SST

Rats. I head to Eureka from San Francisco 4-6 times a year. I was hoping this would end UA's miserable monopoly, which has essentially forced me to drive twice recently. It's 5.5 hours if the weather is perfect, and maybe 6.5 if it's raining. Nice scenery, but hey--- you kill a lot of productive time.

Somebody above joked about fares and people coming down to catch the plane from LAX. No joke, I do this with UA, or DID before Horizon pulled out. I always schedule a day at my office in LA, then go to LAX and do the 6am LAX-SFO-ACV, because as long as Horizon flew there too, it was $238 r/t or thereabouts, with a few days' planning. SFO-ACV has been $400-500 on UA forever. A couple years ago, when Horizon stopped for a while, it was over $1000 for a short notice day trip. So AA from LAX is a godsend to both me and everyone living in the redwoods.

Funny anecdote: about 20 years ago, a startup out of OAK flew the route up to ACV, giving UA a scare. They had 12-seater dual engine prop planes, and their terminal at OAK was one of those temporary trailer buildings. I used it a few times; it was amazingly amateurish, but it charged half of what UA charged, and flew at convenient times. You could talk to the pilot because there was no divider. But it was exactly like "Wings" (on TV 1990-97). Of course, the Eureka airport is kind of like "Wings" too, second hokiest in the country. That honor goes to CEC. If you've been on the UA run to Crescent City (CEC) which stops in Eureka, you'll know what I'm talking about. It really *is* "Wings". The terminal is a building about 20'x20', and if you need to rent a car, it's Hertz a block away over at the Search-and-Rescue, unless they're out because there's a ship distress call.

By the way, if you've never been up to extreme northern coastal California, it really is beautiful. Don't hit any elk. They love to hang out by the road above ACV airport, especially in the morning fog.