they are flying E-140s out of LGA? Great way to be competitive.

Ugh - I have. There are several short hops that I've switched to other airlines as the overall gate-check bag waiting, higher likelihood for IRROPS, and terrible seats even on the solo A side makes these birds not great to fly on.

LGA-IND is 2xE140....

YES! And I have been .....ing about it. RDU-LGA is now mostly 140s - used to be mainly 2 class RJs. Delta is all 2 class RJ and even starting mainline on this route soon. NY travelers are too picky to put up with that trash of an aircraft.

Donno. I basically refuse to fly through ORD except for very short windows in spring and fall. I'm also very wary of PHL in winter and summer.

Yes, I actually did see what I think was one of the re-activated E-140's yesterday at LGA......it was still in the old AE livery which caught my eye.

Same here. I�ll avoid a connection in the northeast/CLT if at all possible. Prefer DFW, and will do ORD outside of winter if necessary. Even so much as to route DFW-MIA/LAX if need be. I get that people connect all the time for TATL in the NE (or CLT), and have no problems. I�d rather not take the chance in winter and be overly cautious. If that means a little longer travel time, I�m alright with that. I also prefer the slightly longer flight over the pond as there is more time for sleep.

If it were some emergency and I had to go in economy, then by all means I�m taking the shortest hop over possible. Can�t imagine that scenario for myself though.

Not with free elite upgrades, they didn't.

FWIW, my issue with EWR primarily relates to delays, and to a lesser extent more difficult access (mostly the terrible NJ Transit train schedule), but clearly that's a YMMV situation. With zero traffic, I'm actually a little closer to EWR than JFK (on the UWS), but it's still just more complicated getting to/from EWR.

I was on a pair back and forth between LGA and CMH last month. If I wanted Frontier, I would have flown Frontier.

I think you're generally right.

That being said, at JFK, LAX, MIA and ORD, there are classy flagship lounges. LAX also has the Qantas First lounge. Those airports have airlines flying to destinations all over the world and (with the exception of ORD) are modern, airy, and well maintained. They seem like places to start an exciting journey. The traveler from the 50's would sense the same vibe in the air (although that same traveler might think an E140 is an upgrade to their old seat!).

In contrast, PHL and CLT are hubs to connect and catch a plane. They're efficient (at least CLT) and fine but hardly a place with the same vibe as the other locations. Maybe its that they were LUS. DFW is somewhere in between.

Like ATL, the "New York of the South"... I think you're right though, maybe it's the history of JFK especially or nostalgia or what have you..., but it's interesting to see how the psychology affects people's bookings. I guess AA thinks otherwise...

I will agree only that CLT is primarily a hub for AA. This is why the Europe O&D has been hit or miss there.

But ORD, DFW and MIA are AA mega hubs which - like PHL - also have strong O&D like JFK and LAX. In addition - thanks to the US Airways build up of TA routes at PHL in the 10-15 years prior to the merger, it also has more AA European destinations than JFK, and has a flagship lounge "coming soon" (according to https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...hip-lounge.jsp).

So while I get the nostalgic, romantic JFK to anywhere fixation (if you're a NY area resident), there are many PHL area residents who embark on a romantic transatlantic journey from terminal A-West, which opened around the same time as the renovated JFK T8.

But, in the bigger picture - 99% of the passengers on those flights probably picked it for price point above all else and not the psychological debate of which airport will be a better departure point....especially when you have a family of 3-4 people where the savings can mean a few extra days of vacation.

I remember flying this on E170/5s.

I was looking a trip this month and it makes me happy that I'm leaving this market. Used to be predominantly 2 class E170/5s.

Is an ERJ 140 in coach really any worse than a CRJ 200? (Or even 700/900 in coach if you can't get the upgrade?) At least you have the option of the single-seat on the 140. I think all but small roll-aboards need to be valet checked on both.

Agree that the 175/190s are pretty great in general.