Detroiter

Went looking for tickets DTW-PVD over Christmas, and found the following aircraft scheduled on the route:

1xCR9
2xCRJ

By contrast, when I flew to PVD over Labor Day the schedule was:

2xCR9
1x319
1xM88

Let's see, that's a reduction in available seats from 427 to 176, almost 60%. And subbing in the worst jet (well, not quite true - the Comet 1 was worse) in the history of aviation adds insult. Look, I get that DL doesn't want to be in the position of having to give away seats to kettles at $200 rt to fill the planes, can probably get some maintenance done if they take some mainline planes out of service, and can give more of their mainline crews time off over the holidays. I also get that DL's sole responsibility is to get us to and from PVD, preferably in one piece, the CoC saying nothing about relative comfort or a functioning tray table. Still, why does DL feel compelled to put that POS Barbiejet on flights to a metro area with 1.6 million people?

By the way, we will be on one of the CRJs, because the CR9 return flight leaves at 0700, which would require getting up at 0330 or so .

readywhenyouare

Ya know, you could always connect in ATL ike many of us do. I'm sure ATL-PVD has mainline equipment. DTW is a fraction of the size of ATL and you can't expect the same luxuries of the ATL hub.

Deadtail

They obviously have no idea who you are.

SCEflyer

I feel your pain, but rather than stress over it, why not look at flights to BDL or BOS?

james318

DTW-PVD is about 530 miles.
DTW-ATL-PVD is about 1300.

Unless the purpose is to collect extra miles, it would be silly to fly that to save a little heartache on the CRJ. Now if racking up miles is important, by all means.

The answer isn't always "just connect through ATL."

steveholt

It is truly a shame to see Delta cutting capacity on the legendary Detroit to Providence route. The route of kings, they used to call it. Athletes, socialites, and tycoons of industry would hob-nob on the chartered Concordes the airlines assigned to the country's most important route. I don't even know how they managed to serve three full meals on such a short flight, let alone on such exquisite china and with such a variety of fine spirits, but it was the service to which airlines assigned their finest flight attendants. Pilots, furious at being assigned to the likes of LAX-HNL, put out hits on one another to try and leap up the seniority lists, just in the hopes of laying over for a few hours in America's real two most glamorous vacation destinations. It was said to be the route so precious that Mother Nature would drop several feet of snow up North and leave a perfect path cleared through the different waypoints to guide her favorite planes to and from DTW and PVD. It's a damn shame indeed.

Yellowjj

Supply and Demand. At Christmas I'm sure everyone want's to be with their families, not up in the air.

Singleflyer

As a PVD based flier I do miss the mainline that NW used to have between PVD and DTW. The realality is not many fly DTW -PVD direct. Therefore pele like me connect via ATL to get where we need to be. If I had my choice I would rather connect via DTW. But I don t run the airline, so I will often fly through BOS it is only an hour away.

ULDB65

A most amusing post, thank you. And you hit the nail on the head, I'd say...

readywhenyouare

Oh I agree but the OP seemed so distraught over having to fly on an RJ that I was letting him know that he has options. I fly out of MCO, DAB, and MLB so I have always been used to connecting and I'm still alive. I don't have a problem with regional jets which I'm guessing is why I'm usually the only medallion on CRJ-200 flights.

Esltroy

I do sympathize with the OP, but the above is too funny.
For those of you know PVD, it takes about two miles of walkway to get the rental car agency. I stay at the Hilton Next to the airport. You can't walk there from the airport, but you do pass it on the walkway to the rental cars.

pbarnette

Because it is a short drive to a much bigger airport and people regularly drive to BOS to save a few bucks? PVD has always struggled to be anything other than an afterthought given the proximity to Logan.

Detroiter

This. Plus, allowing for a decent connecting time (my husband is in a wheelchair, and the helpers generally don't come on the plane until ~20 minutes after arrival, so I figure anything less than an hour or 90 minutes is just asking for a misconnect) stretches a 2 hour flight into 6 or 7 hours. I've done plenty of DL connections in my day, but that seems silly just to book away from the CRJ.

BDL schedules are better, but BDL is ~2 hours from where we're going, rather than a comfortable 40 minutes from PVD. BOS is better (~1 hour), but I'd probably have to promise to buy a 750 of Woodford to get my husband's family to drive into BOS to pick us up.

ROTFLMAO!! ^^

Yep, 4 mainline per day year-round was pretty sweet, but I guess that's the reason we were able to get a rt at Christmas for about $250 back in the NW days. Understandably, DL has made the decision to scale back operations over the holidays so they don't have to offer those kinds of fares. I don't have to like it, but it is what it is. After the pi$$ing and moaning is over I'll book one flight on a late-night CR9 and one on a CRJ and we'll just suck it up.

Detroiter

Funny - people I know in the southern burbs would much rather fly to PVD than put up with the drive in I-95/93 and through the tunnels to get to Logan.

Detroiter

I agree the post was pretty funny. Once upon a time PVD had a super convenient rental arrangement in the garage closest to the terminal, maybe a 5 minute walk from baggage claim. Now it's a huge schlep, particularly if you have a person in a wheelchair as well as a suitcase. The good news is Hertz (for one) will give you a ride to the terminal when you're dropping off a car.