FlyinHawaiian

I was thinking the same thing; I've split this out of the main thread. At a certain point, we may need to move this to the California (Travel) Forum, but let's give it a try here for now.

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United MileagePlus Forum

ZZYZXROAD

Wonder if the good folks in Carlsbad are thinking of making CLD into Santa Monica South or Teterboro West. Many California airports will eventually be affected, does the privatization of the runway make the airport more money since they will not pursue another commercial airline? This decision affects the employees, rental cars, taxis, hotels and so much more lost than gained. Tremendous loss for North County, can't emphasize that enough.

allergictocoach

I will suggest the airport director probably isn't extremely worried about commercial service because it likely provides a tiny amount of revenue for the airport when measured against corporate traffic and the facility leasing and fuel sales revenue being drawn in on that side.

As for the runway - it's short. Apparently too short at the moment to sustain "reliable" CRJ200 service to anywhere. When I say reliable I mean that the aircraft could operate there sure - but how often with operational restrictions and other factors not related solely to the length of the runway?...surrounding terrain, density altitude, wet pavement, landing weight etc.
EYW has the CRJ700, E170 variant and the 737. I don't think they fill the 737-700 going out and the others are ok...but at CLD they would have too many seats for the bean counters liking.

Extending the runway is a great idea but not the easiest process from a regulatory standpoint. In an environmentally friendly state like CA I can imagine there are some challenges.

Madone59

Just heard this news this morning.

Real bummer. CLD was a great option for SAN travel, and for me an easy way to add MR's

Bowgie

I don't doubt that UA intends to stop CLD-LAX "sometime" in May, but for the moment the route seems bookable on United.com.

SAN-LAX is more expensive than CLD-LAX, so if one really wants to book ex-SAN after May, it might work to book CLD now and change when the schedule is updated in reservations.

I booked a LAX-CLD for late May before the rumors started this month. I expect United will either refund or fly me LAX-SAN. Looks like the Delta-coded and Skywest-operated LAX-SAN flight is more convenient for me. Wonder if United will rebook me on Delta.

As for that San Diego Union Tribune article: No named source is cited. Probably got it second-hand from a random front-line employee.

The County has been working for nearly a year to include the runway extension into the airport's long-term master plan:

http://www.seasidecourier.com/opinio...a4bcf6878.html

Yeah, you are dead-right about the neighborhood opposition and all that environmental process. Even before United's pull-out, the expansion was a distant idea. Now it is even more so.

Runon MD1

Ditto to those who praised the United Staff and TSA crew at CLD.

It was like Cheers, where everyone knew your name.

It will be truly missed by many, including me. It was so very convenient to fly out of and in to, apart from a rare fog-related cancellation, with a cab or van ride provided by United to LAX. It was working so well that they had to kill it. Pity.

I hope that it will some day rise from the proverbial ashes, or the runway can be lengthened (which should have been done to allow for larger aircraft, as is done in many smaller communities).

Non-stop CLD to SFO, DEN, etc. would have been very successful, in my opinion, as that's often where UAL passengers were going from CLD through LAX anyway, I would think.

Minor points...it's "couldn't care less," not "could care less," and it's "lose," the opposite of find, rather than "loose," which is the opposite of tight.

Bowgie

Delta? One can hope

I would not put much hope on local govt doing much here. The airport is in the City of Carlsbad, but is operated by the County of San Diego. While Carlsbad is generally regarded as an astute and well-run city, the County is somewhat of a case study in bad government. While Carlsbad has an economic interest in continued scheduled airline service, it ain't likely to bail out or help the County on this one.

Bowgie and yes I should know.

Bowgie

Flights between CLD and LAX appear bookable past the likely closure date.

What's to prevent UA flyers from booking lots of speculative flights past the closure date with their Chase MileagePlus card for 2x miles and then refunding the tickets after the miles post and the flights are cancelled?

Same thing for Chase Sapphire Preferred for 3x points, except that one would have to transfer out all earned points to prevent Chase from clawing them back after United issues a credit.

Fanjet

After reading excerpts from the meeting, I now have a better understanding of why CLD is losing service. What idiots. It's decisions like these which lead to fewer companies wanting to set up shop in the area. And the North County coastal region has the potential for so much more tourism. Yet, these leaders seem to be lost on the accessibility need of that. There is a HI and Staybridge Suites being built a mile east of the airport. And a Fairfield Inn under construction two miles to the west. I wonder how those owners feel about this.

As for the noise issue. For departures, there is nothing residential under the path until the strip along the coast highway (which is about 3 or 4 miles away). And the private jets make more noise than the commercial jets capable of using the airport.

riphamilton

good point - come april 7, i doubt a single area resident notices anything different in terms of noise reduction.

and thank you awksus for the great write-up. wish we had a FT lobbyist team to dispatch, particularly when there seems to be widespread incompetence like this. the 'snow ops' background of the new chief makes me cringe.

JohnMacWW

As part of my work, I deal with City of Carlsbad govt and also county govt and also with all of the north county politics. have for about ten years. I agree with most of your assessment but have to tell you that the weird North San Diego County politics (all the various Cities up there and several of the North County sub-county governmental orgs) do accomplish quite a few amazing things in a short period of time. So do not think that Carlsbad's leaders as well as a few of other North County cities are not working the phones etc, because I suspect they are. And they really do not have to do too much since the County Airport Authority already extended themselves investing in the new terminal. All that really has to happen is for a reasonable deal to come along from someone else. Almost any deal with save money if it covers the terminal's operating costs.

mduell

Chase aren't morons, they can clawback. I saw this earlier this year when an upgrade failed to clear and the copay was refunded and I didn't have enough purchases in the next month to cover it:

BlackMountain

Unfortunate if CLD ends. I have taken that flight half a dozen times or more, very convenient for the high-tech business in that area. It allows a full day in Carlsbad and still get back to Chicago on something that isn't a red eye.

If United drops the route, would ease the pain if they added a late afternoon/early evening nonstop SNA and SAN to ORD, still can't drive to SNA or SAN faster than you could fly to LAX though.

SanDiego1K

This is really sad news for our sweet local airport. I've flown from Carlsbad for 30 years. At one point, AA and UA were both using a quonset hut for their operations. In 1991, AA had a banner flying "Gateway to Europe". Now we have a beautiful new terminal, excellent parking, and no service?

thnarf

I'm super bummed. Count me as one of the many fans of Carlsbad! The parking at $5/day is/was awesome! Upon landing I could be at my car and on the road in less than 5 minutes. Can't say that about many airports!