Harrisburg International Airport (Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Washington: sales, 2014, live in)

[flyonpa]

Didn't Frountier Get $'s from HIA to establish route into/from HIA?

I know they got $'s to do it out of ABE, but when the $'s ended the flights ended.

Update: Yep 500K http://www.flyhia.com/air_route_development_fund

[mville1]

I believe Frontier received $500,000 from the community route development fund, which is funded by area businesses. From my understanding that was a once and done, but I could be wrong.

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by mville1

I believe Frontier received $500,000 from the community route development fund, which is funded by area businesses. From my understanding that was a once and done, but I could be wrong.

It's a revenue guarantee that was to be used only if Frontier lost money on the route.
So far, the route has exceeded expectations and to my knowledge, Frontier hasn't taken any money from the fund.

From PennLive.com:

The $500,000 is how much the regional authority that owns HIA has pledged to Frontier, if Frontier doesn’t make as much money as the airline expects on the flights between Harrisburg and Denver.

If numbers after Sept. 9 show Frontier made what it expected to, then no money would be paid from the fund, said Scott Miller, spokesman for the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority.

It's also possible the authority could end up paying Frontier some amount between zero and the $500,000 maximum, depending on how much revenue Frontier gets from the flights.

It was just an incentive for Frontier to try the route from Harrisburg to Denver.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Pahn

So in my experience, it's cheaper to fly FROM Harrisburg, but more expensive to fly TO Harrisburg.

But that is sort of logical. If your flying from Harrisburg your destination could be anywhere. It is cheaper for an airline to fly from Harrisburg using one of their express planes, then to have you overload the busier airports within driving distance.

But if you are flying TO Harrisburg your ownly possible destination is within driving distance of the airport. You are a very motivated traveler, and quite possibly on business. You don't want to mess around with driving on the roads from BWI or Philadelphia.

[DowntownHarrisburg]

Ugh, Frontier. What an awful, awful joke.

To talk about rates, our experience has always been that Harrisburg is competitive when you look at the whole picture. We just booked a weeklong trip to Vegas, and we're flying out of MDT. We can save about $300 (total for the two of us) by flying out of PHL. However, we would need to get to PHL, which either involves tolls (about $12 roundtrip?) plus gas (about $35?) plus parking (about $70? We can have friends / family drop us off at MDT). So let's tip the scales in Philly's favor and just say it costs us an extra $100 to get there, round trip. Our savings have now been reduced to $200.

But in Harrisburg, we have a choice of decent flights. We're leaving at 10am-ish and returning around 9pm-ish on our chosen days. For that discount rate in Philly, there's exactly one flight on both of our chosen dates, and it's awful. I think it was something like a 6am departure outbound and a 5am next-day arrival inbound. And while the Harrisburg flights have one stopover, the discount Philly flights have two. Once we upgrade the Philly flight to a decent date/time on any airline, we're suddenly paying the same as Harrisburg if not more -- and we still have to drive out and back.

So we CAN save $200 by flying out of PHL, but then we have to get up at 2am, drive 90 minutes, park, sit through a miserable 12+ hour flight with multiple layovers, arrive in Vegas at an ungodly late time, get whatever scraps are leftover at the car rental place and hotel (so much for sweet talking the receptionist into a free upgrade), sit through another miserable 12+ hour flight with multiple layovers, arrive in Philly at an ungodly late time, then -- after a week vacation, jetlag, and a long, exhausting flight -- drive 90 minutes home.

That's why we fly out of MDT.

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by DowntownHarrisburg

Ugh, Frontier. What an awful, awful joke.

What's wrong with Frontier? I love being able to fly nonstop between Denver and Harrisburg, both for work and to visit family (I'm from PA). Also haven't had any trouble with Frontier.

[DowntownHarrisburg]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

What's wrong with Frontier? I love being able to fly nonstop between Denver and Harrisburg, both for work and to visit family (I'm from PA). Also haven't had any trouble with Frontier.

I love the ability to fly nonstop as well, but our experiences with Frontier have been below average at best. Every time we fly Frontier (which is now as infrequently as possible), we get our tickets online with online check-in. Yet we still have to check in at the counter before the flight an hour or two before departure. If you're flying an early morning flight, this is a problem, because the desk only opens an hour before the first flight. By itself that isn't unmanageable (unless the security line takes more than 20 minutes), were it not for the fact that there's usually a line at the counter. So in order to make a 7am flight, you need to be in line no later than 4am, or else you won't get through the line in time to board the flight.

Poor execution.

[bridge12]

Originally Posted by DowntownHarrisburg

I love the ability to fly nonstop as well, but our experiences with Frontier have been below average at best. Every time we fly Frontier (which is now as infrequently as possible), we get our tickets online with online check-in. Yet we still have to check in at the counter before the flight an hour or two before departure. If you're flying an early morning flight, this is a problem, because the desk only opens an hour before the first flight. By itself that isn't unmanageable (unless the security line takes more than 20 minutes), were it not for the fact that there's usually a line at the counter. So in order to make a 7am flight, you need to be in line no later than 4am, or else you won't get through the line in time to board the flight.

Poor execution.

This must be a MDT thing? I flew Frontier from DTW-TTN in May and didn't have to check in at the counter.

[DowntownHarrisburg]

Originally Posted by bridge12

This must be a MDT thing? I flew Frontier from DTW-TTN in May and didn't have to check in at the counter.

Could be. Or maybe they've changed it since then. Last time we flew Frontier was last summer ... May, I believe.

[avg12]

Frontier isn't making MDT-DEN year round. It suspends on January 6. Also, MDT-MCO just will be 2-3x weekly. AirTran used to fly it more like 2x daily!

There is likelihood that Frontier will be sold, and that it is going ULCC, ultra low cost carrier model following Spirit.

There is a good chance it will cease treating DEN like a hub, but more like a focus city, like how Spirit has no hub but has focus cities. Spirit has a focus in DFW but it pretty much only flies to major markets. With Frontier servicing a fraction of what AirTran used to service out MDT, and a probable future as an ULCC for major markets, I predict that it will leave MDT.

In reality, Southwest should be servicing MDT over Frontier, with service on MDT-MDW, a shorter route that it can command similar fares that Frontier commands on MDT-DEN, and it will still be low fare, and offer far more connections via MDW. Southwest could also fly to MCO or TPA like what AirTran used to fly. With Southwest being strong in BWI, it would be an extension of this dominance.

It would be similar to JetBlue being strong in BOS, and within the last two years JetBlue opened up in PVD rather than OKC.