channa

Indeed. But let's also keep in mind that it was bad for a bit before it got better.

DL's real turnaround towards being customer focused started with the SkyPriority introduction.

TWAB747nomore

Goodbye Continental you die and Join the airline graveyard as a company

Continental RIP your name is now with GREAT companies such as

PanAm
Eastern
Braniff
Trans World Airlines
Swissair
Sabana
Northwest Airlines
Canadian
Aloha


For the raging tulip-holics So long to the old marketing image of united. a new future to boldly go where no airline has gone before

UA-NYC

Agreed - doing MEX, DTW, and PHX three weeks in a row on CO n/s, whereas before I'd have to connect, is an excellent bonus, as was my n/s flight in BF to HKG, as opposed to my typical ORD/SFO connection.

Having done ~45K BIS on CO over the past 18 months, I've realized there's a lot of excellence with CO in-flight, between the crews, newer a/c, food, DTV, power, BF, etc. It's just some of the before and after flight issues that have been a shock to the system (OPSC, boarding process, TODs, slow EUA, etc.) relative to how well & easy I've been treated with UA - can only hope those improve over time.

TWA Fan 1

Yes, although DL started out in far worse shape than UaCo is right now...

channa

In that case, they've made one h*ll of a turnaround.

TWA Fan 1

A true phoenix rising out of the ashes...at its worst, DL was painfully miserable...

TWAB747nomore

Delta is actually pretty decent now product wise...

hopefully the new united will turn out even better

N830MH

Yes, I believe DL is doing good and they still earned more $$$$. DL is getting better for everyday. I wasn't sure CO will be gone forever.

We will bid farewell to CO. We will miss you. It was great flying on CO. I haven't flown on CO for a long time.

Seat 1F

Well the CO callsign may be gone, but the Continental name is still alive and well from a customer standpoint. Took CO flights from IAH-SEA-ANC yesterday and everything was still continental. Everything at IAH is still imaged as Continental. It was a CO flight number....FA accountments all mentioned Continental, etc. I do expect all that to change over the next 2-3 months but for now CO lives on!

steve64

I'll bet the term "tulip" was coined here on FT
The logo is 2 "U"s overlaid on each other to signify that they have been "united".

The person who designed the "tulip" also did another airline's logo (maybe several others ??). That airline had a name that implied a somewhat regional presence though their route network (or at least the network they dreamed of at the time) stretched across the world. So the logo designed was a partial globe ... a globe to represent a "global" route network, but only a partial globe to represent the implied "regionality" of the name. That logo was designed around 1991 and is still in use today ... ironically, with United Airlines.

TWA Fan 1

Actually, Saul Bass (the designer) is the one who called it the tulip.

He did also design a globe for Bob Six at Continental, but it was not the current globe. Yes, CO still uses a globe, but not the same one. The current CO (and now United) globe was designed by the branding firm LippincottMercer in 1991.

Here is Bass's globe:



Here is Bass's original tulip:

maccoinnich

Saul Bass is one of my favorite designers, ever. In addition to numerous corporate logos, he did some wonderful film posters and title sequences. I can watch the title sequence to North by Northwest over and over again (and this a movie that was released a good quarter of a century before I was even born).

steve64

Thanks for the info/update ^
Though (IMHO, none of it fact), I always considered the CO logo that you're calling a "globe" (also known un-officially as the "meatball") as the "contrails" logo .. the contrails left in the sky by the (new at the time) passing jets.

And that the original version was black, the red version being a Texas International (Lorenzo ) update.

And as I write this, I dig the grave deeper ...
As a true CO lover, I hate admitting that the Bob Six CO died many years ago ... that today's (well, a few days ago's) CO is really TIdbaCO.
Some will argue that Texas Air Holdings went bankrupt awhile back and re-emerged as Continental Air Holdings ... but that still ain't the Proud Bird With the Golden Tail

jlemon

And I believe Mr. Bass also designed the updated livery for the original Frontier Airlines (FL) back in the late 70's which featured a stylized "F" on the tail of their B737 and MD-80 equipment.

FL, of course, got folded into CO as well......

TWA Fan 1

You are absolutely right, it is the meatballs, not the globe...

It is definitely TI dba CO, although some might say it is Ti/PE dba CO...

As a youngster, I remember flying the Bob Six CO, in one of their DC-10 lounges. That was truly an amazing experience.

Everytime I wedge myself into one of the horrifying 31" seat pitch Koito seats, I'm reminded of how far we've come...