US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Lousy Caribbean schedules

I don't know about other Caribbean destinations, but the schedule for Grand Caymen is absolutely awful for connections, especially southbound.

Here is the schedule
PHL-GCM/GCM-PHL (SAT/SUN ONLY)
10:15A-2:02P/3:15P-6:44P (A319)
CLT-GCM/GCM-CLT
8:20A-11:12A/12:15P-3:07P (A319 SAT ONLY)
10:30A-1:24P/3:00P-5:52P (DAILY; A321 Sat only; A319 Sun-Fri)

The southbound schedule is far too early for decent connections. I was specifically looking from Boston. On Saturdays, the latest departure is 7:00A to catch the Philly connection. 6:50A for the later Charlotte floght, and 5:30A for the earlier Charlotte flight. During the rest of the week, 6:50A thru Charlotte is the only departure, which is really early. I guess the flights can catch the 7:00A banked departures from the upper Northeast, but it just seems like getting up too early to go on vacation! The early Saturday Charlotte departure seems like O&D only (maybe very early connections from the Carolinas ILG/RDU/GSO/etc), but I guess its early northbound departure allows people to get home earlier.

Delaying the return would not be a huge problem, as there are one or two later banks out of CLT to the upper Northeast.

I guess Delta isn't much better (ATL-GCM 10:14-12:48/2:10-4:52 738 Daily). AA seems like the best option since they have a 5:00P-6:29P 757 flight that RON's and returns 7:55A-9:20A, but even this doesn't allow a full day of work in the Northeast. Their morning connection is a lot more reasonable, since it connects in MIA to a 1:15P flight.

I want to fly US Airways but I don't like early flights (7:00 or earlier). I am staying near Boston Common, so I guess the ride to the airport wouldn't be that bad, but maybe I should stay at the Hilton connected to Logan. Or, AA's 8:15A departure seems a lot more reasonable, but I'd rather fly US.

Those connections really don't look too bad to me. Especially AM on equipment that spent the night in Boston- it may need a quick hose down from frost and headwinds southbound are usually greater in the winter.

7 AM too early? Come to our place- it's 6:05 AM or nothing for the Caribbean on US.

Regarding the hotel; stay in town. Due to the eternal construction at Logan, it can take longer from the airport hotel than from Back Bay. We stay in Copley and it's now 10 to 15 minutes to BOS early in the morning. (If the security line is super long, go through Shuttle security about 100 yards to your left)

Yes, I agree - we've been on DL's pre-6am flights, and US's 6:50 to CLT numerous times. On our recent trip to CUN via CLT my 4 year old went to bed at 7:30pm the night before, my 10 year old was out by 8:30am, and my wife and I were out by 9pm. We were up at 3:30 and on the way to Logan by 4:45am. Tough, but if I have to take a connection I want it as early as possible so I can salvage some of the day on the beach.

I like the early start.

Don't overlook the fact that you are maximizing your vacation time when you arrive at your sunny destination in time to check-in, un-pack, go for a swim, dry off, mix a drink and get ready to watch the sunset. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Early flight? That's why they stock both Finlandia & cranberry in FC. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I think experience has shown them, Biz, that most people want to maximize their time at the destination, and would rather have the earlier flights out to get to warm Caribbean destinations earlier. I think you are in the minority on this one.

Djlawman

I'd much rather leave early in the am simply of because of the inherent problems of connecting in PHL. The earlier the inbound flight, the less of a chance that I'll have a misconnect there.

I'm not a morning person either, but we got up at 0Dark:30 to catch the early PIT-PHL to get down there and it gave us almost a full day of vacation (considering I would probably have rolled out of bed around noon.

It's one of the few things I haven't minded getting up early for.

For the reasons stated by others, that is just how it goes for most airlines/flights serving the Caribbean. People who are vacationing just want to get to the islands first thing and spend the afternoon on the beach, rather than getting there late at night after a full day of work.

There are some schedules, however, that allow for the latter: a ~6:00 PM PHL to SJU flight on US comes to mind. I used to take that flight quite regularly, but lately have decided against it, since it usually runs late -it's an evening flight out of Philly, after all- and you don't get into SJU until after 11:00 PM in the Winter (when SJU is an hour ahead of the East Coast).

Another thing to keep in mind, is that some islands are not necessarily set up for late arrivals -either the runways don't have adequate lighting, or cab drivers simply don't work past a certain time, etc.

This is why early AM flights to CLT are always full on Saturday mornings ... the MCI-CLT flight first thing is always packed with folks going to all sorts of exotic destinations ...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1005:
Early flight? That's why they stock both Finlandia & cranberry in FC.</font>
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CPRich:
I'm not a morning person either, but we got up at 0Dark:30 to catch the early PIT-PHL to get down there and it gave us almost a full day of vacation (considering I would probably have rolled out of bed around noon.

It's one of the few things I haven't minded getting up early for.</font>


You know, you and I think alike way too often. My wife and I went to GCM in November and I complained the whole time about having to get up at 5am. I really wanted a nice 2pm flight so I could have slept in. I had a vodka tonic in F and slept after the early lunch and felt great when we arrived. It wasn't so bad afterall!

I am flying the PHL 10:15 to GCM in the fall. I think the times are perfect for getting family to airport, & still landing in time to see some beach. Return time of 3:15 pm isn't bad either. Can make a scuba dive in the morning & still get to airport.
If the times don't work for you, I'd be happy to fly on your behalf. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif~

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Djlawman:
I think experience has shown them, Biz, that most people want to maximize their time at the destination, and would rather have the earlier flights out to get to warm Caribbean destinations earlier. I think you are in the minority on this one.</font>

Disagree. I can't connect to a same-day flight on US from LGW to GCM because of the schedule.
--Alex

I've often wondered whether US might start an evening bank of flights to the Caribbean from PHL, so that folks from the west coast need not take a red eye and folks from Europe need not stay overnight in the connecting city. I guess whether this makes sense really depends on how much traffic Star can feed into US's Caribbean routes.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tgresham:
Can make a scuba dive in the morning & still get to airport.</font>

You are kidding, right? That's either a very early and shallow dive, or you are putting yourself at risk for DCS, bearing in mind that the pressure altitude even in a pressurized commercial aircraft can approach 6,000 feet above sea level.

Remember, it's 12 hours for a single dive with an uncontrolled ascent, and 24 hours after a single dive that requires a controlled ascent, and at least 24 hours if you have been diving for a few days in a row.




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Don't feed the trolls.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ayb1:
Disagree. I can't connect to a same-day flight on US from LGW to GCM because of the schedule.
--Alex

</font>


Alex, unfortunately I think the vast majority of US's Caribbean passengers come from the east coast of the USA.

As Beckles mentioned earlier, if you are on one of those early morning (6 am - 7 am) east coast USA flights to either CLT or PHL and the FA is announcing connecting flight departure gates, there will be a very large number of connecting Caribbean passengers.

I have been surprised at the large number of pax from STL early in the AM on Mondays connecting to the Caribbean. I can tell because it appears they have just gotten married and are starting their honeymoon (it's obvious http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif). I always thought why are they on an RJ on US (this was before shutdown of the AA STL hub).

I do agree that the schedules are bad but it is for returning for me. The last time I checked, for many destinations, you had to overnight in PHL because the last bank of flights out were eliminated. Getting up early to go somewhere never bothered me. Getting back late is OK also but overnighting in PHL is unacceptable.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by biggs:
Getting up early to go somewhere never bothered me. Getting back late is OK also but overnighting in PHL is unacceptable.</font>

I think most of the returning Caribbean flights technically make it back to PHL in time for connections. The problem comes if you have even a slight delay you are screwed. We returned from BGI (Barbados) and the departure was delayed an hour. Upon check-in at BGI, the agent already had a hotel voucher (PHL Airport Hilton) and food vouchers for us. She also had us re-booked on the early (6 something a.m.) flight back to RDU the next day. Since both of us had the next day off, we asked to be booked on the noon PHL-RDU flight (in FC) and ended up sleeping in very late, having a nice breakfast and then flew home. But you are right - if we did not have that flexibility, we would have been pissed.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
This is why early AM flights to CLT are always full on Saturday mornings ... the MCI-CLT flight first thing is always packed with folks going to all sorts of exotic destinations ...</font>

We'll be on it this Sunday. Will be picked up by airport shuttle at 4 AM for a 6:30A departure. It's the vision of sand & sun that keeps us taking this flight.

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2 dummies who are new to this FF stuff, but trying to learn.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ClueByFour:
You are kidding, right? That's either a very early and shallow dive, or you are putting yourself at risk for DCS, bearing in mind that the pressure altitude even in a pressurized commercial aircraft can approach 6,000 feet above sea level.

Remember, it's 12 hours for a single dive with an uncontrolled ascent, and 24 hours after a single dive that requires a controlled ascent, and at least 24 hours if you have been diving for a few days in a row.


</font>

Still in scba class, we didn't get that far. Oh well, plenty of time for beach at least.