AS, your West Coast schedule is killing me
Apr 17, 2012, 11:37 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,630
AS, your West Coast schedule is killing me
I need to go to BZN for a meeting. I think I'll end up "going" via the telephone.
AS has 2 daily flights SEA/BZN. That is fine enough. What isn't are the connections.
Via SFO/SEA, there is a north/eastbound connection of 1:02, and west/southbound connection of 1:06. The "late over 30 minutes" % on the 4 respective flights are: 33%, 23%, 38% and 40%. These connection times are wholly unrealistic given the lack of on time performance.
For a "safe" connection, via OAK, I can build a 4:03 connection (totally ridiculous) or via SFO, a 3:25 connection (almost as absurd). It will take over 7 hours each way to have a realistic chance of making a connection. This is an 800 mile trip.
The only reasonable connections are (1) one that gets me in too late on the outbound to be useful first thing the next morning, and (2) one that departs at 7 AM (i.e., before the meeting) on the return.
I had no idea that BZN was going to be a two full day production to be there a couple of hours. I'd probably get there faster and cheaper routing via AS' Hawaiian services.
AS has 2 daily flights SEA/BZN. That is fine enough. What isn't are the connections.
Via SFO/SEA, there is a north/eastbound connection of 1:02, and west/southbound connection of 1:06. The "late over 30 minutes" % on the 4 respective flights are: 33%, 23%, 38% and 40%. These connection times are wholly unrealistic given the lack of on time performance.
For a "safe" connection, via OAK, I can build a 4:03 connection (totally ridiculous) or via SFO, a 3:25 connection (almost as absurd). It will take over 7 hours each way to have a realistic chance of making a connection. This is an 800 mile trip.
The only reasonable connections are (1) one that gets me in too late on the outbound to be useful first thing the next morning, and (2) one that departs at 7 AM (i.e., before the meeting) on the return.
I had no idea that BZN was going to be a two full day production to be there a couple of hours. I'd probably get there faster and cheaper routing via AS' Hawaiian services.
Apr 17, 2012, 12:29 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,204
I agree that it looks pretty inconvenient ex-OAK, but out of SFO I might be more inclined to take the risk. If for the sfo-sea leg you are talking about flight 307, departing 9:20 am, a quick check on flightaware shows that since April 1, it appears to have only arrived late once (although it that case it was by over an hour). Obviously, if that flight arrives late and you miss your connection you'd have to wait like 8 hours or something, so I can understand not wanting to take the risk, but I think maybe the info AS is pulling for on-time performance is from prior months. The one flight I would avoid if making a connecting is AS 305...the inbound is very, very frequently ATC delayed out of SEA.
For the return BZN-SEA-SFO, you'd have more flexibility since even if the BZN-SEA flight arrives late, there is another SEA-SFO flight three hours later.
For the return BZN-SEA-SFO, you'd have more flexibility since even if the BZN-SEA flight arrives late, there is another SEA-SFO flight three hours later.
Apr 17, 2012, 12:44 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,124
I thnink those connection tomes are ideal. Are you looking for a 2 hour connection? Thats being pretty picky for a market as small as BZN. DL has flights with two hour connections in SLC, or you could look in to F9 or UA through DEN.
Last edited by Aliquot; Apr 17, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Apr 17, 2012, 1:02 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,630
1:30+ as the BZN/SEA flight has a 38% 30 minute+ delay rate. I was pretty surprised by the SEA/BZN/SEA delay rates.
Apr 17, 2012, 1:49 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,630
I was hoping not to give that airline any more business than necessary, nor fly on a CRJ (i.e., not even a CR7).
Apr 17, 2012, 2:11 pm
#8
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SEA/YYZ
Posts: 1,561
And no, I'm not bitter they've taken the worst from both airlines for the combined carrier.
Apr 17, 2012, 2:17 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,630
It says United, but it's Continental. But as a LIFETIME PREMIER ACCESS GOLDEN WHATEVER-THEY-DON'T-CARE ELITE MEMBER, I can't fathom why you wouldn't want to fly on that fantastic airline (or on their regional partners).
And no, I'm not bitter they've taken the worst from both airlines for the combined carrier.
And no, I'm not bitter they've taken the worst from both airlines for the combined carrier.
Apr 17, 2012, 3:03 pm
#10
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
We arranged it that way so you would have time to take me to lunch on your layover. Duh.
I need to go to BZN for a meeting. I think I'll end up "going" via the telephone.
AS has 2 daily flights SEA/BZN. That is fine enough. What isn't are the connections.
Via SFO/SEA, there is a north/eastbound connection of 1:02, and west/southbound connection of 1:06. The "late over 30 minutes" % on the 4 respective flights are: 33%, 23%, 38% and 40%. These connection times are wholly unrealistic given the lack of on time performance.
For a "safe" connection, via OAK, I can build a 4:03 connection (totally ridiculous) or via SFO, a 3:25 connection (almost as absurd). It will take over 7 hours each way to have a realistic chance of making a connection. This is an 800 mile trip.
The only reasonable connections are (1) one that gets me in too late on the outbound to be useful first thing the next morning, and (2) one that departs at 7 AM (i.e., before the meeting) on the return.
I had no idea that BZN was going to be a two full day production to be there a couple of hours. I'd probably get there faster and cheaper routing via AS' Hawaiian services.
AS has 2 daily flights SEA/BZN. That is fine enough. What isn't are the connections.
Via SFO/SEA, there is a north/eastbound connection of 1:02, and west/southbound connection of 1:06. The "late over 30 minutes" % on the 4 respective flights are: 33%, 23%, 38% and 40%. These connection times are wholly unrealistic given the lack of on time performance.
For a "safe" connection, via OAK, I can build a 4:03 connection (totally ridiculous) or via SFO, a 3:25 connection (almost as absurd). It will take over 7 hours each way to have a realistic chance of making a connection. This is an 800 mile trip.
The only reasonable connections are (1) one that gets me in too late on the outbound to be useful first thing the next morning, and (2) one that departs at 7 AM (i.e., before the meeting) on the return.
I had no idea that BZN was going to be a two full day production to be there a couple of hours. I'd probably get there faster and cheaper routing via AS' Hawaiian services.
Apr 17, 2012, 4:28 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,990
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)
I'm with the others, take DL through Salt Lake. It's a more direct routing anyway. AS' Montana schedules are really geared towards the PNW and Alaska.
I'm with the others, take DL through Salt Lake. It's a more direct routing anyway. AS' Montana schedules are really geared towards the PNW and Alaska.
Apr 17, 2012, 10:48 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mammoth Lakes (MMH), CA
Programs: AS Mileage Plan; WN Rapid Rewards; DL SkyMiles; Mariott Bonvoy; Hilton Honors.
Posts: 93
That is one of the reasons why ACV and RDD lost QX. The only flight to PDX and later SEA out of NorCal didn't get to a hub until mid to late afternoon. You miss all the morning flights towards the east and have to wait for hours until you connect to the evening flights to cities in the Northwest and Alaska. Unless you were going to SEA or PDX, it was going to be a long day. Flights to LA might have survived with a 50-60 seat aircraft.
Apr 18, 2012, 8:06 pm
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,630
Well, I ended up booking AS. DL fares (and aircraft) weren't that appealing, and I was best off booking this as a refundable ticket, or on an airline where if something went wrong, I could just put the entire thing in a credit bank. (Yesterday's 10% off was extra incentive.)
On the northbound, I booked the short connection. If anything goes wrong @ SFO making it look like a misconnect, I'll just have them offload me, and refund the whole thing. On the southbound, I took the long connection, as I can't afford not to get home that night.
If anyone is around and wants to spare me from a couple hours of BR soup on Friday the 27th early evening, holla.
On the northbound, I booked the short connection. If anything goes wrong @ SFO making it look like a misconnect, I'll just have them offload me, and refund the whole thing. On the southbound, I took the long connection, as I can't afford not to get home that night.
If anyone is around and wants to spare me from a couple hours of BR soup on Friday the 27th early evening, holla.