Originally Posted by
lincolnjkc
Of course this is a bit of a game of speculation but the CLE-based FAs/pilots have, with few exceptions, always started/ended trips in Cleveland -- but the bases (maybe FA only) have been 'closed' for years -- meaning no one could transfer in to the base and FAs that transferred out weren't being replaced. There was some speculation among (non-CLE based) FA friends that the company was trying to close the base through attrition to both get rid of the base and avoid having to pay moving costs if they just cut the base and forced FAs to relocate to other bases.
What I'm guessing was the root of what you heard (and this is a bit of speculation on my part) is that now that the base is open again and the pmCO/pmUA FA ranks have been integrated... pmUA FAs -- of which there seem to be quite a few in the CLE area and many commute to ORD specifically -- can now transfer to or pick up trips from the CLE base, skipping the commute.
Agree... that's probably what the FA base issue is all about (pm-UA FAs being able to get CLE originating trips).
Separately, a UA agent at RSW told me they are adding CLE-RSW sometime this summer as a trial balloon. If it does well enough, it will go year round. That would support some of this talk about route expansion at CLE.
For it's size, CLE is quite elite-heavy for UA. IMHO, there all kinds of UA customers in and around Cleveland who don't want to fly Spirit, Frontier, etc. and are willing to pay more to avoid them.