Air travel: Do people still actually buy tickets for ultra-short flights, like S.D. to L.A. or NYC to Atlantic City? (bridge, plane)

[gizmo980]

I never fly anywhere that I could drive in under 4-5 hours, and even then (if it's less than 7-8) I usually opt to drive... so I imagine most people who take those are just transferring, and coming from/going to somewhere beyond those stops.

I always laugh when I'm looking for a flight from San Jose, which is the closest airport to me, and they want me to go SJC-SFO-final destination. Ummm, I'll just leave from SFO thanks! Or even worse, I've seen flights that go from SJC to LAX or PHX and THEN SFO before going on... so you want me to fly like 2-3 hours + layover time, when I could just drive 40 minutes and catch it on the SFO leg? That's logical.

[P47P47]

My brother needed just a few more Frequent Flyer miles to qualify for some higher level of service/discount, so it was worth it to him to fly from Baltimore-Washington Intl to Dulles, then take the free shuttle bus back to BWI.

[bus man]

Back in the 1980s, airlines would often fly a plane from somewhere in the Northeast to either Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach, and then have the plane continue to another one of those cities. I think the idea was that none of the cities by themselves would have enough patronage to justify the flight, but loading up at two of them would. There would rarely be any local patronage, as those three cities are very close together and its much faster to drive then to fly (taking into account the total door-to-door travel time).

Eastern Airlines used to operate an L-1011 widebody from New York to West Palm Beach and then continuing to Fort Lauderdale. I took the flight from West Palm to Fort Lauderdale, just for the fun of it. I was the only one boarding (no surprise there), and there were only 5 people still on the plane from New York; everyone else had gotten off at West Palm. Six people having an L-1011 all to themselves!

I guess that patronage must have grown enough to give each city its own flight, because I don't think they do those intra-South Florida flights anymore.

[projectmaximus]

I travel between Jax and Miami every month or two, and used to travel almost as often between Jax and ATL. That is outside your 300 miles range but thought I'd mention it since it is my most common experience. To me this is kinda the borderline and what I do is dictated by external circumstances (prices, schedule, number of travelers, etc). It's turned out to be about 50/50.

Under the 300 mile range, I have flown from Tampa to Jax and from Miami to Tampa before, but in both instances it was just in one-direction cause I had a vehicle/ride at the other end so I had less reason to consider driving.

Originally Posted by gizmo980

I never fly anywhere that I could drive in under 4-5 hours, and even then (if it's less than 7-8) I usually opt to drive... so I imagine most people who take those are just transferring, and coming from/going to somewhere beyond those stops.

I always laugh when I'm looking for a flight from San Jose, which is the closest airport to me, and they want me to go SJC-SFO-final destination. Ummm, I'll just leave from SFO thanks! Or even worse, I've seen flights that go from SJC to LAX or PHX and THEN SFO before going on... so you want me to fly like 2-3 hours + layover time, when I could just drive 40 minutes and catch it on the SFO leg? That's logical.

Interesting. How long ago was this? There are no commercial flights between SJC-SFO these days and I can't imagine that there have been any in the past decade.

Originally Posted by P47P47

My brother needed just a few more Frequent Flyer miles to qualify for some higher level of service/discount, so it was worth it to him to fly from Baltimore-Washington Intl to Dulles, then take the free shuttle bus back to BWI.

Same question...was this a long time ago? There are currently no commercial flights between BWI-IAD. But actually I would assume that your brother actually flew a multileg trip that took him from BWI to somewhere else and then ended up at IAD. It makes more sense because a direct between BWI-IAD wouldn't offer much in the way of miles. (However in recent years airlines have been switching over to a ticket revenue model for miles instead of actual miles flown)

[bus man]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

Same question...was this a long time ago? There are currently no commercial flights between BWI-IAD. But actually I would assume that your brother actually flew a multileg trip that took him from BWI to somewhere else and then ended up at IAD. It makes more sense because a direct between BWI-IAD wouldn't offer much in the way of miles. (However in recent years airlines have been switching over to a ticket revenue model for miles instead of actual miles flown)

Going back maybe 20 years ago, there used to a scheduled flight between BWI and IAD. It was a United Express flight, and I assume that it was there to feed BWI passengers into United's hub at IAD. I never took the flight myself, but I do remember picking up a friend who was coming off it.

[jtvaj125]

Using your example and if either locations are the final destination then yes it makes little sense. In the 1.5hrs you go ahead of time and wait you'll be there already if you drove.



My parents live 4hrs away in the central valley and I would prefer to fly if it was cheap enough for a weekend trip. I could enjoy a full sunday without having to worry about being too tired to drive back. But it would have to be $40-50, maybe even $60 round trip for the each of us to be viable. Not gonna happen.

[M3 Mitch]

Delta had a flight from Tri-Cities to Spokane back before 9/11, roughly 200 miles. I think this has been discontinued. I do remember coming in from Salt Lake, and getting off, the plane continued to Spokane.


For me, if I want to go to Seattle, to fly I have to drive an hour to Tri or to Yakima, you don't really need a full hour to clear security but you need to be there at least 45 minutes early, the flight itself is very short, but then in Seattle unless someone picks me up I have to rent a car. Honestly with that TSA delay, I can drive on through to Seattle in less time than the complete flight, and have my own car when I get there. Even renting a car, it's way cheaper to drive. If DW is coming along, it becomes even more of a "no-brainer".



Anymore most of these short routes are smaller and slower aircraft. The old Tri to Spokane flight was on a 727 (remember those?)

[P47P47]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

Same question...was this a long time ago? There are currently no commercial flights between BWI-IAD. But actually I would assume that your brother actually flew a multileg trip that took him from BWI to somewhere else and then ended up at IAD. It makes more sense because a direct between BWI-IAD wouldn't offer much in the way of miles. (However in recent years airlines have been switching over to a ticket revenue model for miles instead of actual miles flown)

It was probably at least 10 years ago.

It may have been the last leg of a flight that originated somewhere else, but it went from BWI directly to Dulles. Indeed, it didn't gain him many miles, but it was enough to get him to that next level of service.

[goldenlove]

Sometimes a flight to your final destination can't be booked from the originating airport. My parents used to fly from RDU and needed to get to Lansing, MI. They had to fly into Detroit and then from Detroit to Lansing. They were in their 70s and many of these flights were during the winter time, so they didn't want to rent a car and drive from Detroit to Lansing. It's almost a 2 hour drive and usually they would get into Detroit during rush hour or after dark.

[payutenyodagimas]

i still see flights from LA to Santa Barbara and LA to Palm Springs

and these are just more than an hour drive