Back when the planes were called FriendShips. United's current blue and white livery seems to be influenced by this earlier look.

I might be more accepting of the globe if they gave that an update. I think its tacky that their logo has an obligatory blue back ground, as if it were a tablet. Shouldn't a logo stand on its own? The jet stream logo did. Now that I think about it, how about we just keep the tulip.