Ishrion

American Airlines added (24 seasonal) routes in its latest schedule update according to this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ping-15-cities

"The carrier (AA) is adding 24 seasonal routes in the new schedule to try to capture more leisure passengers traveling from cold weather cities to warmer destinations, including flights to Miami, Phoenix and Mexico, American said in a statement Sunday. Most of the routes will operate on Saturdays."

These have been found available for booking: (credits to the respective people for finding these)

- MIA-MKE Saturday-only E-175
- MIA-PWM Saturday-only E-175
- MIA-ROC Saturday-only E-175
- MIA-DAY Saturday-only E-145
- MIA-LEX Saturday-only E-145
- CUN-CMH Saturday-only A319
- CUN-IND Saturday-only 737-800
- CUN-STL Saturday-only 737-800
- JFK-SJD daily 737-800
- SMF-SJD Saturday-only A319
- PHX-TUL daily CRJ-900
- PHX-BNA 4x weekly A319
- CLT-PVR Satruday-only A319

More routes per OMAAT: https://onemileatatime.com/american-...winter-routes/
- RDU-CUN Saturday-only 737-800
- MCI-CUN Saturday-only 737-800
- PHX-BIL daily CRJ-900
- PHX-BIS daily CRJ-700
- PHX-YYC daily CRJ-900
- PHX-CLE Saturday-only 737-800

According to OMAAT, AUS-SJD was "added" in this wave, but the route was announced last year, however it was delayed due to COVID.

PHX-RDU/PIT/CVG are also apart of this announcement, but they operated last year.

buckeyefanflyer

MayBe the MIA routes should be daily in the winter months.

AANYC1981

Excited about JFK-SJD but can’t tell when this starts....anyone know?

Ishrion

Begins on December 19 and ends on April 5

saltytheseagull

Would've preferred to see IND-MEX/OAX or ACA instead but I understand.

buckeyefanflyer

Saw CLE-PHX on list SAT only 738 not there now?

mvoight

I am guessing CUN is popular due to having less COVID restrictions than other Caribbean destinations. (No test and no quarantine for travelers from the US)

Ishrion

Yes, it's there. Just updated the list.

aztimm

Most of these PHX routes existed at some point in the past (perhaps not AA, but certainly US/HP), except maybe BIS, not sure about CVG (I know DL did PHX-CVG when they had a hub at CVG as I flew that).
I've been on PHX-CLE, RDU, and PIT at least once each. Back in about 2000, I believe HP operated PHX-CLE 3-4x day.

metallo

Nice to see a non-hub flight out of STL, but do people really purposely book Saturday to Saturday trips to ensure their round trip is on the same airline? Given the number of these 1x weekly routes that AA has added, they seem to be banking on leisure travelers doing exactly that!

I would certainly consider flying one of non-hub routes on AA, purely for the novelty if nothing else, but my typical Mexico trips are usually 3-4 days, and I would fly back on the day most convenient for my personal/work schedule... I certainly wouldn't specifically plan a 7 day trip just to take the AA nonstop back to the U.S.

metallo

Will be interesting to see how this works out -- from my winter trips the past several years, Cabo vacationers seem to be mostly from the U.S. west coast, while I hear no shortage of New England accents at Caribbean destinations! I wonder whether there is really demand for even a seasonal daily flight from JFK to SJD.

Additionally, while the nonstop flight potentially saves travel time, 6.5 hours on a 738 is pushing it for me!

BTW, looks like it starts 17 Dec and wraps up for the season on 5 Apr.

GNRMatt

While I don't personally do this, the answer is, yes, many people do this. A LOT of people prefer to take exactly one week off from work, go on a beach/resort style vacation, and going Sat-->Sat allows them to then "recover" on Sunday before going back to work on Monday. That's why airlines do this...because they know they can fill planes like this.

As far as the same airline, most of these people also book on places like Expedia or a travel agent and they just go with the flight they are given or what is cheapest or what is non-stop. Most people are not like FlyerTalkers when choosing their flights.

NYC Flyer

I imagine a good number of seats will be promoted by AAVacations and other package wholesalers as part of a 7-night "deal". Would not be surprised if AA already has vendors lined up to sell packages (perhaps with purchase commitments already in place for a portion of the flight inventory).

AlwaysAisle

Likely not many people make vacation decisions based on availability on non-stop flights as a top key factor. If people want to vacation at Cabo then likely many will not mind a trip itinerary such as,

Saturday:
CMH-SJD

Wednesday:
SJD-DFW-CMH

scubadu

In general and historically, I'd agree with your assessment, but in the current, Covid-19 climate, I'd say it's also possible that some measurable segment of travelers do, in fact, care about non-stop flights where/when possible.

Regards