GSP Airport Restructuring Needed (coupon, transfer, prices)

[distortedlogic]

Just a couple of tips on GSP. If you are planning to travel for pleasure (ie you will be buying your ticket and not a business) try to plan ahead. If it is possible for you to plan at least several months ahead, you can get a very competitive price. I do not fly a lot, but I have only traveled to Charlotte on one occasion to fly, and then only because the airline was running a special specifically from CTL to my destination. The GSP price was the same or even less than the ATL price. GSP has very similar rates to ATL and CLT a few months in advance, and are often even a few dollars less. As an example, I am traveling to China (Beijing) in January. I will be leaving from GSP with only one stopover. I bought two tickets at $960 apeaice. This was lower than the fares at either CLT or ATL. I bought these well in advance of course. If you wait hoping to find a cheap last minute fair, or have to travel at a moment's notice, then yes, GSP will be more expensive. That should not cause anyone to boycott the airport however. Remember that everytime you drive to CLT or ATL you are one of the 35% we are losing, which results in airlines being reluctant to open more options due to low passenger numbers.

[Escape_From_NY]

I just want chime in (if I may)? Last month, I took my first commercial airline flight in 30 years, to view a property I bought on ebay located in Roebuck, SC. As my handle suggests, I am in NY. I researched ticket prices and flight option from the 4 airports(ISP, JFK, LGA and Newark, NJ)
that are within a reasonable distance from where I am on Long Island.
ISP(less than 30 minutes from me) was out of the question due to flights costing in the $600-700 range(r/t), and flights out of LGA or JFK weren`t a heckuvalot cheaper @ $400-500 range. I found a cheap flight out of Newark for $160(r/t) to GSP, and went with that.

The drive to Newark was miserable - 4 hours to go less than 100 miles. Newark was miserable - between the parking and Continental Airlines changing my boarding gate twice(without bothering to let me know via text message, which I signed up for), and just the shear amount of traffic, crowds, and everything else that reminded me why I hate big cities, it felt SOOooo good *FINALLY* getting off the ground and taking off for SC!!

The flight, on a leg-room challenged, (apparently?)-converted schoolbus
with wings and 2 jet engines bolted on, was mercifully brief(Gotta love an 800 mile trip @ 600 MPH). I got off the jet, retrieved my bag at the gate, and went straight to Budget Rent-a-Car, (for which I had made reservations online).

Form THIS point on, it was ALL uphill(In a Good Way). I walked outside the terminal, keys in-hand, and was amazed at the total lack of noise, crowds and traffic that one would normally expect at an international airport. Other than the noticeable warmer weather, I thought maybe the pilot had accidently dropped me off in some quaint-chic New England town. It was eerily quiet and the lack of pedestrian or car traffic was, well...*weird* to this NYer.

I went across the street from the terminal, down the elevator, and fetched my rental car(NICE little car - a Nissan Versa - at 50% of the price Budget charge here in NY!) It took me nearly an hour to figure out where the heck the switches were to get the side-view mirrors to be
actually functional, but it took me less than 5 minutes, following the easy, well-marked signs, to get myself out of this unfamiliar airport and right on the road to Spartanburg.

(BTW, beautiful highways, well-signed, little or no traffic, high speed limits(Yeee-HAAAW!), and beautiful GREEEEeen, litter-free roadsides)

3 days later, coming back, I thought I screwed up - I thought maybe I had accidently turned into an arboretum or nature-preserve instead of GSP. Then I remembered GSP looked suspiciously like an arboretum when I left GSP 3 days earlier Manicured hedges, reflecting pools, fountains, sculptures, statues, benches for enjoying the view and relaxing before your flight, absolutely Night and Day compared to any of the 4 airports up here in NY, And eerily QUIET too. GSP is to THIS NYer absolutely drop-dead gorgeous compared to anything we have up here in the N-E. Even the security staff were more laid-back and friendlier at GSP than up here.

That said, Newark`s Misery Factor is way off the scale, and solely due to that, I likely won`t be flying into GSP again anytime soon, because I found a better, faster, cheaper and easier way to get to Roebuck, SC, which would be via LGA, flying into Charlotte, NC, and then renting a car from that point on. GSP, we hardly knew ye, but this NYer really liked and appreciated how nice GSP was.

[gsupstate]

^ That is so great to hear! Glad you enjoyed GSP! As a business traveler, I absolutely love GSP. Easy in, easy out. Nothing better than arriving home on a cool Fall evening, walking out of the terminal and being hit with that fresh "green" smell.....nature.....refreshing. A lovely thing to come home to.

As a note, many travelers share your opinion (especially business travelers).. Conde Nast magazine ranked GSP one of business travelers top 10 favorite U.S. airports several years back.

[Escape_From_NY]

Yeah, GSP was really nice - traffic/noise/crowd-wise, it was like being transported back in time 40 years, and the 18 or so miles to my hotel-room in Spartanburg, took
me only about 20 minutes or so to cover - and this with zero familiarity with the roads. My brief first-impression of upstate SC, was: northern Maine with the heat turned on. We used to vacation in Maine, and even in August, it would drop down to freezing at night. From what I`ve seen of the upstate in the 2 1/2 days I was there, I LOVE it! Getting around is easy, getting lost is FUN! The people are so friendly, and my time down there was stress-free and relaxing because of that. I accidently
left my hotel room key-card at a conveneince store in Roebuck, and wasn`t sure where/when I had lost it. I was *guessing* when I pulled back into the parking lot of
this conveneince store, walked in, and as soon as I walked through the door, the girl behind the counter said "Honey, you left this here!"(<---is there an emoticon for "relieved"?. Then, I couldn`t find the dang property I bought, because I only had a
Mapquest I printed out, but no actual map or GPS, so I pulled into another conveneince store, and asked at the counter wether anybody lived around here, and knew where such and such a street was, and a customer said, heck, I LIVE off that street, I`ll show you where it is - follow me!", and he got me to where I needed to go.:-)

[newfuprof]

I visited GSP for the first time this week and thought it was fine for a small regional airport. We have a small infant so we would rather drive to CLT to get a direct flight than have to take a connection from GSP. Direct flights are of the utmost importance with small child, especially considering how often flights are late or canceled going thru hubs... That said, we would also do very well with a train connection to CLT as someone has suggested....

Anyways, my first thought when i saw the inside of GSP was, "WOW! This could be a set for that show 'Mad Men'!"

[g-vegas]

Originally Posted by newfuprof

I visited GSP for the first time this week and thought it was fine for a small regional airport. We have a small infant so we would rather drive to CLT to get a direct flight than have to take a connection from GSP. Direct flights are of the utmost importance with small child, especially considering how often flights are late or canceled going thru hubs... That said, we would also do very well with a train connection to CLT as someone has suggested....

Anyways, my first thought when i saw the inside of GSP was, "WOW! This could be a set for that show 'Mad Men'!"

It is a nice cute airport. The problem is, it is not a regional airport its supposed to be an international airport. Me and my wife used to go to Charlotte also; however, with gas prices so high it almost is not worth it. I just wish I could go to GSP and get a direct, cheaper flight to like JFK, LAX that type of thing.

[Susan2007]

Originally Posted by gsupstate

Actually, GSP is a money maker for the airlines.

GSP has one the highest percentage of business travelers vs. tourist of any airport in the nation. As companies pay for the tickets, price isn't nearly the factor it is for personal travel. I fly out of GSP weekly on business and love the convenience. I can tell all of my flights out and in are always full.....mostly business travelers.

With that said, a plane full of business travelers who all paid 500 to 1,000 per ticket makes much more money for the airlines, than a plane full of tourist who paid 199 per ticket. Airlines have no desire to lower prices into GSP as GSP is a cash cow.

This is the reason, during this econonmic time of struggle for the airlines, you have seen many Florida cities (tourist locations) hit so hard with cutbacks (Orlando with Comair pulling its hub....70 plus flights a day lost, United stopping service to West Palm Beach, Allegiant abandoning Ft.Lauderdale as a focus city, etc, etc).

I agree with you. I love flying out of GSP and the convenience can't be beat for me (I'm less than 10 minutes away). I also fly about every 3 weeks for business, and it's seldom a flight has any available seats. I have to book my flights at least 3 weeks in advance in order to get a flight I want.

Little Rock, which is one of my destinations, has had airlines cut out many of their domestic flights because of costs. Southwest is the only remaining major carrier there to not cut flights.

Susan

[Escape_From_NY]

Originally Posted by g-vegas

It is a nice cute airport. The problem is, it is not a regional airport its supposed to be an international airport. Me and my wife used to go to Charlotte also; however, with gas prices so high it almost is not worth it. I just wish I could go to GSP and get a direct, cheaper flight to like JFK, LAX that type of thing.

I`m on Long Island and got a cheap, direct flight to GSP but had to endure the horrors of getting to and parking at Newark Liberty airport, which I will NOT go through again if at all possible. I found a much better,
cheaper, easier and faster way to get to the place I recently bought in
Roebuck, SC, which is to fly out of LGA(to which I can take the train, and leave my car at home), and fly direct to Charlotte, NC, pick up a rental car, and drive the 90 miles to Roebuck. R/T flights can be had for $125 + tax out of LGA, if you book 10 days in advance. Travelocity is your friend;-)

[g-vegas]

Originally Posted by Escape_From_NY

I`m on Long Island and got a cheap, direct flight to GSP but had to endure the horrors of getting to and parking at Newark Liberty airport, which I will NOT go through again if at all possible. I found a much better,
cheaper, easier and faster way to get to the place I recently bought in
Roebuck, SC, which is to fly out of LGA(to which I can take the train, and leave my car at home), and fly direct to Charlotte, NC, pick up a rental car, and drive the 90 miles to Roebuck. R/T flights can be had for $125 + tax out of LGA, if you book 10 days in advance. Travelocity is your friend;-)

Thats the whole probem and I do the same thing. Why spend $300-$400 more just to fly out of GSP, when I can drive to CLT and only spend $60 in gas. I just think if they would lower the prices just enough to get people to fly out of there they would eventually make that money back up and then some. It would just be so nice to have a bigger, cheaper airport right here.

[Escape_From_NY]

Originally Posted by g-vegas

Thats the whole probem and I do the same thing. Why spend $300-$400 more just to fly out of GSP, when I can drive to CLT and only spend $60 in gas. I just think if they would lower the prices just enough to get people to fly out of there they would eventually make that money back up and then some. It would just be so nice to have a bigger, cheaper airport right here.

Well, for me, the airfare difference between flying into GSP or CLT is only a matter of about $30 or so and is of negligible importance - it is the time traffic, tolls and parking costs and aggravation of getting to Newark airport from LI to fly nonstop to GSP($162.50, R/T, including all taxes)vs. taking the train to LGA and flying to CLT($125 + tax, R/T), and then simply driving the 90 miles to Roebuck($12 worth of gas) from there, that
is the huge difference. 3 days parking at Newark? $50 bucks. Tolls? Anout $15 bucks. Gas? About $20 r/t. Aggravation? Unlimited. Time? About 4 hours each way, *just_to_GET_to_Newark" from Long Island.

Next time? Train to LGA about $12. Parking? Zero. Tolls? Zero. Gas? Zero. Flight? Nonstop to CLT, $125 + tax R/T, then rental car to Roebuck, about $45 a day, and about $12 gas each way.

The airfare difference is only *slightly* cheaper to CLT - it`s everything *ELSE*, up here on the NY-end, that will have me go the LGA-CLT route next time. Don`t get me wrong, I would RATHER fly into GSP, but it`s
much better to drive an extra 75 miles in the Carolinas, and avoid TONS of hassles, expense, time and traffic by flying out of LGA instead of Newark, so next time it`s gonna be CLT. If I had the time, I would simply drive down to Roebuck from NY, since my car gets 33mpg, and 800 miles is only about $80 in gas, but the 14 hour drive and the traffic of trying to get off LI and past NJ that makes the idea less than attractive I`m still probably gonna do it, though