Sit down before you read this. I usually use ACY as my home airport. Fares that are among the cheapest on the east, the fact that I live 25 miles from there, $3.50 per day parking and the fact that it isn't PHL. I have actually grown fond of the Beech 1900! LOL I am actually considering using Spirit Air for my next trip to Detroit. due to the following reasons
1. Direct flight vs. one connection
2. Spirit Plus Fare of $446.00 vs $530.00 for US Air
3. Travel time of 1.5 hour vs 3.2 hours
4. Spirit base fare = $106.00 - Spirit Plus is their answer for First Class. Seats are 2 wide and Drinks are complimentary.

The point of all of this is prior to the attempted chnages to the DM program I NEVER even visited their web site much less considered buying a ticket. As of this letter I am 99% sure I am going to give them a shot to earn a portion of my business. Also for any other warriors that use ACY, Delta will soone be ready when you are from ACY, either 10/1 or 11/1! US Air really shot themselves in the foot with me. When you fly 78 segments out of a total of 84 this year I think that makes you pretty loyal! Through 9/11, a Chapter 11 filing and I WAS still there. Someone tell me why I should continue to be loyal. Perhaps I am blinded by my anger and am not looking at the big picture. I just think US Air needs to pay for their mistakes. I do know for certain that IF I go with Spirit I will fax all the info along with a letter to Consumer Affairs.

PineyBob, I think you'd be crazy not to fly Spirit in the situation you outline. Of course, Spirit does not serve everywhere you fly I assume, but in this case it seems like a no-brainer, unless you really need those four segments to renew/earn an elite level. It's not like you're even talking about moving all your business to Spirit ... that probably isn't even feasible I imagine.

Supporting a low-fare carrier in such cases is actually a pretty good idea if you ask me, helps keep US honest with their fares out of your airport.

As for Delta, if you can live with the T/U/L upgrade restrictions (not me!), then they are a pretty good choice in general ... what kind of frequency are they talking about and to where?

Delta First!
1. I am not familiar with their upgrade policies so perhaps a review of their rules is in order. T
2. They are however eager to comp me to their equivelent to CP tier status.
3. As for service from ACY it looks like the typical 3 flights per day, ACY to CVG via ComAir RJ's.
4. The only reason ACY is even an option is Spirit's presence. check some of the fares from smaller airports via US Air and in many cases they are insane. Spirit keeps them honest. example ACY to SFO = $490.00 - PHL to SFO = $2215.00 on the particular date in question. Funny thing is the SFO leg was the same flight number
Atlantic City (ACY) is a nice cozy 7 gate airport. Quick in and out in every way. The big news is that this year they paved the parking lot and now they charge us a rousing $3.50 per day up from free! AS for discounters, I have had extremely positive results with ATA. Spirit I am leery of as they nearly had their Landing rights revoked at LGA due to some performance issues during an emergency. I am told Midwest Express is quite good. Southwest is NOT an option as I refuse to drive 166 miles to an airport to save money. Splitting the biz is probably a good idea. The really funny thing about all of this with US Air is I might be switching jobs and going with a company that insists that it's trainers use refundable tickets! To bad US Air managed to infuriate me and do in one week what over 225 flight segments in 27 months couldn't. Make me go to Spirit's Web Site. I am going to absolutely love faxing those refundable reciepts for competing flights to Consumer Affairs.

[This message has been edited by PineyBob (edited 09-12-2002).]

The key is if you're willing to "pay" extra to build up miles so you can work towards nice benefits (i.e. personal, exotic vacations). If the UA Codeshare and subsequent induction into Star Alliance goes through, those points could be worth something if you're one to take advantage of your hard earned points.

1) DL's upgrade policies suck domestically, and are even worse internationally.

2) I'm kind of surprised that DL would comp you to Platinum Medallion status (equivalent to CP), so make sure you get a good confirmation of that. Still, for upgrade purposes (which is the most important thing IMHO) Gold Medallion should be fine anyway.

3) The problem is flying to the Northeast, you have to back track a fair bit more to CVG instead of Philly like you do now. It could really add to total flight times ...

4) Splitting biz is a good option, especially if you spring for their "first class" product and don't even have to fly a Beech. BTW, since you mention them, Midwest Express is an excellent airline, all First Class, but don't confuse them with a discount carrier, they are pretty much a full-fare carrier (and I mean full-fare), with the big advantage being they are all first-class.