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Recent UA peeling paint livery sightings

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Old Aug 17, 2019, 2:59 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
Perhaps before leaping to such a conclusion, we should have an actual observed pattern.
when paint comes off like it has in that picture, either the paint was defective or the application was defective. Sure, it could be a one off, but given Kirby’s cut, cut, cut obsession, why dismiss the possibility he’s doing it here?
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 6:02 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
The shortage of aircraft (due to MAX situation) and peak summer travel demands, probably deferring painting as it is mostly a cosmetic issue (some increase in fuel usage but for that level of peeling, pretty minor).
Good point. I know they have increased widebody assignments to fill for the missing MAX.

Originally Posted by LarryJ
That's how aircraft paint fails.

Even before the new livery was announced, it was becoming obvious that one was in the works due to the delay in repainting aircraft that needed it. You aren't going to repaint aircraft in the old livery when you know that a new one is coming soon.
So perhaps a compounding of increased aircraft use and stretched repaint scheduling?

Originally Posted by halls120


when paint comes off like it has in that picture, either the paint was defective or the application was defective. Sure, it could be a one off, but given Kirby’s cut, cut, cut obsession, why dismiss the possibility he’s doing it here?
We don't know how many hours that aircraft has flown since repaint. It looks like normal end of paint-life wear I think. So I'm not sure this can be pinned directly on cost-cut Kirby.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 8:26 am
  #18  
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we can speculate (and probably rightly so) that its a combination of stretched out repaint schedule due to new livery, MAX issues and cost cutting, but bottom line, this doesn't happen on other airlines, and there are many airlines with MAX issues, new liveries and EVERYBODY has to watch their budget...
so, conclusion we can all agree on: exterior appearances seem to be unimportant for UA.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 8:49 am
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Originally Posted by rosenkavalier
we can speculate (and probably rightly so) that its a combination of stretched out repaint schedule due to new livery, MAX issues and cost cutting, but bottom line, this doesn't happen on other airlines, and there are many airlines with MAX issues, new liveries and EVERYBODY has to watch their budget...
so, conclusion we can all agree on: exterior appearances seem to be unimportant for UA.
Mid 2000s UAL was cash strapped and thus delayed their new livery from a planned 2001 to 2004. Early rising blue reprints, especially on 744, had quality issues because of the vendor’s repainting practices. These things don’t look great, but the company isn’t going to just take a plane out of service until it gets back in the shop for another repainting fix.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 9:34 am
  #20  
 
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There are maintenance standards for painting an airplane and it’s not something you can cheap out on. The savings comes from increasing the intervals between painting.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 9:49 am
  #21  
 
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In my experience, this is exactly how aircraft paint fails. I've seen it at every airline for which I've flown (UAL is my sixth). It comes from flying old paint through rain showers at up to 500mph.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 9:54 am
  #22  
 
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From the consumer/passenger perspective, the root cause is irrelevant. It is a bad look that allows customers to draw their own conclusions as to the cause. At a minimum, it makes UA look less than a premium carrier. This hurts the perception of the airlines. The casual traveler has to at least wonder if this image of "lower quality" extends to more than the paint job.
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 10:14 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by rosenkavalier
.... this doesn't happen on other airlines, ....
Perhaps this airliners.net link to a picture collection of peeling paint aircraft from multiple major carriers might show otherwise. This is a common condition across the industry. Common is the sense it occurs across main airlines. That this thread started as a query on "what is this" seems to support it is not a common sighting.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 17, 2019 at 10:20 am Reason: cited source -- airliners.net
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 9:06 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by bluedemon211
From the consumer/passenger perspective, the root cause is irrelevant. It is a bad look that allows customers to draw their own conclusions as to the cause. At a minimum, it makes UA look less than a premium carrier. This hurts the perception of the airlines. The casual traveler has to at least wonder if this image of "lower quality" extends to more than the paint job.
Doubt most casual travelers even look at the airplane. They sit at the gate (many which provide limited visibility to the jet) and simply board.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 12:32 am
  #25  
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Still better than a typo.

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Old Aug 18, 2019, 1:50 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by LarryJ
In my experience, this is exactly how aircraft paint fails. I've seen it at every airline for which I've flown (UAL is my sixth). It comes from flying old paint through rain showers at up to 500mph.
I know it’s bloodsport around here to hate on Jeff Smisek, but he took a page directly from Bethune’s book and had ALL of the planes in the new livery as soon as humanly possible. Not some, not “the ones that need it most”, not “a subfleet” - all of them.

Smart move, in my book. A plane with an old livery (love it or not) and peeling paint screams neglect.

Now as for this 777 - I’m sure it’ll be repainted soon. Not neglect, really, just waiting for the paint lines to open with the new livery. The loss of frames - both the MAX and the bounced 757 - plus the busy summer season - can’t possibly help.

Would love to see some more frames painted in “historic” liveries (a meatball would be great!) but I doubt that’s going to happen ...
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 10:38 pm
  #27  
 
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As others have said this was a major issue pmUA. As an example ‘rising blue’ came out in 2004 and at the time of the merger in 2010 there were still acft in the battleship livery.
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Old Sep 13, 2019, 12:51 pm
  #28  
 
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May not be the correct thread in which to post this picture, but with discussions on the new livery etc., here is one plane (yesterday at ORD) that desperately needs a visit to the paintshop.......

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Old Sep 13, 2019, 1:55 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by smithdb
May not be the correct thread in which to post this picture, but with discussions on the new livery etc., here is one plane (yesterday at ORD) that desperately needs a visit to the paintshop.......

img
Seems N210UA has some company!

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 13, 2019 at 2:58 pm Reason: cleanup after move
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Old Sep 13, 2019, 2:59 pm
  #30  
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Originally Posted by smithdb
.... here is one plane (yesterday at ORD) that desperately needs a visit to the paintshop.......
N69020, pmCO 772 2-2-2
UA may be waiting until sent out for Polaris retrofit
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