Anyone who flies United Airlines with any regularity out of LAX has probably seen the wall of photographs just before you reach the Red Carpet Club in Terminal 7. Named “United’s Stars in the Friendly Skies,†it’s a nice way for United to recognize their employees who work at the airport, both frontline and behind-the-scenes. Here’s the wall as it appeared on my last pass through:

Wait! What’s that at the top-left? Is United granting a Star to the retired Tulip? I just had to get a closer look to see what was written underneath, imagining it to be the LAX crew’s way of paying tribute to the iconic Saul Bass design. Alas, no… it’s for a Building Maintenance Mechanic who must not have a photograph on file.

Well, I’m definitely not alone in my displeasure to see the tulip die, and I’m hoping somewhere down the road we’ll see it appear again at United. One Flyertalker postulated that keeping the United name with Continental’s logo is as if Mercedes merged with BMW, kept the Mercedes name but used BMW’s logo. As I’ve said previously, I don’t dislike the Continental United livery and logo, but will miss the branding I grew up with.