Originally Posted by
NickP 1K
I'm closer to SNA but use ONT a lot for early AM flights (e.g. day trip to bay area) - where out of SNA I arrive too late for meeting starts due to curfew. Never takes me more than 45 min to/from ONT (using the Toll Roads). Suffice to say I now have a new threshold for LAX. If it means flying out of SNA and connecting somewhere, I'd rather fly to LAX and deal with the 1hr 50 min traffic. Still faster than a connection into SNA that requires sometimes an hour longer flight time and 2 hours to make a safe connection. Intl out of LAX is a no brainer, but now I'm doing it for flights like AUS, RDU and even SLC (I'm AA so won't fly DL). LA traffic if you know it is less unpredictable than connecting through another hub.
The SNA curfew is what kills that capacity and making it viable for more flights. I like John Wayne, but they just don't have enough flights. I really think ONT is a good alternative and if they did more direct flights would take so So Cal residents due to traffic concerns. I know of some friends who stay at an LAX hotel the night before morning flights due to the threat of traffic jams/accidents. I don't care how much they expand the 405 (which it is better than when I lived there in the late nighties and early 2000's) it will still be a parking lot.
Selfishly I'd love to see UA expand their capacity there as So Cal is unique in the sprawl. UA usually likes to use one airport per city, which makes sense (EWR for New York, ORD for Chicago, SFO for San Francisco, IAH for Houston, IAD for Washington DC) but LA is a unique beast in that the sprawl is so large you are talking 50 miles by 50 miles and not even hit SD. This is so dense that having a presence in ONT which is some 56 miles fits that bill IMO as it can save someone 2 hours in traffic upon landing easy.
Some friends of mine used to fly into Palm Springs and then head into Corona area in the mornings because the traffic was nil and predicable as opposed to LAX. Extreme certainly but people have their own routines and most are involving traffic avoidance. I know ONT recently attracted Air China for a couple times a week in the near future.
Take a look UA and if you build it they will come.