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New [delayed] destination: Arcata-Eureka, Humboldt County, California (ACV)

New [delayed] destination: Arcata-Eureka, Humboldt County, California (ACV)

 
Old Mar 25, 2012, 12:55 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
Me too.

That's because the airport is actually called Arcata-Eureka airport, and Eureka is the more famous (outside the area) of the two towns.
Yup. The airport though is actually in McKinleyville, not Arcata or Eureka.
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 1:32 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by chanp
The fares currently loaded aren't cheap.
No they're not, though to be fair I'm thinking that perhaps they haven't loaded all of them yet. Just looking at ACV-JFK I'm seeing o/w in F is $3,400, while one way in J (flexible) is $3,800, implying that an F fare has been loaded for this route but that a J fare actually combines a Y fare ACV-LAX with a J fare LAX-JFK at this juncture.
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 5:54 pm
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by Upgraded!
No they're not, though to be fair I'm thinking that perhaps they haven't loaded all of them yet. Just looking at ACV-JFK I'm seeing o/w in F is $3,400, while one way in J (flexible) is $3,800, implying that an F fare has been loaded for this route but that a J fare actually combines a Y fare ACV-LAX with a J fare LAX-JFK at this juncture.
Yeah. I'm seeing ACV-LAX mid-week as going for $460.
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 11:44 pm
  #34  
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Originally Posted by chanp
The fares currently loaded aren't cheap.
Yes, it will get more expensive. I don't think you can get the ticket. There is no cheap fare. How about $59 each way?
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 12:05 am
  #35  
 
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AA 3056 LAXACV 0750 0945
AA 3063 ACVLAX 1015 1220

AA 3072 LAXACV 1655 1850
AA 3055 ACVLAX 1920 2125

That is not a very well thought out schedule. Too bad schedulers do not understand human behavior and travel preferences. AA should have RON'ed in ACV.

The first southbound flight should leave ACV at 6am and arrive in LAX around 7:30am. That allows for optimal connections east of the Rockies. A 12:20pm arrival in LAX is too late to get the last flights of the day towards many east coast destinations.

The only flight to EWR leaves LAX at 8am and the EWR-LAX flight arrives in LA at 8:40pm which is 3 hours too late to connect to the last flight to ACV. DL's busiest flights between ACV and SLC were the late evening westbound and first thing in the morning eastbound. Midday loads were half full.

AA's evening flights will be fine since they will be full of people from SoCal traveling to/from Humboldt with a few additional connecting pax. You can work a full day then fly north/south after hours. My guess is that 3056/3063 will have a 60-75% load factor and 3072/3055 will be full on most days.
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 12:40 am
  #36  
 
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I presume they wanted to avoid storing any jets there. I don't know the area at all, will most likely never go there, but the schedule seems to go against any reasonable human/commerce patterns I could imagine.

Anyone know if there is some sort of noise abatement that prevented AA from leaving ACV earlier?

Originally Posted by ACVFlyer
AA 3056 LAXACV 0750 0945
AA 3063 ACVLAX 1015 1220

AA 3072 LAXACV 1655 1850
AA 3055 ACVLAX 1920 2125

That is not a very well thought out schedule. Too bad schedulers do not understand human behavior and travel preferences. AA should have RON'ed in ACV.

The first southbound flight should leave ACV at 6am and arrive in LAX around 7:30am. That allows for optimal connections east of the Rockies. A 12:20pm arrival in LAX is too late to get the last flights of the day towards many east coast destinations.

The only flight to EWR leaves LAX at 8am and the EWR-LAX flight arrives in LA at 8:40pm which is 3 hours too late to connect to the last flight to ACV. DL's busiest flights between ACV and SLC were the late evening westbound and first thing in the morning eastbound. Midday loads were half full.

AA's evening flights will be fine since they will be full of people from SoCal traveling to/from Humboldt with a few additional connecting pax. You can work a full day then fly north/south after hours. My guess is that 3056/3063 will have a 60-75% load factor and 3072/3055 will be full on most days.
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 12:55 am
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by ThunderJon
Anyone know if there is some sort of noise abatement that prevented AA from leaving ACV earlier?
UA's first flight out of ACV is 6:31am, so presumably not.
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 7:25 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by Science Goy
UA's first flight out of ACV is 6:31am, so presumably not.
There is no issue with noise at ACV. Most flights take off towards the northwest over Clam Beach and the Pacific Ocean. The first flight of the day is usually UA's ACV-SMF. It normally leaves somewhere between 5:30-6am.
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 8:04 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by chanp
I've lived in cali all my life and had to look this place up. Anyone here visit? Hope it's profitable.
Arcata is where Humboldt State University is located; the bigger town nearby that you've heard of is Eureka, which is a few miles south of Eureka on the other side of a bay. The airport is north of both Arcata and Eureka on US 101 (I think it is in McKinleyville). Eureka is about 275 miles north of San Francisco via the Redwood Highway (101). If you follow the ponies and live in California, you've probably heard of the Humboldt County Fair, where they stage 8 days of live racing every August at Ferndale, a beautiful village with a large number of classic Victorian buildings about 15 miles from Eureka.

And yes, it is really, really beautiful in far northwestern California, and the coastline gets even better (if that is possible) after passing through Crescent City and crossing the state line into Oregon.
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 8:09 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by ThunderJon
I presume they wanted to avoid storing any jets there. I don't know the area at all, will most likely never go there, but the schedule seems to go against any reasonable human/commerce patterns I could imagine.

Anyone know if there is some sort of noise abatement that prevented AA from leaving ACV earlier?
Once again, think about it from the perspective of connecting traffic: Where are those originating at ACV likely to have as final destinations and where are those with ACV as their destination likely coming from? Then work backwards in terms of schedule.

While I agree there is a balance between offering the best schedules and not wanting to store planes there are still relatively good connecting options.

Each of AA's major ex-LAX domestic destinations have between one and four daytime flights leaving after 1pm and connectable from the late morning ACV-LAX (DFW has 8, ORD and JFK each have 3 most days, HNL has 2 and MIA, BOS and IAD each have 1) plus there's at least one domestic redeye to which one can connect on the later flight (1 each to JFK, ORD, BOS and IAD, 2 each to DFW and MIA).

For the turns to ACV, you can leave any East Coast or Midwest city up until about 2pm and be pretty safe making that afternoon flight up. The morning flight, though, is really only good for o/d and connections off of incoming HI overnights.

I'm guessing AA expects little in terms of int'l connections as the morning flight does not arrive at LAX in time to make the China or Japan flights while the evening flight does not give one enough time to make the LHR flight. However the QF/CX connections are quite doable from that evening flight.
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Old Apr 11, 2012, 6:45 am
  #41  
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Pushed off until spring 2013 at the earliest. Sold tickets will be refunded in full.

http://www.times-standard.com/localn...eureka-service
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Old Apr 11, 2012, 8:44 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by TheBOSman
Pushed off until spring 2013 at the earliest. Sold tickets will be refunded in full.

http://www.times-standard.com/localn...eureka-service
Rats. I head to Eureka from San Francisco 4-6 times a year. I was hoping this would end UA's miserable monopoly, which has essentially forced me to drive twice recently. It's 5.5 hours if the weather is perfect, and maybe 6.5 if it's raining. Nice scenery, but hey--- you kill a lot of productive time.

Somebody above joked about fares and people coming down to catch the plane from LAX. No joke, I do this with UA, or DID before Horizon pulled out. I always schedule a day at my office in LA, then go to LAX and do the 6am LAX-SFO-ACV, because as long as Horizon flew there too, it was $238 r/t or thereabouts, with a few days' planning. SFO-ACV has been $400-500 on UA forever. A couple years ago, when Horizon stopped for a while, it was over $1000 for a short notice day trip. So AA from LAX is a godsend to both me and everyone living in the redwoods.

Funny anecdote: about 20 years ago, a startup out of OAK flew the route up to ACV, giving UA a scare. They had 12-seater dual engine prop planes, and their terminal at OAK was one of those temporary trailer buildings. I used it a few times; it was amazingly amateurish, but it charged half of what UA charged, and flew at convenient times. You could talk to the pilot because there was no divider. But it was exactly like "Wings" (on TV 1990-97). Of course, the Eureka airport is kind of like "Wings" too, second hokiest in the country. That honor goes to CEC. If you've been on the UA run to Crescent City (CEC) which stops in Eureka, you'll know what I'm talking about. It really *is* "Wings". The terminal is a building about 20'x20', and if you need to rent a car, it's Hertz a block away over at the Search-and-Rescue, unless they're out because there's a ship distress call.

By the way, if you've never been up to extreme northern coastal California, it really is beautiful. Don't hit any elk. They love to hang out by the road above ACV airport, especially in the morning fog.
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Old Apr 12, 2012, 6:17 am
  #43  
 
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Is AA looking at "very regional" cities now for expansion? If so, can we expect cities like YUM, FLG, some point? In looking UA's regional flights, AA has a long way to go.
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