Should Ual Think Over Ted?

[funguy2]

It's going to be ackward... for so long the Flight Attendants are used to being formal (especially if you work international flights) and classy, and now they want us to make up an imaginary character named TED and offer his drinks and sell his food. Or we could see the other extreme where smart-arses out there take the "relaxed attitude" too far and start offending people (especially customers who are used to United's professional experience). Kinda weird and difficult to digest if you ask me! Only time will tell! Again, it looks good on paper, but reality is a different ball game!

How awkward do you think this will be passenger?

LAS-SFO: TED welcomes you aboard, can TED sell you some food? Sorry, TED does not offer first class. Look at us, we are like TGIFridays!

SFO-NRT: Welcome aboard United Airlines (probably in several languages). Which complimentary meal would you like today? Today's movie selection is A, B, and C. We are trying to be like a classy french restaurant.

I don't believe TED will be significantly more profitable than the rest of UA. I don't believe the costs at TED will be significantly different. US Airways slahed employee costs, and are currently removing many (not all) FC seats from their B757's. All this, and they still have high (yes, slightly lower) costs. Therefore, I don't see how TED will dramatically lower costs when all they are doing is adding a few chairs and a small increase in utilization.

 

[TJoe]

Sorry. I should have chose my words more carefully. The point I was trying to make is that I don't think United has the corporate culture to pull off TED. In reading your posts it seems that may be changing. The airline within an airline does not work over the long run. Time will tell. Joe

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Ted is a monumental waste of time, money, manpower and resources.

Those that fail to learn from history's mistakes are condemned to repeat them.


Are the Flight Attendants gonna get busted by their Supervisors if they don't have enough "Flair" on their uniforms? (Office Space joke)

 

[jimmyd]

In regards to the aircraft utilization, if you analyze Ted's March schedule, the aircraft utilization for the A320 is 10.8 hours per day. This compares to the existing mainline A320 utilization of 10.5, not what I would call a dramatic improvement. Significantly more flying is needed to reach the utilization targets envisioned by management.

The turn times are also more close to 50 minutes to an hour, not the 30 minutes that was posted previously. Make sense since Ted is focused on the hubs and aircraft will need to sit and wait for the connecting passengers coming thru.

I agree that Ted appears to be a markerting gimmick, sort of like the evil twin of United Shuttle but with a focus on the hubs.

 

[TravelDude]

Well, I am glad those turns are closer to an 60 or 50 mins, a 30 min turn does not give much margin...say the inbound arrives late due to ATC. This could creat a snowball affect for flight delays as that aircraft becomes late and has trouble catching up.

 

[Andre1980]

Thanks for the response. I know one post said that the main difference between Song and TED would be the fact that song is for O and D traffic whereas TED is mainly for connecting traffic but I can see 2 main issues arising form this type of operation since UAL's hubs operate on a bank like structure where lets say 50 flights are supposed to leave in 10 or fifteen minutes and some of thoes flights are TED flights I believe that it will have some impact on the ontime performance and how UA can utalize TED's planes to the max. Secondly a first class or elite frequent flyer for UA coming from london to IAD and wants to continue a connecting flight to FLL where there is a firstclass available and they realise UA's TED does not cater towards them that may cause UA to lose some business from these high flyers. Can anyone understant what I am saying?

Now about the flight attendant training for TED. I think it sounds quite unusual and I can't see many flight attendants accepting this change with open arms which would mean acting one way on UAL flights and another way on TED I can see this becoming quite stressfull since these flight attendants were trained to do things on way for a very long time and it may require lots of practice to get used to.

Now that casm TED is projected to have does not sound low enough to really give F9 a tough time but who knows Tilton probably knows something I don't.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

I'm not too sure that TED will work.

Couple years ago I said that Air Canada TANGO and Air Canada ZIP was a great idea. Seemed like a good idea at that time. TANGO was suppossed to be independent low cost (all you got with TANGO was a seat, can of Coke was extra, etc) point-to-point service (yet the morons put TANGO on routes like YYZ-YUL). ZIP was to be a low-cost but tied into AC mainline (FF points, etc) while duplicating Westjet routes in western Canada.

One major problem was confusion and anger: for example, it was not uncommon to be flying on ZIP (or even TANGO - go figure) when redeeming AC frequent flyer miles. Or an AC fare sale ended up being not on AC mainline but that's right, TANGO or ZIP.

I fear that TED will mainly and indirectly promote the LCCs. People will try it because the perception will be that TED is like a LCC. And if TED does not live up to the expectation(s), UAL will in the end just anger more customers.

I hope TED is different and that TED will work, but I wouldn't bet money on it.

 

[ISP]

enilria: I'll agree that branding one company is easier then two operations at the same time... you do have your facts off a bit. TED's Airbus planes will have higher utilization and turns will be done in less then 30 minutes. Also there is only one uniform for Mainline and TED so no added costs. Also by adding "Buy on Board" it will save millions a year just on the 10-15% of flights ran by TED.

FA4UA

I find it hard to believe TED will be doing turns in less than 30 minutes. My son works for B6 and they have 35 minute turns for leisure routes, and 55 minute turns for transcon routes. They struggle on 35 minute turns as it is, and they are in fact considering moving to 40 minute turns to improve their on time rankings. When you fly PBI-JFK-FLL, it is impossible to deplane 10 wheelchairs, clean, preboard, and then board another 5 wheelchairs in 35 minutes. Good luck TED!

 

[mga707]

Are the Flight Attendants gonna get busted by their Supervisors if they don't have enough "Flair" on their uniforms? (Office Space joke)

"Remember, Friday is Hawai'ian shirt day!" B)

If you've been to TGIF's lately, you've noticed that they've ditched the "flair" accessories (and the stripes) for a rather somber black/dark red uniform.
Must've been all of the cracks from those who made the movie a cult classic...

 

[HPearlyretiree]

The food still sucks though, last time I was forced to eat there the lettuce in the salad was transparent.

Ted will be yet another entry into the "What the hell were they thinking" wing of the failed airlines museum.

 

[flythewing]

I find it hard to believe TED will be doing turns in less than 30 minutes. My son works for B6 and they have 35 minute turns for leisure routes, and 55 minute turns for transcon routes. They struggle on 35 minute turns as it is, and they are in fact considering moving to 40 minute turns to improve their on time rankings.

Ground time for UA 320s is currently 40 minutes officially (and thats with mail and freight).

 

[Dave]

Ground time for UA 320s is currently 40 minutes officially (and thats with mail and freight).

With the openning of 34L/16R, atc flow shouldn't be a problem in making 40 minute turns.

With the economy improving, I'd say we're on the right track.

Dave

 

[novaqt]

Boy, HPEarlyRetiree, do you have a lot of sour grapes in your posts. Now you have become an armchair expert in running all airlines???

 

[SieeraOscarLima]

Let's face it, Ted is just a poorly though-out, knee-jerk reaction to assaults on UA's hubs by low-cost carriers. When (or more likely, if) Ted succeeds in getting rid of F9 at DEN (highly unlikely IMHO) and Independance Air at IAD (probably a more likely scenario), it will go away and United will jack-up the fares to/from these cities to eye-watering levels.

I hope Ted falls flat on it's cutesy face. Airlines with demons as big as UA's should be distracting themselves with misguided MBA projects like Ted; they need to fix the bigger issues first.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

No, I'm just looking at Ted from my head and not from my heart.

I look at the past history of overweight legacy carriers attempting to create an airline-within-an-airline, and notice that they have been all miserable failures.

Cute repartee' by the flight attendants, pins on aprons, and creating a trendy, silly pseudo persona of a guy named 'Ted' who wants you to fly his plane is just so much cheap spray paint. Scratch off the paint, and its the same old United, a sloth in an industry of gazelles.

My analogy box is too full, in fact, its stuffed like a....