AA ending all service to ISP (Long Island-Islip) and ITH (Ithaca, NY)
 

As posted by xliioper in the thread about the ending of AA service to TOL, AA has announced that it is ending all service to ISP and ITH, as well.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34349882-post34.html

This is especially sad news for Ithaca, where Mohawk Airlines (which was bought by Allegheny Airlines, which became USAir, which became US Airways, which now trades as AA) was founded -- as Robinson Airlines -- in the 1940's. Companies that ended up as today's AA have been serving Ithaca for ¾ of a century. What a shame!

Drat! I have an award booking, ITH-PHL-MSY, in January. It's booked from ITH because I have a lot of award miles -- most earned with US -- and AA pulled out of ELM a while ago.

It's off to SYR or ROC (or maybe even AVP) for you, I'm afraid.

If you're based in Ithaca, OurBus offers daily service from Downtown Ithaca to SYR Airport and to ROC Airport, both in the early afternoon. If you're based in Elmira, things are more problematic.

With the new partnership, AA might be willing to re-route you on B6, if you prefer.

I'm in Elmira. SYR is actually a little closer than ROC, but it's a more difficult drive, a consideration in the winter. ROC is all Interstate highway. Adding to the fun, all of the routings from either airport have extremely tight connections. As it's an award flight, I could also cancel it and book with DL from ELM, but that requires connecting at both DTW and ATL. Double drat.

If you're willing to pay cash, Southwest offers single-connection service to MSY from both ROC and SYR. ;)

This is pretty disappointing news. I have a couple of ITH trips already booked for the fall. What normally happens in this case, will they flat out cancel and refund or will I be able to choose any alternative flights in nearby airports? I haven't received cancel/change notifications yet, will that happen automatically or is it better to call now before seats start vanishing?

I expect that you might have to wait until AA stops selling flights to/from ITH for the period after the cancellation date. Then, research your alternatives on aa.com (SYR is the closest airport that will have AA service), and then contact AA to let them know what your re-routing preferences are.

FYI: Among major airports, PHL is about a four-hour drive to ITH; EWR is about 10 minutes closer.

I'm considering EWR for the Spain trip that I wrote about in another thread, but it's not in the middle of the winter. For a nonstop flight, it would have to be UA, on which I don't have a heap of award miles. To my mind, PHL is a more unpleasant drive, but AA's mileage rate for J on that route is a relative bargain.

Given how a bulk of the flights from ISP are to Florida, I've always been surprised that AA could not make ISP/CLT work.

Did they ever try? I only remember ISP-PHL flights in recent years. That said, unless you can fly nonstop from ISP, you're just better off flying into JFK/LGA and driving, as it will probably be cheaper and faster than making a connection.

No, they never tried. AA inherited the ISP -> PHL from UsAir. I had heard rumblings of a flight from ISP to CLT or RDU from people who claimed inside information but nothing materialized.

This move will probably be the end of my relationship with AA. AA’s offerings out of JFK are next to nothing, I now fly Delta when I take the train to JFK. LGA is too difficult to get to for me to make it a viable alternative.

I have to wonder once all the E145 go away if SBY will survive. The home of the original Henson Aviation acquired by Alleghany and a 145 maintenance base for years.

While it would take a little longer to get to LGA by train, it's not that much longer. The LIRR takes about 10 minutes to get from Jamaica to Woodside, where you can catch the (free) Q70-SBS bus to LGA. That bus makes one stop at the big Jackson Heights subway station, and then operates nonstop to LGA. So if LGA makes sense on a particular trip (whether on AA or DL), I think that public transportation could still work for you.

I’ve taken the Q70 to LGA from Woodside too many times to count. It isn’t free, but the cost is nominal in the big scheme of things. However, most trains don’t stop at Woodside which requires a change of trains at Jamaica Westbound and patiently waiting for a Eastbound that stops at Woodside to then transfer at Jamaica to the train I need. When the construction at LGA Central Terminal was in progress the Q70 was so jammed with airport employees I swore I would never ride it again.

You are correct, the Q70 is an option, but after suffering thru marginal service for too many trips I simply don’t ride it any longer.

Understood, and that's certainly your decision to make.

The Q70, however, is free now:

https://bustime.mta.info/m/?q=Q70-SBS

(This is a recent change.)