BasedinCLE

I had a chuckle this morning when I was checking the status of my upcoming CLE-ORD flight. The United website says I'm leaving from Concourse D. I'll guess I'll have to break through the big "Cleveland" poster they have blocking the entrance to the concourse. I can see the headline in the Plain Dealer now.

What adds to the nonsense is that I'm on a A319, which would have never left from D when it was open. Oh well, another example of United's outstanding website.

I tried to post a screen shot of the status, but can't seem to get it to work here on Flyertalk.

SFO777

Here you go. Ha, good one.

nevansm

Three points:

I do agree that they need to bite the bullet and get D connected to the terminal, somehow shorten the walk. However, that all relies on UA willing to sublease the gates to another airline. If they don't want to budge, it won't happen. I also don't know the sizing of the D concourse for mainline aircraft and if it's even feasible. Certainly the south portion of the gates where the Qs and Beaches used to park isn't really fit for mainline parking, which leaves maybe what 8 gates usable on the north side after you remove one or two for spacing for mainline.

I disagree that FLL is convenient. While it's more convenient than it used to be (all companies off site, separate shuttle), it's not really "across the street" unless you're in the terminal that UA happens to be in. You still have to take a shuttle, which can take forever and is always packed. Truthfully, If it's not literally right outside the arrivals level for everybody, it's not "on-site". There are extreme examples like LAS and PHX whose car rental centers are MILES away from the terminal and take 7-10 minutes. The CLE bus usually takes less than 5 minutes and isn't ever packed (when I've ridden it).

Lastly, I think the cosmetic changes will be nice and will be more inviting for the RNC and future passengers. A little bit of natural light, and warmer colors can do wonders for somebody beginning their journey. As an example, do you feel better departing LGA CTB or DCA B/C gates?

entropy

did anyone go to this?
http://www.clevelandairport.com/burk...mation-session

I'd love to have PD fly YTZ-BKL....

UAzip

CO said that D could accommodate 737s--at least the ones they had in 1999 when the building opened. Not sure if that meant with or without tweaking. If it would require extensive tweaking, then why bother mentioning it.

To be fair to the web site, it's someplace back-end that feeds the flifo to the web site and app. The new web site reports the same information about the CLE-ORD leaving from D tomorrow.

paule123

Hard to find solid info about the 20 year Burke master plan... I did find this useless local NPR story about it:
http://wviz.ideastream.org/news/20-y...efront-airport

Some architectural renderings here:
http://www.vaakins.com/public--burke-lakefront.html

I get the impression BKL isn't going to be turned into Millennium Park anytime soon.

FreqFlyerCLE

New to FT and wanted my first post to be in this thread. I miss CO and the hub days but I am happy that CLE still has many flight options on UA. Is CLE considered a "Focus City" for UA or just a destination?

ctownflyer

Destination.
Source: https://www.united.com/WEB/en-us/Con...s/default.aspx

Don't get used to having many flight options on UA from CLE. Many of the non-hub routes that were leftover probably won't be around for long.

RNE

And some of the hub routes will disappear too, methinks.

RNE, glad to hear another reasonable voice singing my dirge, but I'm surprised it's you, ctownflyer, rounding out the duet.

ctownflyer

Here is where we disagree

That being said, if AA, B6, or VX picks up LAX/LGB/SFO then who knows.

I haven't changed my stance: http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/57125

RNE

I love the CLE-XXX non-stops. They make our preferred quick-getaway vacations doable. Was just on CLE-LAX-CLE. In a fortnight we'll be on CLE-SFO-CLE. But it's telling that the CLE-to-hub frequency is down, the departure times suck for leisure travel, and the equipment is ho-hum, though that's nothing new.

However, there's no reason UA needs to fly a paltry 154 pax non-stop to the West Coast once or twice a day. Indeed, such westward traffic (LAX & SFO) can instead connect at ORD or IAH.

RNE, observing that UA flies from CAK to only one of its hubs. Does neighboring CLE really justify non-stops to more than four hubs? EWR, IAD, IAH and ORD are plenty. Even IAD is a stretch.

ctownflyer

If UA dropped LAX and SFO then AA and/or VX would add them, so UA wouldn't get any of that traffic.

Why is it worth 1 flight a day for AA to fly LAX-CMH/DTW/IAD/PIT? Because there's local demand for the flights, simple as that.

UA has the benefit of local demand for LAX/SFO in addition to connecting points on the west coast and TPAC.

Also PMCO didn't have any flights to CAK. Though CAK grows to 2 UA hubs served later this year in response to the WN pullout.

RNE

All demand can be met via connections.

Huh!? What other hub!? EWR, I hope.

bajrbajr

take a look at CAK schedule starting late September...
they are adding 2 flights a day to EWR!

I made a lot of trips from CAK over the past few years when CLE prices were (hub-captive) high. The trade-off in using CAK was the lack of routing options. SDC was very difficult to secure.

FreqFlyerCLE

If LGA perimeter rule were changed, I think LGA-CLE via UAX would be dropped. Now, however, there are at least 6 flights LGA-CLE, for which I'm grateful.