It just doesn’t seem to matter how much time passes for the new United Airlines livery. Every time I post something positive about the new United livery, I have lots of folks give their opinion about how much they do not like it. So, today I am posting something for all you new livery haters out there. The video is a bit raw, but doesn’t stop me from laughing.

You can hate me all you want, but with all three liveries together, I am actually liking the newest one the most. Yes… it has grown on me, what can I say?

Found via @JetCheck and @danwebbage

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & FOUNDER - SEATTLE, WA. David has written, consulted, and presented on multiple topics relating to airlines and travel since 2008. He has been quoted and written for a number of news organizations, including BBC, CNN, NBC News, Bloomberg, and others. He is passionate about sharing the complexities, the benefits, and the fun stuff of the airline business. Email me: david@airlinereporter.com

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19 Comments

I don’t hate you, I don’t hate the livery. I hate that the best airline in the US has been dragged down to the depths of the worst, and the livery that was always a welcome sight now wears the name of a company that should have been shutdown years ago.

Fun, I guess. also a colossal waste of bandwidth.

R Lopaka

Gotta love the irony. To bad the merge wasn’t accepted when the President of the United States was from Texas and not from Chicago? The name would now be Continental and headquarters would be in Houston…..Texas.D’OH!!

I have to admit I like the new livery. It’s simple and clean, which I appreciate. Nostalgically, it is sad to lose the tulip – I’ve been a loyal UA passenger since a child in the 80’s, and have been PremierExec/1K since ’97, and have always liked United, and the tulip graphic always made me excited when getting to the old Stapleton or DIA in Denver where I lived. But when I moved me to NYC in 2007, it was a blow to not have (at that moment) robust direct UA flights at any NY airport. I started flying Continental and was never disappointed with CO’s customer service – not once, and was of course grateful when CO moved to Star Alliance. I can appreciate keeping CO’s globe – I think it does accurately reflect the new, combined airline’s vision and reach, and I think it’s fair, given their stronger customer service and healthier corporate culture, that they were given some fair recognition in the new livery.

Walking thru that Terminal at IAH (term C) it’s a bit weird seeing soo many different liveries from two airlines. But at the same time its kinda cool that you are noticing the merger happen before your eyes. I’ve always liked the CO livery, I think it’s sharp and slick. Yes this is an interim livery and im curious as to what they’ll use in the future.

Mary LeRose

I think the new livery is okay, it is kind of plane (pardon the pun). I think they are two very good airlines and now that they are “One”, it will just make a much bigger very good airline. You are never going to please all of the employees or the public, no matter what you do. I know this is a temporary livery and I hope the permanent one will be one with a bit more life to it.

TO JOHN D. ” I don”t hate you, I don”t hate the livery. I hate that the best airline in the US has been dragged down to the depths of the worst, and the livery that was always a welcome sight now wears the name of a company that should have been shutdown years ago.”

I don’t know which airline goes where, as far as the best/worst, but I don’t think it is as bad as you seem to think it is. They are both very good airlines and now they are just bigger and better.

R Lopaka

New livery??? OHHHHH, You mean Continentals very OLD livery? Didn’t it roll out back in early 1990s? Old is new?

Rob Goodman

They (UA) would be better with the CO Gold and Red meatball or the old UA stars and bars. The current CO colors should have been retired just as the UA current colors should have been.

This livery looks terrible, period.

The only way anyone would like this livery is if you LOVED the Continental livery or LOVED Continental. If you had better feelings towards United or the Tulip, this is an atrocity. It’s like if Delta had adopted that weirdo Northwest compass logo over the Widget when they merged with Northwest. The Tulip is to United what the Widget is to Delta is what the globe is to Continental.

I think everyone would have been happier had they just scrapped everything and started with a fresh image instead of a doing what was obviously a cheap concession to get Continental to agree to the merger. At this p

First of all, you need to understand it’s about MONEY. It was very “cost effective” to just paint over the name and paint “United” on the newer paint jobs. Continental’s planes were, for the most part, painted more recently than Uniteds’ and so have more “life” left in them, thus lowering costs.
Second, to have an emotional response to a paint job or business logo is a waste of emotion IMHO…warm fuzzies over being treated well, like a human being, getting respect and good service from a tired, haggled, underpaid employee while safely flying to your destination (regardless of the color of the paint job or which greedy corporation sucked your dollars for a ticket through an internet portal) sadly, is an experience worthy an emotional response these days. Sorry I’m so grouchy but I just got home from a red-eye! Safe Travels all…

“Second, to have an emotional response to a paint job or business logo is a waste of emotion IMHO”

Just as it’s a waste of time to have an emotional reaction to a sports team, TV show, movie, art, music, etc. Those still “suck our dollars”, yet we still love them and throw money at them, often when we shouldn’t.

It’s nostalgia, dude, and we all have it here, otherwise we wouldn’t be on a blog like this, we’d be hanging out at CrankyFlyer (or whatever it’s called) whining about legroom and screaming babies. There’s a part of flying some of us (still) truly love, and the United Tulip evokes that feeling for many, no different than the logo or typeface of a sports team you love. I’m sorry you don’t see it that way, but for most of us, this runs in our blood, especially those of us who grew up around (and have worked in) the airline industry. No one who hasn’t been a part of that will ever understand. Call it a waste of time if you’d like, but you might as well lecture a cat on why they shouldn’t like fish.

And I think we’re all well aware it’s about money, and had United painted their 2004 livery on their planes faster, this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Get some sleep.

Points taken Alex,
As I said “IMHO”. …and I’ve been in the airline industry over 25 years so I understand. I’ve seen huge changes over the years, some good, some bad, but it’s really a reflection of where society has gone. The sport team analogy is kind of apples to oranges as the airlines provide a service rather than entertainment or education. My point was more along the lines of the impersonal nature of airline travel these days and the lack of emotional attachment to the process of travel that we had in the “past”. I believe the average consumer doesn’t understand the loyalty since the majority purchase tickets from the internet and will choose based on as little as $1 in price and couldn’t care less what’s painted on the outside. And yes, I do have feelings of nostalgia and an opinion of the paint job, just no attachment any longer, those days are over. I’m off to sleep, thanks for keeping it civil!

Cookie Monster

Me love cookie and me love retro-jet but me no love the new livery!

Cookies might be nice for many, but not good for your hips.

Compromised livery might not be nice to many, but good for UA/CO hip pocket.

Flyniki is a delicious livery….

Please stop calling a new livery. The livery has been in existence since 1991. If anything, call it a rebadged livery.

We get it, you like the livery. Many people disagree with your feelings about it.

Enough with it already.

In regards to the CO livery, and its 20 year existence, it looks like a 20 year old livery. One of the biggest problems with the livery is that it looks dated. United has undergone a few livery changes in 20 years. As a result, it’s natural for people, who are accustomed to the pre-merger United livery (and tulip,) to take issue with United rebranding itself with a 20 year old livery.

Again, it’s a decision of dollars and cents. Reinvent the brand, and all associated collateral, with new branding. Or, take what’s already there, make a very modest change, and call yourself new. The latter is a far cheaper option.

Okay, I’m done with this whole discussion of the rebadged Continental livery. It’s dated, and only looks good on the 777, in my opinion. If you like it, great for you. But really, enough already.

I prefer the tulip, but I could absolutely live with a great looking globe-based livery, but unfortunately that currently isn’t the case. If you go to the UCH website, I think it looks really slick, I like the color combo and would like to see what they could do with that on a plane.

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