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Old Dec 26, 12, 12:14 pm   #1
 
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Anyone else not love all the changes for UA DCA-ORD travelers?

Hi - This is my first post, hope I'm in the right forum/board...

I travel ORD-DCA all the time on United. With the merger, things have really gotten less fun...the gates at DCA are terrible; the check-in is inconveniently located and the flight choices have really been reduced (there used to be one every hour in the pm for DCA-ORD).

Now I went to book my first flight for January and the 7 am flight out of ORD to DCA, which is always SO CROWDED, has been reduced from an Airbus 319/320 to one of those teeny little regional jets.

Anyone know what is going on or why the United service into and out of our Nation's capital is getting so crummy?
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Old Dec 26, 12, 12:43 pm   #2
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Welcome to Flyertalk, cmacha. I am moving your thread to the UA Forum. (Airline Programs)
Please follow there..
Thanks..
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:18 pm   #3
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmacha View Post
Now I went to book my first flight for January and the 7 am flight out of ORD to DCA, which is always SO CROWDED, has been reduced from an Airbus 319/320 to one of those teeny little regional jets.
What date are you looking at? I checked about 10 dates in Jan and the 7 am departure Mon-Fri is always an A319 or A320. There are certain dates when there is no 7 am departure, but on the dates where this is one, I did not see any RJs.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:30 pm   #4
 
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Thanks JerryFF, I would love to be wrong. The date was 14 Jan out of ORD. The online system I use at work to book through, which interfaces with United, had a RJ. In addition, although UA's timetable did not have specific flights out that far, the ones in late December had RJs as well.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:35 pm   #5
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The shift of the6:00am DCA-ORD to a Shuttle America E-170 (and hence the 7:00am ORD-DCA for the return) happened a couple of years ago AFAIK.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:37 pm   #6
 
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15 flights that day; 6 operated by E170s including the 7:05am.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:40 pm   #7
 
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And I would take a 170 over a 319/320 any day.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 1:48 pm   #8
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ORD-DCA is not hourly to the minute, but it's roughly hourly 15x day and the only gap longer than 1:10 is from 7:25 PM to 9:05 PM.

As to aircraft selection, if you can locate the traffic to fill the 319/320 with full F/Y fares, I'm sure UA will locate the aircraft.

I find the new UA arrangement at DCA to be incredibly convenient with a faster-moving checkpoint (perhaps due to pre-check). I can't speak to the ticket area because I don't think I've actually stopped there anytime I recall.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 2:23 pm   #9
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Golf View Post
And I would take a 170 over a 319/320 any day.
Not me! You would like to take a regional, which more often gets held up or cancelled? You would like to fly a regional that has no meal in first?

These RJ's are of no use to me on ORD-DCA,LGA runs! I'm tired of the RJ love and UA needs to focus on winning more customers than cutting seats in certain markets.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 2:26 pm   #10
 
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I prefer mainline wherever possible, but if I did have to be on a regional, the 170 would be my top choice.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 2:27 pm   #11
 
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The flight is only about two hours anyway, so there's not ever a meal up front, even on mainline planes - just a snack basket or cookie with drinks.

I get your general point, but in the context of this thread, it doesn't make sense.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 3:33 pm   #12
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shigernafy View Post
The flight is only about two hours anyway, so there's not ever a meal up front, even on mainline planes - just a snack basket or cookie with drinks.

I get your general point, but in the context of this thread, it doesn't make sense.
Is the meal gone on this flight? I just flew it last month and did recieve "lunch".
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Old Dec 26, 12, 3:46 pm   #13
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LASUA1K View Post
Is the meal gone on this flight? I just flew it last month and did recieve "lunch".
The meal in these type flights (under 3 hrs) is "cold snack", unless it is early in the morning. That usually is either mystery pink meat (prosciutto) with an antipasto type plate or cold sliced chicken breast on a "salsa", salad, a cookie bar and that's about it. You can call it "lunch" but it is a cold plate. Mainline or not mainline planes. Not much of a redeeming factor there.
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Old Dec 26, 12, 3:54 pm   #14
 
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Really? I fly ORD-DCA-ORD all the time..

Putting a dummy booking in for my next trip in March shows a 757 at 849am, a 737 at 124pm... (what I will probably take, although I am tempted to take a sUA flight as my last sCO flight was pretty horrid)

Seems like ~40% are RJs... Short leg... no worries.. what is a worry is a booking I have coming up ORD-MIA on a CRJ!
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Old Dec 26, 12, 4:19 pm   #15
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyclogenesis View Post
what is a worry is a booking I have coming up ORD-MIA on a CRJ!
CRJ what?

CRJ900s are much nicer than the AA MD80s that do the same leg.
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