What is everybody's experience on flying into/out of EFD in Houston on CO?

It's a runway next to a shack that has an e>service machine and a coffee maker. What do you want to know?

How about parking car there?
I heard it has free parking, right?

Until recently, I lived just 3 miles from EFD, and flew CO with EFD as the origination/destination point about 30 RTs per year, so I'll see if I can help:

1. EFD is served only CO Express to IAH; the terminal is a decent "office-type" trailer, with good A/C, a color TV, adequate seating, restrooms, and payphones.

2. Parking is ample and free, but there is no security whatsoever -- no fence, no gate, no personnel anywhere nearby after the last flight of the night arrives (as far as I could tell). The location of the lot is very far from any main road, so it would seem prone to breakins or thefts. That said, I never actually heard of any such crimes at EFD parking.

I owned a 15 yr old, fairly low value car -- which I always parked at EFD for days at a time, with no problems or worries about my car -- you folks with expensive cars might have plenty to worry about.

3. Whether you park your car or have someone drop you off, the proximity to the ticket counter is outstanding -- a dream come true.

4. Both checkin and security are fast -- a dream compared to checkin/security at IAH.

5. The whole low-key feeling of the place is so refreshing compared to the maddening crowds/hustle/size/etc of places like IAH.

6. Connecting between CO Express and mainline CO jets will involve a fast frequent shuttle, along with a pretty healthy walk. If you're connecting to a jungle jet, I believe they're all in the same terminal as the EFD-IAH turboprop., so you avoid both the shuttle and walk.

7. Some people like to include EFD in a CO mileage run for the extra miles/segments and therefore make it a "quick turnaround" point for such runs. This can be exceedingly dangerous from a logistics point of view, esp. if you have a tight connection following your EFD turnaround. The reason is this:

If anything is amiss during daily CO Express operations, the IAH-EFD flight is the first to be cancelled, often for long durations. Examples of such a trigger would be weather in Houston (just rain or clouds will do it, I'm not talking ice or hurricanes), any aircraft down for maintenance, and crew shortage, etc. In my heavy usage of EFD (all as my actual origin/destination point), the flight was cancelled about 65 % of the time.

When the flight is cancelled CO Express will "usually" provide a hired van (typically 6 passengers) to replace the cancelled flight.

If you're actually beginning a flight at EFD (like me), this worked out OK, although the van(s) usually departed EFD well before the scheduled flight time -- we always made it to IAH on time for the connection.

If you're actually ending a flight at EFD (like me), this worked OK, although you will be pooled with other cancelled EFD passengers into a van and you may have to wait for them to retrieve checked bags before your entire group can depart IAH for EFD (even if you only have carryons).

If you're doing a mileage run, using EFD as the endpoint (which was not my case), there will simply not be sufficient time using the van to physically get from IAH to EFD and back to IAH to make your mainline CO jet return connection. If you try it, I'm sure your possibly complex, nested mileage run with carefully chosen/upgraded seats will be thrown into chaos.

I've read here that mileage runners, simply then skip the EFD portions, and explain to the IAH agents what they're doing, preserving the mainline reservations, etc., and then later obtaining mileage credit for the EFD flights not flown.

However, at Gordo's "new" Continental, agents may not take such a kind view of mileage runners, esp. deviating from their ticketed itineraries (ie, no waivers or favors). They "could" insist the traveller complete all the onward segments (including the substituted EFD van-for-flight segments).

Yes, I know many folks have had no such problems "in the past" doing an EFD mileage run with cancellations, but -- what will it be like "going forward" ?

PS: I'm sure CO loses plenty of money on the EFD-IAH service, whether they're using a airplane or a hired van for any given flight. It was a wonderful convenience for me, but I'm frankly surprised CO Express still offers the service.

I hope this helps.

Additionally, I believe the EFD service will be operated with ERJs starting sometime next month for those of you who can't stand the thought of an 8 minute flight on a turboprop.

hsmythe

Thank you for taking the time to post such an extensive review of EFD. I, as well as other FT'ers, appreciate the detailed information.

Your FT friend,
-eastwest

PS -- With such a great post like this being only your 9th post -- Please consider posting more often!

Why does CO fly IAH-EFD at all? Haven't they thought about making it like EWR-ABE (bus)?

I have parked a nice car at EDF many times without problems.

There is a lot of law enforcement activity at EFD. Do not be fooled. EFD is quite secure.

EFD also is the home of some military aircraft. I remember vaguely reading somewhere that George Dubya Bush actually worked at EFD at one time after he graduated from college.

I used to take flights to/from EFD all the time when I lived in Houston.

THE FLIGHTS WOULD GET CANCELLED ALL THE TIME!

I agree with hsmythe. For that reason I would avoid this segment because of all the aggravation you'll have to put up with. The extra 500 miles ain't worth it. You can always connect later in your interinary if you want the extra segments.

They used to have a bus run btw HOU-IAH. You got a segment and 500 miles.

It is odd to see air service that looks remarkably like DAL-GSW service, back in the regulated days, before DFW was built.

Why the heck does CO fly this route? They axed IAH-HOU, which I would think is more useful than IAH-EFD.

The distance between HOU and EFD is just a matter of a few miles and about 10 minutes along Hwy 45.

I think the REAL reason that CO continues this route is to provide a mini 'regional' airport to those folks living in Galveston/Clear Lake area.

All of the astronauts use EFD as a departure/return point when going to Cape Canaveral for Shuttle launches or training.

Which brings up a question: How close is EFD to NASA HQ? Maybe CO operate these flights because NASA employees use them. JMHO.

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The perfect ladies' man is a perfect gentleman.

EFD is about five miles or so from NASA. And yes, many of the people on those flights work for NASA or the other Clear Lake area aerospace firms.

I live about the same distance from EFD as IAH, and frequently use EFD for personal flights because of the free parking and extra segments. I've never had a flight cancel or be late, although I've heard a lot of stories of that happening, especially during bad weather (so far I've only flown the shuttle in good weather). I imagine that the ERJs will improve reliability somewhat when they start the route next month.

As for why the flight is flown, a lot of it comes down to convenience and competing with WN at HOU. Because EFD is such a small operation, and so many of the passengers who use those flights live within 10 miles of the airport, there are many times of the day that it is faster to go to EFD, fly to IAH, and have a layover there than it is to drive across Houston to IAH and have a longer wait due to longer checkin and security lines. The free parking close to the terminal is an added plus.