Originally Posted by dtremit

Quote:
Originally Posted by sriegert

it's not within the rule. the rule is 1000 nautical miles.

Everyone keeps saying this, but I don't believe it's true.

The only evidence we had of a 1000nm rule was a single leaked internal communication from months before the change. Even if it was accurate at the time -- which hasn't been confirmed -- the details may well have changed afterwards.

Nearly all of the routes with new meal service are under 1000nm -- e.g., CLT-SAT has meal service but is 951nm. And a 1000nm flight would be closer to 3:15 than 2:45; as an example, PHX-SEA is 962nm and ranges betwen 2:59 and 3:10.

So what happened? I think there are two good possibilities:

1) The rule shifted to 2:45 before it rolled out, and service is based on the shortest flight on a given route.
2) The rule is actually 1000 statute miles, and the leaked memo was simply typed wrong.

The problem with #1 is that PHL-MSP is never under 2:45 -- so there would be no reason to list it as an exception. Therefore, I'm going to theorize that 1000mi is the actual rule implemented on 4/1.