United eyes converting more Las Vegas flights to Ted

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 11:22 a.m.

United Airlines will evaluate its just-launched Ted discount subsidiary over the next few months to determine if it is feasible to transform mainline United service between Chicago and Las Vegas into Ted flights.

Sean Donohue, vice president of Ted, speaking by phone from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., before boarding a Ted flight to Denver on Thursday afternoon, said it's too early to determine if the Ted brand would be expanded to include flights between Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Las Vegas.

The first Ted-branded flight left McCarran International Airport Thursday at 6:20 a.m. Donohue boarded a flight Thursday morning for Fort Lauderdale that was designated the first-ever Ted flight since it launched a new Denver-Fort Lauderdale route for United, the nation's No. 2 airline.

Over the next 2 1/2 months, United will shift its mainline service to Ted flights on routes between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.'s Dulles International Airport.

Only the company's Chicago flights would remain mainline United -- unless the airline decides to shift those as well.

United spokeswoman Jean Medina said the Ted flights she flew between Denver and Las Vegas were full as well, as Las Vegas gears for a three-day weekend that includes popular Valentine's Day celebrations.

"I think the people liked it," Medina said. "There were a few people who booked earlier and didn't realize they were going to be on a Ted flight and they were anxious to hear more about it."

United, which hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by June, took the unusual strategy of launching a new product while in bankruptcy to try to prevent customers from defecting to low-fare competitors.

United competes vigorously with Denver-based Frontier Airlines and is battling to hold its market share against Southwest Airlines on the West Coast and JetBlue, Southwest and AirTran in Florida.

Medina said Ted will be competitive because its A320s can hold more passengers than planes used by some of its competitors and labor costs have been reduced due to concessions negotiated with employees and their unions in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Critics say many of Ted's fares are higher than their rivals and that there is little difference between the new subsidiary and the mainline carrier.

Ted and its passengers got an earful of criticism from its flight attendants union Thursday as the Association of Flight Attendants set up leafletting campaigns at several Ted centers of operation, including McCarran.

The union says United reneged on promises on health care insurance costs and is squandering money on marketing Ted.

"If you look beyond Ted's hip logo and progressive, fresh attitude, you'll see the same bad management decisions for which United is infamous," said Greg Davidowitch, the United AFA Master Executive Council president. "The new United is no more than a slick marketing campaign being funded on the backs of retirees who gave decades of service to United Airlines."

MaryAnne Houser, the AFA's Las Vegas president, said McCarran officials forced 30 retirees who came to support the flight attendants' demonstration to leave the airport.

McCarran spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said demonstrators were in violation of a permit the flight attendants received in advance of the protest.

She said some of the group carried signs and wore sandwich boards on the airport's departure curb in violation of the permit and that demonstrators blocked doors in a high-traffic area.