Ted, United Airlines’ low- fare service, once again joins an old Chicago tradition by being the Official Airline sponsor of the 25th Annual Taste of Chicago, beginning June 24, 2005, in Chicago’s Grant Park. Ted joins the bevy of enticements, including deep dish pizza, cheesecake and a diversity of ethnic dishes, at the beloved food and musical festival.
“We are pleased to partner with the Taste of Chicago on its 25th anniversary. With service to Chicago O’Hare on the north side and Chicago Midway on the south, Taste customers from out-of-town have many options for flying in to enjoy the great food and music of this Chicago tradition,” says Tim Simonds, director-Ted/United Express Marketing and Planning. “In addition, Ted stands alone among low-fare carriers in providing extensive mileage redemption opportunities through United’s award-winning Mileage Plus(R) program, giving worldwide access to Ted customers by enabling them to redeem miles to 139 countries.”

Through the eleven-day-long food and music festival—the country’s largest free-admission festival of its kind—customers will be invited to Ted’s Taste of Fun tent to relax and enjoy their purchases of “tastes” from all over Chicago. Each weekend (including Fridays) at the festival, Ted brand ambassadors will contribute to the atmosphere of irresistible treats by giving away promotional goodies and flight discount coupons to Taste-goers.

In addition to the great activities Ted is offering at the Taste, customers who book and fly a paid, qualifying roundtrip flight on Ted through flyted.com by Dec. 31, 2005, earn a booking bonus of 1,000 bonus miles.

United Has Taste, Too - United’s behind-the-scenes personalities also will be in on the act, as United Executive Chef Gerry Gulli will appear at the festival. On June 25 at the Dominick’s Cooking Corner, Gulli will give an hour-long cooking demonstration of his deliciously light Thai chicken wrap—offered on select United flights. A question-and-answer session will take place during the demonstration, giving audience members the chance to ask questions, as well as win free merchandise.

From June 7 through July 6, 2005, customers in United First(R) and United Business(R) on select flights to Chicago will be treated to a special Taste of Chicago menu, featuring Parmesan-crusted chicken, the Thai chicken wrap and scrumptious seared salmon. All are dishes from Eli’s Restaurant, Marcello’s, A Father & Son Restaurant and Polo Cafe and Catering Bridgeport USA, popular Chicago eateries participating in the Taste. At the Taste Press Preview on June 15, 2005, United flight attendants will give away samples of the Ted goodies that will be distributed during the festival. To commemorate Taste’s 25th anniversary, the flight attendants will be wearing uniforms from 1980.

United has sponsored the Taste of Chicago 16 times; this is Ted’s second year as the festival’s Official Airline. In its first year, Ted carried more than seven million passengers, achieving a load factor greater than 84 percent. Daily flights have increased as well, from 20 flights per day in February 2004 to 206 flights today. Ted serves more than 27,000 customers each day, to destinations across United’s route network.
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