Discontinuing CMH service :(
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 258
Discontinuing CMH service :(
As someone who just became an Ascent member exclusively from flying between TTN and CMH, I'm very angry that they are discontinuing the service. I guess I should be happy I was able to take advantage of the cheap flights while I did... I guess it's back to United's $161 RT weekend fares out of EWR.
Never flew Frontier before and never will again. RIP...
Never flew Frontier before and never will again. RIP...
Last edited by markraby; Nov 13, 2013 at 1:37 am
#2




Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Denver,CO, USA
Posts: 850
So are you saying that you only fly one route so you will never have occasion to fly them again or are you saying that you are planning to punish them for dropping an obscure route by choosing not to fly them when you have a choice?
#3


Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 140
If TTN continues to grow, this may come back. However, I don't think it's surprising that this one was going to go by the boards once they introduced service to Cincinnati.
(Yes, I know, these days, Columbus is a much bigger city. But unlike CVG, CMH was never a hub.)
One other thing about CVG - the last couple of times I had business out there, my company made me fly to Dayton (I flew out of PHL) because the fare was $300 cheaper. Since I had to rent a car, and it is only about 75 minutes from DAY to downtown Cincy, I haven't actually flown into the Cincetucky airport in a long time.
(Yes, I know, these days, Columbus is a much bigger city. But unlike CVG, CMH was never a hub.)
One other thing about CVG - the last couple of times I had business out there, my company made me fly to Dayton (I flew out of PHL) because the fare was $300 cheaper. Since I had to rent a car, and it is only about 75 minutes from DAY to downtown Cincy, I haven't actually flown into the Cincetucky airport in a long time.
#4


Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,943
#6
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,120
I was surprised they never gave it TLC. 2x weekly is too little. It needed 4x weekly. While CVG and CLE have a good purpose for TTN, F9 should have given CMH an increase as well, rather than dump it for IND and BNA, which are going to be longer routes where they might run into some difficulties with higher costs and difficulty selling profitably.
Or perhaps it could have moved the flight to ILG. This would give ILG Ohio essentially via CMH, while TTN has it via CVG and CLE.
I suppose the Columbus based pax gets screwed, but the TTN-CMH route was intended more for the TTN based pax.
Are you NJ based or Columbus based? I expect many that are NJ based that flew TTN-CMH will still fly Frontier but to either CVG or CLE and rent a car to get to Columbus if necessary.
Or perhaps it could have moved the flight to ILG. This would give ILG Ohio essentially via CMH, while TTN has it via CVG and CLE.
I suppose the Columbus based pax gets screwed, but the TTN-CMH route was intended more for the TTN based pax.
As someone who just became an Ascent member exclusively from flying between TTN and CMH, I'm very angry that they are discontinuing the service. I guess I should be happy I was able to take advantage of the cheap flights while I did... I guess it's back to United's $161 RT weekend fares out of EWR.
Never flew Frontier before and never will again. RIP...
Never flew Frontier before and never will again. RIP...
Last edited by rtalk25; Nov 13, 2013 at 6:24 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 258
I was surprised they never gave it TLC. 2x weekly is too little. It needed 4x weekly. While CVG and CLE have a good purpose for TTN, F9 should have given CMH an increase as well, rather than dump it for IND and BNA, which are going to be longer routes where they might run into some difficulties with higher costs and difficulty selling profitably.
However, in chatting with fellow pax and overhearing conversations, it seemed few of them were actually heading to/from Columbus. A lot of them talked about the long journey they still had after arriving at CMH to get to Cleveland or Cincinnati (or Dayton, Sandusky, etc).
Are you NJ based or Columbus based? I expect many that are NJ based that flew TTN-CMH will still fly Frontier but to either CVG or CLE and rent a car to get to Columbus if necessary.
At the end of the day, I was surprised that they even offered the TTN-CMH service in the first place. I suspect the Columbus airport authority gave them some kind of nice incentive to try it out. I know that my needs, which happened to align perfectly with the route, were probably a very unique case. At least I got to take advantage of it while it lasted.
#8
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: new zealand
Posts: 530
Frontier struggled with CMH from the git-go, and shortly before it started it was selling so poorly they offered $15 one way fares in an effort to get butts on seats. It achieved this goal, but no-one is making money on that kind of fare. It did better in high summer, and with somewhat better fares, but that isn't enough to keep it year round.
So I was further surprised when they initially scheduled it through the winter, thinking perhaps they knew something I didn't, or were seeing numbers I wasn't, but in the end the cancellation came as no surprise to me.
#9
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 556
I was surprised. It was the only one of the first non-Florida cities that I didn't understand.
Frontier struggled with CMH from the git-go, and shortly before it started it was selling so poorly they offered $15 one way fares in an effort to get butts on seats. It achieved this goal, but no-one is making money on that kind of fare. It did better in high summer, and with somewhat better fares, but that isn't enough to keep it year round.
So I was further surprised when they initially scheduled it through the winter, thinking perhaps they knew something I didn't, or were seeing numbers I wasn't, but in the end the cancellation came as no surprise to me.
Frontier struggled with CMH from the git-go, and shortly before it started it was selling so poorly they offered $15 one way fares in an effort to get butts on seats. It achieved this goal, but no-one is making money on that kind of fare. It did better in high summer, and with somewhat better fares, but that isn't enough to keep it year round.
So I was further surprised when they initially scheduled it through the winter, thinking perhaps they knew something I didn't, or were seeing numbers I wasn't, but in the end the cancellation came as no surprise to me.
#10
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: new zealand
Posts: 530
I don't know what specific date you're looking at, but I'm seeing $49 (one way), especially on Wednesdays.
Sales won't start picking up for another three or four weeks - it's still more than two months out and the big seller CVG-DEN is still (mostly) wide open for February.
Still, it's a new management in about ten days and sales tactics could change. :-)
#11
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,120
I think the Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule for a city is far more attractive than the Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule.
The latter doesn't permit a good weekend trip, esp. if Monday requires a day off of work, which is an atypical day to take off of work, or work from home, when meetings typically occur. College students also generally have class on Monday.
Also, the Wednesday flight is unlikely to be profitable and it will still sell for $49 the week or sometimes day before the flight.
In May and June, the TTN-CLE schedule becomes a M, W, Thu, F, although the service runs in the evening. Maybe pax will fly one way, and can drive back on Sunday.
United specials between EWR/PHL and CLE generally prohibit Sunday travel, and F9's low fare flights were attractive on that front.
TTN-CVG though switches to the better schedule in May and June from MWF to Su, Tu, Thu
Hopefully F9 gets another plane that it can dedicate for a Sunday TTN-CLE and CLE-TTN, along with other flights. Otherwise CLE might struggle.
The latter doesn't permit a good weekend trip, esp. if Monday requires a day off of work, which is an atypical day to take off of work, or work from home, when meetings typically occur. College students also generally have class on Monday.
Also, the Wednesday flight is unlikely to be profitable and it will still sell for $49 the week or sometimes day before the flight.
In May and June, the TTN-CLE schedule becomes a M, W, Thu, F, although the service runs in the evening. Maybe pax will fly one way, and can drive back on Sunday.
United specials between EWR/PHL and CLE generally prohibit Sunday travel, and F9's low fare flights were attractive on that front.
TTN-CVG though switches to the better schedule in May and June from MWF to Su, Tu, Thu
Hopefully F9 gets another plane that it can dedicate for a Sunday TTN-CLE and CLE-TTN, along with other flights. Otherwise CLE might struggle.
Last edited by rtalk25; Nov 22, 2013 at 1:13 pm
#12
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 27
This is so disappointing. I'm Columbus-based and was flying this route 1-2x/monthly due to a family situation in New Jersey. I was previously spending 400/flight to make these trips. I won't be able to drive to Cleveland or Cincinnati so I guess it's time to start saving up again!
Thanks for posting this, I hadn't heard of it yet.
#13
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,120
This is so disappointing. I'm Columbus-based and was flying this route 1-2x/monthly due to a family situation in New Jersey. I was previously spending 400/flight to make these trips. I won't be able to drive to Cleveland or Cincinnati so I guess it's time to start saving up again!
Thanks for posting this, I hadn't heard of it yet.You could probably do CMH-BWI on WN, and then take Amtrak up also. It should be less than $400 all in as well.
But, WN is charging $102 WGA lowest getaway for CMH-BWI in January and February. I remember Southwest used to sell short-haul flights out of BWI for much less.
Last edited by rtalk25; Nov 27, 2013 at 9:57 am

