designated flights. Fast turns, don't ya know, are critical to a low cost carrier, notwithstanding the fact that at Denver, Ted flights had to be timed with the hub banks of which they were an integral part.
The entire Ted concept landed like a baby grand piano off the 43rd floor, simply because it was an inside joke, one without a punchline, and one nobody outside of United understood. As being a differentiated product, it represented nothing except perhaps some incremental revenue for Sherwin-Williams. The public only saw that some United flights now had no first class section, and that the inflight safety video made strange references to somebody, or some creature, named "Ted". They didn't get the joke.
Sometime in 2007 all the hoopla about Ted ended. Advertising went dead. Silly marketing stunts were no more. Even gate announcements and signage stopped referring to "Ted.". Presumably, in 2008, United will quietly move to eliminate this side show.
Unless, that is, another memo comes under the door from whatever advisors United has on payroll. No telling what they might dream up. But they'll really have to work to out do the Ted fiasco.
