Anybody been on the airlines latley???

J

Jason

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to check with some other folks that have been on airline flights latley and those of you flying part 121. I have been in Tucson this week for CL604 recurrent and came back last night. I rode on a Freedom Airlines CRJ900 from TUS to LAS - didn't realize anyone was flying them yet and I don't want to turn this into a union debate - I didn't realize who they were until I got onboard. Anyway - got into Vegas(what a freakin' zoo) and boarded a Delta 737-800 for the red eye to Cincinnati. As I suffered miserably for 3 hours and 25 minutes in a center seat I got thinking about an article I saw in some paper somewhere recently about how airlines were complaining that passengar traffic was still way down - I was thinking about all of the airline flights I've been on this year - probably about 12 since Jan 1 - and every single flight was full and I mean 100% not a single seat left full. I was just wondering if this was indicitive of all flights or just by coincidence the flights I happened to be on were full. What have the load factors been running??

Jason
 
Maybe it's a CVG thing. I live in Northern Kentucky and travel out of Cincinnati/NKY on a regular basis and all of my flights have been 90% full.
 
naa we flew United with a xfer to a RJ (came off an A320) at IAD, not a seat on either airplane. either way from or to.. but if they have less flights their would be more seats full..

Also the RJ had more room than the A320.

but I tell you it does SUCK being in the back with the unwashed masses...
 
I've been pass-riding a bit lately and it's hit or miss with the loads. Keep in mind, however, that seeing a full airplane doesn't necessarily mean anything profit-wise. Frequency of flights are still down for pretty much everybody. Additionally, filling an airplane with low-yield (ie. low-fare) passengers doesn't help much financially either.
 
Maybe so. I dunno. I know that since 9/11 all airlines have cut service so there aren't as many flights but back then I was traveling on airline flights ALOT and I would say back then the average load factor was probably 75% at MOST, now I would guess it's in the 90 to 100% range.

Jason
 
The loads are slowly starting to come back up again. Hey its summer times so they are suppose to. The biggest problem is that they are selling them so cheap.
 
CHEAP?........I wish this were the case as of late when I was looking to fly someone from OKC to LAX. Anyway, to give my .02 on the original post.....I have a girlfriend who is a FA for AA (757/767) and she cannot remember the last time that her flights were not completely full. She said that there was a period of slightly lower capacity during the height of the war and SARS. Personally, all of the flights that I have been on have been at capacity. I just don't know if it is due to an increase in passenger travel again, or simply because of the reduction in flights.
 
My airline has started to return some of the flights for the summer. Still though people are going on some of the those websites and getting really good deals or taking of last minute deals sent out. You still have some higher fares but nothing like it use to be. I think also people are getting away from the 9-11 fear.
 
I think that the problem is two fold.

1. Even though there are few empty seats, the airlines have cut the number of flights. Many of the flights that remain have been transferred from mainline to regional aircraft. In other words, capacity has been cut.

2. The airlines aren't selling many full-fare business tickets anymore. Most of the seats were probably sold through internet sites or some other cheap fare source.

This is a problem though, because this situation causes a lot of flights to become overbooked. When they overbook, they normally give a free ticket, lunch, and maybe even a hotel stay. It seems to me that they would start to increase capacity so that they can sell more tickets instead of giving away free ones.
 
Re: Freedom ...

Apparently, the union/management has settled the dispute and Measa/Freedom are all union now and under one seniority lisr. There is a list of the first few guys/gals that went Freedom before it was union and I'd imagine they'll have a rough time but for now it's squared away.
 
I think a lot of it is the cut capacity. Since Sept 11 very few of my flights have been less than full. Since last October, I've flown (revenue) 5 trips and all have had flights 100% and I MEAN 100% full. Just in the past 8 mos or so flying nonrev (SWA) has gotten much harder for me. I took a vacation in PHX a couple months back, lots of options from MCI nonstop, direct and connecting but all were full. When the flight I was listed on ended up with more booked than seats available, I had to 'create' my own trip out there going through ABQ with a 4 hour layover. My seemingly open nonstop back to MCI from PHX suddenly filled too. 15 open seats when I left for PHX but the morning of our return it all of a sudden was oversold also. With some crafty work by my boyfriend we figured out a way to get me home in what looked like an impossible situation - flew PHX-LAX then LAX-MCI. And the PHX-LAX was VERY touch and go. Not fun, but who said free should always be easy?
wink.gif


Sarah
 
[ QUOTE ]
but I tell you it does SUCK being in the back with the unwashed masses...

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember when flying with the airlines was a big event. My folks always dressed us in our "Sunday Best" and made us behave like humans. Now it seems people are flying in any attire, from flip flops on their feet, to PJ's and sweats. I like the casual comfortable attire, but man, there is a limit to "casual". I was seated next to a guy that was wearing a cheap pair of flip flops and dude his feet had a serious funk!
tongue.gif
 
I just got back from a trip from DC to LA and pretty much everything was full. The flight out to LA on a Thursday night looked like it was about 90 percent full -- there were a few empty seats but not too many. On the way back, I think I had the only empty row on the entire airplane for my first leg. Don't ask me why, maybe it's because I had a pissed off look because I had to be up at 6:00 AM after partying with my friends all night long and then had to drive from LA down to SNA.

No such luck on the leg from ORD to BWI. Boy, did that suck. I was surrounded by kids. I got the kicking child from the back, and a kicking and screaming child from the left. The funniest thing is that the woman who was "parenting" the child on my left, after the kid was screaming and grabbing me for like ten minutes, said, you need to stop that or he'll get mad. What, she finally noticed the steam coming out of my ears?
 
For what it's worth, I flew standby yesterday on America West (and its Mesa code-share) from Farmington, NM to Dallas and it was a nightmare. I got the last seat on the FMN-PHX flight, found that the PHX-DFW flights were all overbooked by at least 4, got the next to last seat on a flight to LAS, then had to buy a $40 first class upgrade to beat out 5 other non-revs for LAS-DFW, and made it to Dallas 16 hours after I started. It would have been quicker to drive the 900 miles!

I would have to say the loads are not a problem...it's gotta be the low fares.
 
I went to Vegas a couple of weeks ago on America West and every seat was full out of SNA. It was a Airbus.
 
If you plan non reving this summer be prepared to go around the world. It seems that all of sudden everyone is flying again. Cheaper tickets for one. I just wish they wouldnt carry everything they on in one bag. 2 bags would be ok with me.
 
I sure don't think the tickets are cheap!! on some legs, they may be because they want to up the load factors.. but going to most major destinations - your talking one ticket for $400 and up per person... figure a family of 5 and your in the thousands just to ride in an airplane and get there faster!! probably the main reason when i was little, we always drove to our destinations - trying to feed a family of 5, my parents couldnt even afford airline tickets!

i've noticed that every flight i've jumped on so far has been 100% full... been that way since probably january this year.. i'm even finding it very difficult to fly my own airline so i end up buddy passing on others cuz they've either cut the number of jets flying or they turned them all into CRJ's... can't get much of an opportunity to go anywhere if all they're flying are CRJ's everywhere and they're 100% sold out.... and then they keep saying that the flights aren't selling out.. when i can't get a seat - you tell me again that they're NOT selling out!! go fig!!
 
I agree Kristie - I don't agree with anybody that says that tickets are cheap. Like you said - maybe on a few flights here and there to get the loads up but overall no. Ticket prices are definatley on their way up again. It cost my company almost $3,000 to send me to Tuscon and back. Granted they waited until 4 days before I left to buy the tickets but we use the NetJets 'travel bureau' which supposedly gets really good rates on all of the airlines due to the amount of tickets NetJets buys. What really irked me is that on a 4 hour flight that my company paid alot of $$$ for they actually showed a movie I was halfway interested in watching and had to cough up another 5 bucks to get a headset so I could listen to it.

I've been looking for tickets for vacation in November - haven't really even decided on a destination yet but haven't found anything for less than $600 per person(and that was to Syracuse NY).

Jason
 
You guys say that tickets are cheap but I have had several friends use expedia and those type services and get some really good deals. True have to be flexible but the price is right. Now if you do wait until the last minute or have a certain schedule then yeah the airlines are going to get a nice price. Got to love those analyst in pricing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top