All of this new Saturday-only service. Good in theory but.....

Ch. 12

Veteran
Nov 24, 2002
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With all of the new Saturday service in the recent press releases, U is obviously trying to a) capitalize on lack of LGA perimiter restrictions on Saturdays and B) utilize a/c that otherwise would be sitting on the ground due to reductions in Saturday service in other markets. There are also two major problems with U''s thinking, however. 1) with one flight/week service, it is extremely easy for competitors to sink fares and revenue manage for a loss on their flights in competing time slots as it will only affect one of their weekly flights and will force U to match fares/availability guaranteeing that the market will not be profitable for U and 2) with one flight/week, U is greatly dictating the (non)flexibility of travel plans. Although the Saturday markets are all obviously leisure (most flexible passengers), it is asking ALOT of a passenger to have no choice in flight times. U may get passengers one-way but lose the return to a competitor. If anything, this is a good way for U to introduce its FFs to the service of competitors since the FFs (with less flexibility in general) will need to fly another carrier on 1/2 of the trip.

U is effectively the spill carrier on these routes and what is deemed an intelligent decision to utilize a/c is actually a poorly thought out, expensive venture.

....just my 2 cents.
 
I have to agree with you. I question the effectiveness of the LAS service from both LGA & BOS. With all the options from JFK, I think the Saturday evening non-stop will be a flop. Also, BOS has more then enough Daily Non-Stop service which leads me to believe that this service will also fail. As far as the Saturday IAD-SJU service, I think this will be fine as most SJU pax belong to CruiseLine Travel. Just my 2cents.
 
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On 8/5/2003 4:00:24 PM N628AU wrote:

I am also pretty sure someone is working behind the scenes trying to get some perimeter exemptions to make this service more regular.  Maybe if they can show there is a definite demand by running these Saturday only flights full, they can get more leverage in trying to get something done.

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Does ANYBODY have an evidence about the existence of the mythic "LGA perimeter exemption?"

I know I sound like a broken record, but the whole point of having a perimeter rule is so that the Port Authority is not regulating the airlines by deciding which routes can be flown from LGA and which cannot. That's illegal.

I've got to get my hands on the 'perimeter agreement.' Cuz this subject is driving me crazy.

I know the Port Authority is a powerful organization, but picking and choosing destinitions for airlines to fly from LGA, without Federal consent, must be beyond their control.
 
You could see the passengers book a connecting flight back on U, or use a US* flight on UA metal to open up even more options to return home. I wonder if/when we will see an addition of flights from LGA/DCA/BOS to ORD to open up more one stop connection options, keeping more travel on US metal.

I am also pretty sure someone is working behind the scenes trying to get some perimeter exemptions to make this service more regular. Maybe if they can show there is a definite demand by running these Saturday only flights full, they can get more leverage in trying to get something done.
 
Don't you think it is much more likely that pax will simply return on a connecting U trip?

I bet that U management is looking at this as a way to reduce CASM. Instead of connecting pax on Saturday from NYC through PIT, PHL or CLT. You have enough to just send them straight away. Just a guess.

Hey, it's something new.
 
You all seem to forget, by federal regulations LGA is stil a slot controlled airport and the Port can control the flights in and out of it.
 
U is effectively the spill carrier on these routes and what is deemed an "intelligent" decision to utilize a/c is actually a poorly thought out, expensive venture

I'm sure someone in the know can see how many LGA and BOS pax are traveling to LAS on Sat and that it might be better to get them off a conx flight to open up more opportunities for other conx pax while at the same time utilizing an airplane that would just be parked for the day. Many of the island markets were done this way to get a foot in the door and judge demand and have now gone multiday or daily. Also many people going to/from Vegas would love a nonstop even if it is only oneway and gives them a reason to book US/*US on the return vs conx on another carrier both ways. There arent as many out US/back DL/AA, etc tickets than there used to be. Most people go r/t on the same carrier and one way nonstop is incentive for booking back on US too. As for expenses, you have crew, gas, landing fees. Other than that, you wont get any more agents or much extra added expense to try these out. Worse case scenario if they dont make money or book additional revenue on us, they can be cut without closing another city or having to do much more than just eliminating them and trying to find another market that might work.
 
Yes they offer Non-Stop Saturday Vegas service, in the morning (1010am). US is going to operate in the early evening. If I'm off Saturday (most Business people are) I would like to have the whole day in Vegas, not get there at 10pm (1am Eastern time).
 
I'm sure that many will have a comment,gripe,or complaint
about the new service just announced.I for one am glad to
see movement,even if it's small,in the right direction...
 
Trust me I'm not complaining about additional flying. I think Marketing could have done a better job with the scheduled times. I think we could have done LGA-SDQ with the A321 and faired better with the large Dominican population in the NYC area or done some Non-Stop LGA-FLA service.
 

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On 8/5/2003 7:35:51 PM Hope777 wrote:

I think we could have done LGA-SDQ with the A321 and faired better with the large Dominican population in the NYC area or done some Non-Stop LGA-FLA service.

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LGA doesnt have a customs area does it? And I dont recall SDQ being a preclear airport. Otherwise it would be a good choice I'm sure.

The NY-FLA flights are supposed to reappear when the 757s are reconfigured arent they? Or has this changed?
 
I agree US Airways is making use of it's downtime aircraft on the weekends and maybe more so with Saturday's downtime aircraft. However, it seems that they are trying continue to tap into the strong east coast market share by making more flights to more popular destinations. Just depending upon a customers return flexability they may have to connect through a hub city. I think it is great that the airline is finally going from BOS to the west (maybe they will even tap into LAX, SFO and SEA)and it is great to finally see them make use of Saturday's slots from LGA.
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I think that the saturday services to the islands will be a success.

I think LAS will be a flop. The timing of the flights are horrid, and AA could quash the problem by firing up an additional frequency out of JFK on much bigger (and lower CASM) equipment.

Jetblue will not be great for this route either.
 
You are correct about the Customs issue regarding LGA-SDQ service. So why not make it LGA-SDQ-SJU-LGA routing? That would take about as much time as LGA-LAS RT.