Ted was one of two airline divisional brands of United Airlines. It targeted vacation locations 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 Boeing 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 February 12, 2004. It began service in Denver International Airport, a United hub, to compete with Frontier Airlines. The airline had 56 Airbus A320s with 156 all-economy seats, allowing United to compete with low-cost airlines such as Frontier Airlines. All Ted flights were operated by United crews flying under the UAL operating certificate, as Ted was not actually a certificated airline, but rather a brand name applied to differentiate the all-economy service from United's mainline flights. Therefore, because of operational needs, it was possible for one to see Ted aircraft operate as mainline United flights; in the reverse, more often mainline United aircraft operated as Ted flights because of equipment substitutions.

At the time of its integration back into United Airlines (UA), Ted flew to 23 destinations throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Ted's primary hub was at Denver International Airport, and the airline maintained focus cities at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC. Ted ceased all operations on January 6, 2009 and was transferred to UA mainline.

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