Ted was one of two "airline within an airline" divisional brands of United Airlines. It targeted vacation locations. 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., "Ted" comes from the last three letters in the United brand name. 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 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. Operations were folded back into the mainline brand on January 6, 2009. 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 was equipped with 57 Airbus A320 aircraft, in a 156-seat all-economy configuration. This gave United a way to compete with low-cost airlines, such as Frontier Airlines.
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