Dr. HFH

BOS used to have 2×LHR/day on AA metal. The evening flight ex-BOS was 108. The morning departure was 156. At one time, I think that they both may have been 772s.

cyberjet

... and AA used to run nonstops between San Jose and Boston: 128 <-> Silicon Valley. SJC <-> AUS too. (Don't know about Austin to Boston). SJC had been on its way to being a West coast minihub, until AA's West Coast strategy shifted gears.

​​​​​just a 2 class service, IIRC

andyr

If memory serves, I think it even went up to 3x during the summer, 1 morning and 2 evening. Not sure if all of them were 772s. It was really nice to be able to use eVIPs (now SWUs) on those flights, and when they had NetSAAver weekend sales BOS/LHR for $500 or so RT, life was good.

And the slow steady decline of AA, and definitely AA in Boston, just keeps on going.

Recently I had to fly to LAX, AA wanted $450 one way with an infinitesimal chance of an upgrade, or $1250 for F in a 738. JetBlue was $350 for a better Y product or $599 for Mint. Mint was pretty nice. IMO, free agency is the way to go these days. My LA trip before that was EWR/LAX in UA Polaris for $220 + $299 upgrade, which was a very nice ride. 0 miles so far on AA this year after 5M+ over the last 20 years, all miles burned.

Nice while it lasted.

GotCalcio4

BOS has really returned as a focus city's primarily as a result of the merger, as US treated BOS as one, with multiple flights to Caribbean destinations and some east coast business markets (although I was shocked to see BUF dropped post-merger), and LAS was finally dropped in 2012, which had continued long after the LAS hub pull down and eventual closure in 2008-2010; the BOS flight remained largely as a result of the BOS focus city operation, rather than to serve the remnants of the LAS hub (some of the last LAS P2P flights were BOS, PIT, DFW, and SoCal flights such as FAT, LAX, and SFO). There are still, however, upstate NY flights, although US lost the PGB, PQI, AUG, and BHB EAS routes that had been flown for decades, but MDT and PIT remain, as do the numerous Shuttle flights each day.

I think some several P2P flights to major business centers could be sustained, perhaps only once daily, to the west coast and other points, and BOS would be a nice alternative connecting point for the west coast instead of ORD or PHL, which are really the options that make the most sense. I truly believe that BUF and RIC, both dropped within the last two years or so, could both return and be operated profitably, even with only 1-2x daily flights.

With respect to the BOS club situation, the immediate need is to add shower facilities. Two could easily be added into the existing business center space, with that being relocated to the area back behind where the bar is. The club is still in acceptable shape, and with some replacements such as the leaking ceiling tiles, and some new carpeting and minor aesthetic updates to match the new AC brand. The size of the club is sufficient, many people are often shocked to see just how big it is, and I've never seen it anywhere near capacity, even on Monday mornings and Thurs/Fri evenings. I'm confident it will be able to handle the increase in foot traffic from the closure/consolidation of the LAA facilities on the other side of the concourse. It'll be nice to see all those LUS facilities running at capacity again, as they were quite nice when AA was running a true 200 daily flight focus city out of BOS, including flights to Europe through the middle 90s. The special services desk is still there, along with numerous other service podiums that have been turned into charging stations for cell phones, which could easily be moved into the waiting area seats.

The management team has already committed to adding showers to LUS clubs, such as the new Flagship lounge in PHL, including the rumored additions to CLT (but not confirmed yet). I'm confident they'll find a way to add them to BOS too.

AAerSTL

More of a focus city? Until the late 2009 Arpey "cornerstone" strategy we WERE a focus city for AA with point to point and int'l flying.

LUS separately also long had point to point and Caribbean flying.

GunsOfNavarone

My speculation (and only speculation) is that BOS will go the way of BWI and EWR. , Reduction of mainline, conversion to regionals, and try to route everyone through CLT, no matter the end destination.

I would not be surprised to see routes ORD-BOS go regional, and reduction in daily non-stops. Just route everyone through CLT and the nine daily non-stops. ORD-BOS has 11 daily non-stops, CLT-BOS has nine. Come back and look at this post in 18 months and I speculate you will see a decrease in ORD-BOS non stops and a increase in CLT-BOS nonstops...

A someone who flies the MDT-BOS nonstop, I enjoy the awesome convenience, but I am also realistic on how AA has been revising it North East cities to the "great hub at CLT" as the plan. I expect in the not so distant future to be flying MDT-BOS via CLT......

rjw242

You're forgetting that EWR and BWI are adjacent to major AA airports, so it made sense to consolidate in those cases. BOS seems no more likely to be drawn down to a regional outstation than, say, SFO.

3Cforme

If that's AA's plan they may as well take a corporate cyanide pill at BOS. With plenty of B6, DL and WN non-stops to business and leisure markets, connections through CLT would have to be distressed-merchandise priced. BOS is a big and affluent O&D market. Second-rate regionals and connections aren't going to cut it.

GunsOfNavarone

"BOS seems no more likely to be drawn down to a regional outstation than, say, SFO"
SFO-LAX was mainline, now is regional.

"plenty of B6, DL and WN non-stops to business and leisure markets". Yes, one just has to look at AA's walk up fare BOS-LAX to know BOS has competition, and lots of it.

As a PAX who is on a plane typically four days a week for the past eight years, with many north east destinations, I can't ignore the slow but steady reduction of non-stops and change from mainline to regional for many NE airports that AA serves. If JetBlue and Southwest were not players at BOS (and very good players), maybe BOS would be immune from the unpublished most everything in the NE through CLT strategy that AA has been executing.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

At this point I don't see AA doing any point to point flying regardless of what the competition might be doing. For BOS to the South, the most logical and in some cases only connection point is CLT. Now whether AA is getting decent yields out of BOS using CLT (or any other hub) as a connection point who knows?

GotCalcio4

Yes - this was my point. Sorry if it wasn't clear. BOS was historically an AA hub/focus city, but was largely demoted as such in 2009. I know the fact that there formerly was a FL there says this quite clearly. I meant that it returned as one mainly due to the US merger.

iadisgreat

This is super pedantic, but BOS-BUF is definitely still a route.

rjw242

You were suggesting that all BOS service would be reduced to a handful of regional flights to ORD and CLT. That's a far cry from the situation at SFO, and isn't going to happen in any case.

GotCalcio4

Oh, great to know. I had thought it was dropped.

BOSTravels

AA used to have a deal with B6. I think it was a mistake to ditch that and hook up with US.
In fact, the triumvirate AA+AS+B6 would have been marvelous.