Has anyone flown TED from O'Hare to Orlando?

[sncbird]

Hi everyone,

We've been pricing out airfare lately for our Thanksgiving Day trip to WDW and have figured out the United now only flys TED their discount carrier from Chicago to Orlando. Can anyone tell me their experience on TED?

Thanks
sncbird (Christine)

 

[CAP Aircrew]

Christine,

I flew TED recently from IAD to LAS (Wash DC - Las Vegas)
and then again from LAS to DEN (Las Vegas to Denver)

I was very pleased with the service and did not find any great difference between United mainline flights and TED.

TED flies Airbus A320 aircraft. They removed the first class section so it is all one class seating. United and TED however do offer "Economy Plus" seating. They are generally reserved for their frequent flyers however they will open it up to anyone on a space available basis on the day of the flight. Economy Plus seating is no wider than standard economy seats however you do gain several inches between each seat in front of you. This may not make a difference on a fairly short hop from ORD to MCO but does help out on longer flights.

Food can be purchased on board and menus were handed out to each of us prior to take off. No item was greater than $7 and most of the offerings were from Au Bon Pain. This is actually cheaper than United mainline flights as they charge $10 for a similar item.

In addition to food available for purchase, TED offers the standard "snack and beverage" service. The only difference I could see was that TED only gave you a glass of soda whereas United left the can of soda as well. Certainly not a big difference when you consider refills are always free!

One other aspect that I thought was nice was the multiple trips the flight attendants made up and down the aisle offering water and lemonade refills. I counted no less than 6 trips on the IAD-LAS flight.

Inflight entertainment consists of "Tedevision". Again there is no big difference between United mainline and TED. On longer flights, United ussually offers a free movie. On TED flights (long and short) you will get several 30 minute segments to fill up the time. These segments are sitcoms like "Friends", "Fraiser" or "That 70's Show". In addtion, there could be sements from the Travel Channel or the Discovery Channel.

In addition to video programming, United and TED always offer audio programming. You can either bring your own headseats or use the one in the seat back. Unique to United (and now TED) is their "From the Cockpit" on Channel 9. This allows the passengers to listen in to ATC (Air Traffic Control) and track the progress of your flight. Since I fly for the United States Air Force Auxilary (Civil Air Patrol), I find this quite entertaining. This also allows me to tell my wife (who is not an AVID flyer) just when the plane is going to bank left, right, climb or decend. We actually make a joke of it when we fly together and it helps to ease her fear.

I hope all this helps. Enjoy your flight!

 

[DisOrBust]

Thanks Cap! I have also been checking out "TED". Its nice to hear a good report . I always worry a little with the discount/smaller airline. A friend had once taken taca airlines in Mexico and said it was a nightmare flight. She came home saying Taca stood for "Take A Chance Airline"

 

[CAP Aircrew]

Anytime DisorBust.

One thing to remember is that although TED may be a discount airline, it is no way a small airline. TED falls under United's parent company of UAL Corp. When you fly on TED, you are still flying on a United "product". This would be the same as Delta's low-fare airline Song.

I have never flown on TACA but I like your acronym!

 

[sncbird]

Thank you for your replies. My main concern with flying TED is the fleet size. Since we're flying back to Chicago Dec. 4th, you never know how the weather is going to be. TED has more flights as well as better flight times then American which is alot more $$$ per tickets.

 

[prncess674]

Just flew TED to Las Vegas a few weeks ago. If you don't have frequent flyer perks that would allow you to travel First Class then definitely fly TED! The FA's were friendly. I would not hesitate to fly them again. I am a Frequent Flyer on several airlines and if one airline offered FC and one didn't on a particular route I would probably fly that one because I like the big seats in front of the curtain but otherwise "TED is your Friend!"

We had lots of fun on our TED flight. :hiccup:. I have photographic proof!
http://public.fotki.com/prncess674/tt/laughlin/

 

[mobetsy]

We flew Ted from Denver to Orlando and back (using United Burbank to Denver r/t for the other legs of the trip) and it was fine. The one warning I'd offer is about Tedvision if you are travelling with kids. On our way out, they included an episode of Scrubs that definitely wasn't suitable for kids; the primary theme was a sexual one, and that was portrayed in dialog and visuals. As an adult, I have no problem with it, but with my 9 and 5 y.o.'s along, and the screens the drop-down type (not individual ones), I thought it was inappropriate (and I could hear the mom behind me expressing the same sentiment). I wrote a letter to them afterward and got a reply (that was good!) saying that the aim to please their primary market...obviously, that must not be families! Again, overall Ted was fine, and if you have kids, just make sure you have some quick and fascinating distractions while Tedvision is on should unsuitable material come up.