WeekendTraveler

In the 1990s, I recall that the DC-NY-Boston Shuttles were popular; regular mainline planes (although with "Shuttle Class" seating) were used on US Airways, and I believe that US Airways promised that if a flight was full, it would roll out an additional plane, even for just one passenger. Flights seemed to be every hour.

Now, flights are on regional jets and there are large blocks of time when there are no Shuttle flights.

What gives? Has Amtrak just gained a lot of market share due to the Acela? Is the Shuttle not profitable?

It would be great if AA and Amtrak would have a code-sharing arrangement; for example, there is a 3-hour gap on Saturday afternoon when there are no Shuttle flights from Washington to NY, so I'd prefer to just take the Acela instead of waiting in the airport (due to a layover).

Thanks.

SFTNYC

Saturdays were always low frequency on the shuttle - they would run every other hour or every third hour, first flight of the day was later in the morning and last flight of the day was earlier in the evening. Same with Sunday mornings.

I first made elite from a year of heavy US Airways Shuttle flying in the early 2000s and was a frequent user for many years after. The "Shuttle" product has had a long decline (including AA dropping the "Shuttle" marketing and giving LGA-BOS over to JetBlue). It was viewed as a "checklist item" for big corporate accounts in the NY/Boston/DC area, and pre-COVID those markets had a lot of day trippers (many booking day of) which supported high frequency (and high fares), and thus more amenities. Acela ate into some of this (especially in DC, with a 2h45m trip time, versus Boston which is nearly 4 hours), and some of the decline must be fewer day-tripping business travelers.

In its heyday you had a number of features which have been discontinued over the years. Dedicated single class aircraft and "extra sections" have been gone since the early 2000s (full flights in the mornings and evenings, but running very light loads in the middle of the day). You also used to have dedicated gates with workstations, free coffee/newspapers in the gate area, open bar on board, rear deplaning, etc. Some features still exist (e.g. on Delta the "memory schedule," shorter check-in times and free cocktails in Y), but it is largely unrecognizable from the product of 20 years ago.

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AlwaysAisle

Another thing I have noticed living in the Northeast is a change of corporate locations. Back in '60s. '70s and '80s corporate office location meant downtown location. Shuttle service does work competitively well if a majority of business day trips were between Manhattan in New York City to downtown Boston or D.C. But slowly corporate moved its office location to a suburb outside of the city. The company I currently work for in Boston originally started in Cambridge, MA location very close to downtown Boston but currently at Waltham (outskirt of Boston) in a very nice building. When I worked in New York City area the company location was in Westchester county and when coworkers had business trips to the Boston area the destination was usually a suburb of Boston, not a downtown location. It was often more convenient and efficient to drive to Boston than consider Shuttle service. I think suburb to suburb trips became more common for DC/NYC/Boston business trips and the Shuttle service became less convenient.

CLT

I don't think US had that extra section policy since the 1990s...it was Delta who had the policy last, and I think they eliminated it in 2005 or so.

Really up until COVID hit, the schedules were largely the same as they had been (except for Saturdays/Sundays) but the frills have slowly been taken away except for the free wine and beer, and sampling of crappy magazines in the gate areas of DCA/LGA/BOS.

Amenities were quite good on the US Shuttle until around 2003 or so...Bagels in the morning, deli-meals during lunch/dinner hours (sandwich or salad with chips, cookie, and bottle of water), fresh fruit and other "gourmet" snacks during non-meal hours, Fox News on the overhead monitors that was updated twice daily, more legroom, and of course free wine/beer. Most of those amenities went away when the Shuttle ceased to exist in the single-class configuration in 2004 when they started using standard mainline aircraft, although the morning bagels lasted a couple years longer before being turned into this gross donut bar they used to serve.

One thing I did like is how they would deplane through both 1L/2L at DCA, and several shuttle gate areas in the terminal were equipped with staircases to implement this.

futuramadramallama

Indeed! Though, hasn't that trend started going the other direction in the last few years? I don't know to what extent (perhaps not significantly so), but referring to say, McDonalds, Caterpillar, GE, and UBS to name a few. (Disclaimer: not all of those are in the Northeastern corridor.)

USFlyerUS

US had it, too. I was on one once when the 7 a.m. DCA-LGA was full. They pulled up another plane and added a 7:30 section.

EXP100

Yes it's hard to imagine today that you got that all in Y (of course there was only Y) on a flight with air time of about 35 minutes.

TravelerMSY

I imagine having to be at the airport sooner post 9/11 probably killed the shuttle.

platbrownguy

The check-in deadline was still only 20 minutes prior to departure (on some Shuttle routes at least) right up until they killed it. What was it (assuming you had to check in at all?) prior to 9/11?

NYC Flyer

There is at least a perception of increased and/or unpredictable security lines post 9/11, even if the stated minimum of 20 min survived.

More broadly, other possible factors include increase in traffic delays getting to/from airport (def applies mid-town to LGA) and speed, reliability and comfort improvements on Acela. The train has definitely eaten more into the LGA-DCA route, but BOS has certainly been affected too.

I suspect that costs of operating the shuttles have grown faster than average fares as well, reducing incentives to invest in a robust/differentiated product and schedule.

IADCAflyer

Amtrak has definitely taken a bite out of the WAS-NYC and NYC-BOS markets - moreso the WAS-NYC market. Acela is 3 hours gate to gate from Union Station to Penn Station and puts you downtown on both ends. WAS-BOS on Acela is 7 hours. The difference in time makes train travel unappealing when "shuttle" is 90 minutes.

Unimatrix One

I remember when Eastern flew widebody A300s on the LGA-BOS shuttle...

lrdpenn

Took a LGA-DCA this month and was surprised rear deplaning was offered. I guess this is the last vestige of the shuttle.

tomtaylor23

I second this. As someone who lives in DC, it's easier and quicker (relative to waiting to board, passing security etc.) taking the Acela than taking a short shuttle. Sometime roundtrips via Acela are also cheaper and my employer prefers this over paying to a flight.

lunchtime

Amtrak is just so much nicer. You can work or relax in way more space. Its also very on time compared to the airlines.

These are some very congested and delay prone airports. Delays are often in hours when things go wrong flying. Plus Amtrak is city center to city center not suburb to suburb. Amtrak is just all around better on these routes. The 1990s the shuttles were alot more necessary as amtrak times were alot longer. Acela track work really shortened all the train times on the northeast corridor. Acela just made the Amtrak experience so much better than flying. Plus TSA security has gotten so much more annoying and time consuming. Amtrak wins in every way if your a frequent commuter