coplatua1k

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...airline-giants


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RustyC

In related news, I notice there's now a checkbox on the booking screens where you have to acknowledge you realize that it's a 6+ hour layover (or a connection on the next day) if you want to add the connecting flight to an itin-in-progress.

And from cities like ATL there seem to be a LOT of long and overnight layovers in DEN to make it possible to go to onward cities. I don't think that'll go over well...it'll be a real test of how much people are willing to do to save money, and I predict lots of pictures of people sleeping over in the airport (as if it were snowed in or something).

With a city like ATL it means fewer non-stops to various places and only 2 flights a day to/from DEN (one of which arrives too late to catch connections), so the net effect appears to be a real retreat. When you would think the plan is to make it so that they can open up a lot of places like ELP or RNO that you can go FROM cities like ATL via DEN that wouldn't otherwise be good candidates for non-stop service. The schedule isn't lining up well for making that a reality, though.

Am sure they don't want to be known as "Frontier: The Sleep-in-the-Airport Airline!"

rsteinmetz70112

They have never had much service from ATL and this actually represents an expansion, However other Airlines serve Atlanta better.

I understand that a few years ago Frontier had designs on ATL as an East Coast mini hub but were blocked from acquiring the needed gates by Delta. Since then Frontier has cut back service from ATL, for example dropping ATL to MSY, which also has service to Denver, It made a nice triangle and when operating seemed to be well used.

wallyboag

The long connection times in DEN are not just isolated to ATL either. We are flying to STL from SNA and have a 7.5 hour layover going out and a 10 hour layover (overnight) returning. We plan on taking the train to downtown Denver on the way out, maybe ubering over to Casa Bonita for lunch. Overnight, we will be spending the night at a friend's house in Denver. It works for us, but people are probably typically less willing to venture out of the airport during a layover than we are.

I looked into SNA-MCO but again, the connection times just made it not viable. Instead we are going to drive in to LAX. The direct LAX-MCO red eye works much better timing wise, however we would gladly pay more to depart from SNA if it was available. A much easier airport to fly out of.

They are going to have to work on their connection times if they want to use DEN as a hub for most travelers. If we weren't familiar with Denver and didn't enjoy quick day trips out of the airport, we would have booked these flights with another airline.

HomerJay

They're also trying a one-stop from IAD to ONT and back.

On this one, it's IAD-SAT-ONT-SAT-IAD with a brief (maybe 50 minute) stopover in San Antonio each way and no change of planes.

Means you leave IAD at 615am and get into ONT at 1110am

And you leave ONT at 1155am and get back into IAD at 935pm.

The no change of planes and reasonable layover make it tolerable, even if the seats, add-on fees, and lack of amenities might dampen your enthusiasm.

RobS

The Cleveland paper says F9 will add additional destinations at CLE this fall to permit connections.

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/inde...rt_river_index

N830MH

Good! That way those customers want to connect the flight. It is the right thing to do. They want to put on the next flight out. It's very easy way to do it.