RIP CVG
I have been contemplating this thread for several years. From a pragmatic and intellectual level, I fully understand that DL cannot support so many hubs, and I have tried in vain to look at the changes at CVG dispassionately. But the most recent cuts that reduced CVG to 150 flights a day has pushed me over the edge....
I can't say I am surprised. After all, what would a reasonable person expect would happen after the ex-CEO of NW, who built DTW into the hub it was for NW, realistically think would happen to CVG?
I was going to disparage and ridicule Dick Anderson in this thread. In preparation for writing this thread, I checked out his bio. Unfortunately for me, he has overcome personal tragedy ( parents dying while in college and being forced to take care of his younger siblings while attending college), so my initial goal of ridiculing him as a "frat boy from Houston Univ" is not going to fly. I just don't roll that way.
But I am still so pissed off I doubt I will ever feel the same way again about DL. I feel like CVG has been lied to and betrayed, the faithful wife left for the skank pole dancer named DTW. I am the idiot that supported DL even when air fares were the highest in the USA...for over 10 years ! Or the fact that my fellow CVG flyers who would go to DAY to take their trips (that would connect through CVG) and pay $400.00 less for their ticket and still have a higher fare designation, and thus getting the upgrade that should have gone to a flyer who was paying $400.00 more for two segments less.
I am the DL idiot who bought DL stock the day the market opened after 9/11, just to show my support for my airline in a difficult time.
And the lies...Oh the lies after the merger !! Search the web for articles right after the merger was announced, and how it would affect the respective hubs. There are some articles that quoted DL management that indicate that CVG would grow, with Asian flights a possibility IF the merger was approved. Sugar coated words to lull the sheep into complacency....while MSP and DTW politicians get locked and loaded. ( On this, I blame the dysfunctional regional governments of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana).
For those of you who use to fly through CVG on a regular basis, I think you might appreciate what a special place it was if you were on mainline aircraft. But if you had to connect to a Comair flight, then you are painfully aware of one of the few shortcomings in CVG. A simple addition of a CR/SC to Concourse C would have alleviated many of these complaints. But if you used CVG as your international gateway, then you know how pleasurable and easy it was to breeze through customs and immigration. And between 2000 and 2008, I would put DL's CVG staff up against anyone.
I don't expect sympathy, but I think a little empathy is deserved. After all, how would you all feel if ATL had their flights reduced by 75%, only to see those flight go to...Macon ? That's what it is like for a CVG'er to see the flights go to DTW.
And don't preach to me about O&D traffic. DL made a conscious decision to drive traffic to outlying airports by making CVG the most expensive airport to fly in and out of.
RIP CVG. It was great while it lasted.
And while I have tried to maintain some decorum in writing this thread, I cannot resist.....
Dick Anderson before he d***s you !