ATL the first airport in the world to reach 100 million pax (Atlanta: price, move to)

[AnsleyPark]

The winner didn't seem very excited.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

The winner didn't seem very excited.

Probably had a connecting flight in 20 minutes 3 concourses away

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Probably had a connecting flight in 20 minutes 3 concourses away

Just saw he did! Missed his flight to Chicago.

[Ant131531]

I always wonder what would happen if Delta decided to pack up and leave Atlanta. I wonder if that would decimate the economy more than one would think.

[JoeP]

I don't see this as a good thing. The area needs another airport, which by the way plays into why Hartsfield's numbers tops other cities. I really don't get why people are excited by this.

[Atlwarrior]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

I always wonder what would happen if Delta decided to pack up and leave Atlanta. I wonder if that would decimate the economy more than one would think.

Just look at what happen when Eastern airline went bankrupt and out of business. It was rough a couple of years for ATL, but other airlines quickly move in and fill in the gap. Even if Delta moved which won't happen, it would be like Houston's IAD having the largest hub for United although the headquarters remained in Chicago after the Continental merger.

[Atlwarrior]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Well perhaps I'm underplaying Houston, but what I was thinking with Houston is its a smaller hub just for United and United is more decentralized in their operations. They do stage hub operations to South America in Houston, but their entire system doesn't depend on that one airport compared to Delta in Atlanta and American's presence in DFW.

Hobby won't do much for fostering traffic to South America. It is too small for that type of market. It is more likely to give local market fliers access to short range regional vacation options (ie. Mexico, central America and the Caribbean) on non-traditional hub airlines (Southwest). The long-range routes, really need strong centralized hubs.... especially given there are not many strong hub operations in South America trying to reach out into non-hub US cities, like European carriers do.

In comparison, American uses DFW much more heavily as a hub than United does for IAH. Now admittedly DFW has to compete for American flights to South America within the American network from Miami. American still has to cater to South America through DFW for the some 50 million passengers they route through DFW and Miami is out of the way. United is a bit more of a decentralized operation and has far fewer passengers going through Houston, about 16 million. They also route South American flights through several of their other hubs as well.

Now the local market to South America in Houston is probably fairly strong, perhaps stronger than Atlanta's, but my logic was just its a weaker location as a hub and those types of flights need a stronger hub.


Delta isn't that different from American and United. I must give them some credit though. They stepped up their game a large degree on fixing up their planes, uniforming their personnel better, and working on their customer service better. More of my better major operator flights have been on Delta, but more often than not it is still luck of the draw. You're on a recently renovated plane or you're not. It might be worth checking out sometime.

I often like the service from one particular airline over another depending on where I am flying to and from. As much as I hate American and their total disregard for logistics and customer service, if you're in Miami the terminal experience will be better with American with all the upgrades they made to that terminal. Their check-in process is still lacking and very unfriendly, though.

Delta will almost always provide Atlanta fliers more options and better service out of Atlanta.

But both airlines can have some pretty ratty service/check-in desks and terminal amenities at some of their spoke airports. It is just a matter of where they have made investments and where they haven't.

Great points as Hobby only caters to leisure traveler's. I could be wrong but I thought IAD was United's largest hub after the Continental merger. I'm also baffle at the amount of new foreign carries operating from Houston. I guess being the third largest city and oil market is the cause for new carries invasion out of IAH, but I heard load factor are not as strong because of the oil price drop.

What's your thought on renovated or new planes with Delta being the most profitable S&P company after many consecutive quarters. Richard Anderson is smart as hell and brought over the used plane strategy from Northwest.

United also have an impressive ray of large city hubs Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Fran, Washington Dulles, Newark, Denver, Guam, Tokyo

American hubs : Dallas, Charlotte, Miami, Phila, Phoenix, Los Angeles,

Delta hubs: Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tokyo

Judging from past quarterly income statements, why isn't United using and flexing it's hub and proximity to larger metro cities for more quarterly profits.

[Atlwarrior]

Damn wish I was the winner

The passenger earning the distinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed a surprised Kendrick, who walked down a red carpet as journalists and onlookers recorded the moment.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Just saw he did! Missed his flight to Chicago.

Ha! Well I'm sure Delta got him straightened out.

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

Damn wish I was the winner

The passenger earning the distinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed a surprised Kendrick, who walked down a red carpet as journalists and onlookers recorded the moment.

Any limit on those round trips? That'd be amazing if he could go international.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

Damn wish I was the winner

The passenger earning the distinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed a surprised Kendrick, who walked down a red carpet as journalists and onlookers recorded the moment.

He is one lucky dog.