Pentagram has a nice web page that describes their efforts on helping design the brand that United used throughout their products and service offerings. If you've not seen it yet, it is worth checking out. http://new.pentagram.com/2011/03/fifteen-years-of-flying-united-1/
Interesting.. "When United consummates its merger with Continental this year, much will change. One notable change—and one of the most controversial, at least in design circles—is the loss of the Saul Bass tulip, which will disappear for good when the United symbol is replaced with Continental’s. Also ending, for now at least, is the airline’s partnership with Pentagram. The United name, however, will live on"
Thank you! I'm interested to see that one of the pieces of tableware featured was the volcano salt and pepper service that I liked but everyone else hated and that was withdrawn almost immediately.
The photo in the article of Saul Bass shows him in front of the old CO 'meat ball'. It was before my time, did he design that one as well? I think the airline should use that logo.
I guess a page like that makes one forget how crappy UA's operations were and what kinds of dumps the RCCs were.
Yes, Saul Bass designed the CO meatball logo. It was a good one as well, and really could have been updated and kept in use in similar ways to how UA managed to keep his tulip logo around, had the meatball not become so associated with the horrors of CO in the 1980s.
There were times a few years ago as a UA elite that I always felt like I was flying two airlines in one. There was the great looking UA of the marketing materials, with great design elements and a great new livery (although they were ridiculously slow to get those planes painted), and then there was the old UA with the aircraft interiors that were dated, shabby, and dirty, the crews that were really ticked off at management and took it out on everyone, and the mediocre reliability.
Yep. I'm not sure there's an airline operating in this country today that's as bad as CO was during the days of Texas Air and Frank Lorenzo. I mean, the likes of NK and US truly suck in many ways, but they're still probably more reliable and don't subject their passengers to the nastiness and attitude that CO crews back then handed out with every package of peanuts. And nobody is flying a fleet today that's as bad as the mashed up CO fleet was after the big mega-merger of 1987, when they added the ancient aircraft the original Frontier and People Express to the mix of CO, Texas Air, New York Air, and some Eastern castoffs.
You know what I remember about the latter days of Eastern? Being horrified that they'd fill the hold with cargo, then send people's luggage down later in the week when they had a bigger plane. Really. My brief stint at Eastern (worked in MIA) is why I always carry a change of clothes in my carry-on.
I never flew EA. However, I do remember lots of horror stories about them in their final years, and I remember crossing the picket lines their pilots had running at IAH Terminal C many times in order to get inside the building when we were flying CO.
I flew them a few times, though I was more loyal to CO, even then. Probably remained so because I never heard CO horror stories despite them being a sister company. Eastern had enough of their own and I wasn't there long enough.
Haha, I've never heard it called the meatball logo before. I'm totally using that name going forward.
When I first started flying on business in the '70, EA had the best schedules for my purposes and I did use them the most. After a year or so of buying mostly business-type fares, I received a package from that that dubbed me an "Executive Traveler." This was status so strong that it certainly was as good as the current GS or P+ and the DM that I have now. And there were not many others who had it so the treatment was really special. I was sorry to see what Lorenzo did to them and in the late '80s, when we were starting our own business, I needed more reliability and lower fares and went away from them (and CO) so I never did get the Infinite Status that was handed out to those who stayed with CO through all the nonsense.
