Putting aside the question of whether there is a dichotomy between the campaign's reference to "Friendly Skies" and the reality facing travelers on UA in 2013 (I believe there is), I actually really liked the spot.
Part of it is that I've always loved RiB (it was my clarinet audition piece for my college's marching band), but mostly I think it's a good image spot. Now they need to back it up with substance, otherwise it will whiff badly.
People have been sort of tongue-in-cheek referencing the tulip. It's funny, though, when I look at the design features of the ad and the graphics on the website, I really don't see many references to the Globe.
Compare, by contrast, DL and how often you see the widget.
I could totally be imagining this (wishful thinking), but I wonder if we're in a transitional mode here from a design/branding standpoint, and we may see a new logo over the next year or two - it would not be hard to swap the Globe for, say, a new stylized tulip...
Greg