What Will Happen to SAT Airfares? (Houston, Dallas: buy, subsidized, live in)

[hello13685]

Given the airlines' proposed contractions, what will happen to SAT? Two issues come to mind given the news we've had this week, and I'd love to tap the knowledge of those who fly much more frequently than I do:

1) Do airlines consider flights in and out of SATX to be among their "less profitable" routes, and therefore be more likely to cut service in response to astronomically higher fuel costs?

2) Is SATX one of those links that is, or will, see these 300% year-over-year fare increases for non-stop flights that we've heard about this past week?

One of the reasons I ask is that some smaller, regional airports, are likely to be completely lost. I think I read that Ithaca, NY, for example, has been or will be completely eliminated!! Maybe Cornell is served by another nearby airport, though. Any thoughts?

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by hello13685

Given the airlines' proposed contractions, what will happen to SATX? Two issues come to mind given the news we've had this week, and I'd love to tap the knowledge of those who fly much more frequently than I do:

1) Do airlines consider flights in and out of SATX to be among their "less profitable" routes, and therefore be more likely to cut service in response to astronomically higher fuel costs?

2) Is SATX one of those links that is, or will, see these 300% year-over-year fare increases for one-way flights that we've heard about this past week?

One of the reasons I ask is that some smaller, regional airports, are likely to be completely lost. I think I read that Ithaca, NY, for example, has been or will be completely eliminated!! Maybe Cornell is served by another nearby airport, though. Any thoughts?

I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the smaller non-stop routes go away, like United's San Francisco service or US Airway's new Charlotte service.

Looking at the Ithaca Airport web page they only have commuter service on US airways to La Guardia and Philadelphia, and a single daily Northwest commuter to Detroit totaling 15 departures. That represents a small percentage of the traffic San Antonio departs. Continental alone has about 10 departures from San Antonio to Houston with much larger planes, and is the third largest carrier out of San Antonio. Southwest and American carry more.

I think we will see fare increases in line with national average fare increases due to the competition between American, Continental, and Southwest. The people who will see those %300 increases will be really small Airports like Ithaca with service from essentially one airline, or certain non-competitive routes from cities that have large hubs.

[firstclassflyer]

As a very frequent flyer, I can tell you that my airfares have been on the increase. I buy a lot of first class tickets, but I'm quite sure that the price increases have been across the board.
SAT is a feeder for American to Dallas and Continental to Houston, so you probably won't see any decreased service there. Point to point is another story. We are losing the only SAT-LAX nonstop flight that American flies, in September.

On the bright side, Airtran will start flying nonstop to ATL in June. So, there's an addition.


Syracuse would be the airport for Cornell if Ithaca isn't an option. It's about 1 hour away. Elmira and Binghamton are also options..but Syracuse is by far, the largest.

[montevista1]

I do LAX-SAT ALOT! Southwest goes about 2x a day and United either 2 or 3x a day. Another option is express jet into ontario, which is about 30 miles or so east of downtown los angeles. United raised its prices about 50 dollars on the LAX-SAT route.

[Paka]

DH is on a nonstop flight from Denver to SA as I type this...leaving to pick him up in 10 minutes.

Airfares and ANY transportation that requires fuel will be rising, along with food and goods that have to be delivered...it will not be a SA thing but a world wide thing.

San Antonio will continue to grow...as will the other larger cities in this nation. Business requirements are business requirements and the increases just get passed along.

I don't see us suffering any more (or less) than anywhere else.

[sinsativ]

Lets see, now since San Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh largest city in the United States I dont think that we will lose any of the flights, I agree, some of the smaller cities might, but, if you caught the news a couple of weeks ago, there was a snippet on there where those smaller cities have to have air travel and have the fare subsidized so that its' continued. The government actually subsidizes airfare for smaller cities to have an airport for people because they live in a rural area. some crazy FDR rebuild thing that is still intact!

[Bo]

Originally Posted by sinsativ

Lets see, now since San Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh largest city in the United States

You're playing the wrong cards here. SA is the third-largest metro area in the state, and by a large margin. SAT has fewer flights and passengers than Austin's airport, making it the fifth or sixth-busiest airport in the state. IIRC, it also ranks behind the two Dallas and either one or both Houston airports.

In this competition, the best thing SAT has going for it is the fact that it's the only passenger-service airport in the state's most popular tourism destination.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by montevista1

I do LAX-SAT ALOT! Southwest goes about 2x a day and United either 2 or 3x a day. Another option is express jet into ontario, which is about 30 miles or so east of downtown los angeles. United raised its prices about 50 dollars on the LAX-SAT route.

If I were a betting man, I would wager that there will be no ExpressJet by the end of 2008 (so, with that option gone..and the AA flight 86'd...what do you think will happen to UA's price on this route?) and:

Friends don't let friends fly Southwest.

I am AA EXP and UA UGS, so I'll be on those UA non-stops after September.

[hello13685]

Firstclassflyer, that Southwest comment was hilarious!! I know, how weird is it that Southwest has not had any major accidents when they only fly ancient 737s that have probably been passed down from every Third World airline imaginable.

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by hello13685

Firstclassflyer, that Southwest comment was hilarious!! I know, how weird is it that Southwest has not had any major accidents when they only fly ancient 737s that have probably been passed down from every Third World airline imaginable.

It is the other way around, most of their planes came directly from Boeing. They were the launch customer for the 737-300, 737-500 and 737-700. They also have another 121 737-700s yet to be built and delivered over the next seven years. The average age of their planes is only 13.6 years which is pretty good. Northwest has an average age over 18 years. Most airlines have gotten this number down in recent years though.

They retired the last of the old 737s in 2005. The current generation 737-700 with winglets is a very efficient bird.

They are still a pain to fly though....