US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - I don't want to fly on a regional jet for 980 miles

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but US is now using a CRJ to fly from Philadelphia to Minneapolis. I thought my mom was losing it when she said her flight left out of terminal F.

Give me a break US Airways! 980 miles in a CRJ? As of last summer, I believe the longest route on a regional jet was PIT-MSP (725 miles). I've just about reached my breaking point with US.

I can't straight stand up in a regional jet and not being able to do that for 3 hours is not pleasant.

[This message has been edited by bfunkjeep (edited Feb 17, 2004).]

USAirways is hardly alone on this. American flies LAX-XNA on a RJ which is a whopping 1370 miles..

I'm flying United in a few months from DEN-YEG, which is 1020 miles .. on a RJ.

So as much as I love to blame USAirways for a lot of things, this one, they just following the great examples of the other majors.

if you think thats bad...grab a Delta timetable.

some of the lowlights include:

Cincinnati-Colorado Springs: 1078 miles
Salt Lake City-St. Louis: 1156 miles
Dallas/Fort Worth-Oakland: 1457 miles

...all on lovely RJ's http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsdown.gif

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"A mile of highway will take you a mile,
but a mile of runway will take you anywhere."

...seriously though,

is MSP set to become an all-express station? CLE and MKE have already gone that route. Any others? makes you wonder about cities like CMH, DTW, etc.

------------------
"A mile of highway will take you a mile,
but a mile of runway will take you anywhere."

UA has announced an RDU-DEN RJ flight...just 1436 miles in beautiful, spacious RJ comfort.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PurdueFlyer:
...seriously though,

is MSP set to become an all-express station? CLE and MKE have already gone that route. Any others? makes you wonder about cities like CMH, DTW, etc.

</font>

The better question is what is NOT going to be flown on an RJ.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by chalf:
The better question is what is NOT going to be flown on an RJ.</font>

PHL-FRA...until they get the RJ's retrofitted for inflight refueling. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

-JC

PHL-STL has had RJ's for a while and went all RJ's last year.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by phllax:
PHL-STL has had RJ's for a while and went all RJ's last year.</font>

And GadgetFreak, who depending on the year has been going to from LGA-STL between once or twice a quarter and once a week on US called up AA and got comped to Platinum because of it and whole range of other things.

DTW is down to 2x733 to clt. If anyone is about to go all RJ, they're next to get it..

Also, I was chatting on the phone with the IAH station manager and he said that the EMB-170 MAY be used to supplement flights down there...that's over 1100 miles to pit, 1300 to phl, and 900 to clt.

[This message has been edited by sfeinberg (edited Feb 17, 2004).]

Pitiful. I'm not sure who is in charge of market research but here's a vote:

RJs on routes over 1 hour blow dead goats.

I can not stress the importance of writing or contacting airlines about this RJ issue. Squeaky wheel does get the grease. If you find it a big issue, please please please voice your opinions. 1436 miles in an RJ almost seems inhumane

Continental is operating West Palm to Cleveland on baby jets. In addition to comfort, many of these are flown by rent-a-plane guys, like Mesa. Crews are often not as experienced. The thing that really sticks in my mind is how fast these carriers run away from problems with them.I particularly remember, following an unfortunate incident recently, the carrier continuing to refer to the flight as Air Midwest, something that was never overtly used in the regular operational identification of the flight (beyond a parenthetical reference in some printed schedule).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by StSebastian:
UA has announced an RDU-DEN RJ flight...just 1436 miles in beautiful, spacious RJ comfort.</font>

Never in hell. I'd take two connecting mainline segments on an airline I earn no miles with first. And I'm sure I'm not alone.

But how many of us consciously book away from RJs, and how many just accept them and seethe? I know I always look at the a/c types now before clicking "buy."

CO does IAD-IAH too, which is over 1000 miles... I was booking an FF award for my DC-area mother-in-law and saw that as an option... she'd kill me. Not a chance.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why SAV still has mainline service. I mean, we're largely a tourist destination.

Guess they want to match DL....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">But how many of us consciously book away from RJs, and how many just accept them and seethe? I know I always look at the a/c types now before clicking "buy."
</font>

Always - I hate flying regional jets - just flew PIT-IAD-YYZ and YYZ-PHL-PIT just to travel on big jets!

RJ is not that bad, when you consider an all Dash8 station like HHH. I guess one can drive to SAV for mainline, but is an additional 45 minutes drive worth the same trip to CLT from HHH and SAV?

If you fly Southwest, in addition to friendly service and low fares, you can rest assured that you won't get a regional jet.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Burgess:
If you fly Southwest, in addition to friendly service and low fares, you can rest assured that you won't get a regional jet.</font>

Nor will you get miles that can be redeemed for international premium travel, assigned seats, E+/MRTC, airport lounges or IFE (other than live standup comedy from the crew).

But you are right that at least you can be assured you're not going to be sitting on a (usually delayed and always uncomfortable) RJ.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ShadowHHI:
RJ is not that bad, when you consider an all Dash8 station like HHH. I guess one can drive to SAV for mainline, but is an additional 45 minutes drive worth the same trip to CLT from HHH and SAV?</font>

I'd trade any of ERI's turboprop service for more RJ's. But, then there were the good old days when ERI was serviced by 5 or 6 mainline flights per day!!

That said, I still don't want to fly on a regional jet for 980 miles, either...or any other distance more than 60 minutes away, for that matter.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Burgess:
If you fly Southwest, in addition to friendly service and low fares, you can rest assured that you won't get a regional jet.</font>

Correct! what i will get is:

No assigned seat!
No FF miles that are good for travel outside the USA.
No Star Alliance opportunities.
No Interline capabilities in the event of an unforseen problem.
No CP desk to help in the event of a problem

What I get with SWA is a seat!

And you probably won't get to where an RJ or Turboprop is taking you on Southwest -- still too many holes in their route structure for me (even ignoring my home city not being a SW city).

I will be in the silent majority (??) when I will say that I don't mind RJs too much .. I find the consistant roar of the engines over my earplugs puts me right to sleep, so every RJ flight is about 15 minutes for me, 5 minutes awake up front, 10 minutes awake for landing. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

From my POV, I'm lucky to get an RJ since I'm flying United Junkstreams to IAD regularly these days so, which even at 35 minutes is 30 minutes too much...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pitflyer:


I will be in the silent majority (??) when I will say that I don't mind RJs too much ....

From my POV, I'm lucky to get an RJ since I'm flying United Junkstreams to IAD regularly these days so, which even at 35 minutes is 30 minutes too much...

</font>

I'm in the same boat as you... my station recently got single daily CRJs (first out, last in), and I'm considering changing my flights to gain the 'luxury' of the RJ...

I respect your brand loyalty and all, but there are times when you just need to expand your horizons a bit.....and fly on the option that will suit you. No one is forcing you to travel on that RJ.....go on NW and take the DC-9 or the A-320. Go on United or American through ORD and take whatever they offer.....

If it's that big of a deal to you...occasionally spend your money with the airline that will get you there in comfort.

Just because the small aircraft can make the long distances is no reason to use them that way. In a business where such decisions are made by people who believe the earth is flat, and strategize in a vacuum, only if the customers vote with their feet, and resist these, wlll the practice end. It's interesting to note that the vaunted LCC's, which the large carriers continue to cite as the cause of their problems, keep ordering full size planes. Among them, only jetBlue has gone for smaller aircraft, and even the ones they have orderd are in the 100 passenger category.

Expect the R of RJ to increase in distance in the coming years. Why? We have been kicking around those reasons on this board for a long time. Some say it's because businesses no longer are subsidizing the "non-biz" traveler by buying the Y tickets. Others say it is only recourse for big carriers deep in debt and close to extinction. All I know is that if I ask for my "Johnny Walker Black Label on the rocks" to be a double during the flight from GSO to CLT on the 737, the second 500+ mile hop goes much better.

I just booked a flight to MCI for March and noticed that the leg from CLT to MCI is on an RJ. I'll see how it goes. I will say though that the flight times were terrific for me and at $177 it was almost impossible to beat the rate. If that is the future I will probably be packing myself in those for many domestic flights and then enjoying the room in Envoy on my trips over the pond.