MSP Increased Capacity?
Oct 26, 2007 | 8:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: AA Plat Pto, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,593
MSP Increased Capacity?
Any plans in the short/long term to increase capacity MSP-ORD/DTW? Two of my last three trips I have had to book away from NW because they did not have reasonable routing. One was a Monday flight booked two weeks out and there was no availability to be found on my ORD-MSP leg on any airline. I ended up going LEX-CLT-MSP on US just because that was where the seat was. The other trip is an upcoming trip for mid-December MSP-LEX. nwa.com's suggestion was MSP-MDW-DTW-LEX, that trip ended up on AA because I was not looking to spend the day in the air this time. I only take to the sky monthly but it seems like there is an opportunity to profitably add some more seats to these routes.
Oct 26, 2007 | 9:25 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,884
MSP-ORD is operated daily with 10 flights, all utilizing mainline aircraft with at least 100 seats per aircraft (most have 124 or more seats). That's a lot of seats each day.
MSP-DTW is operated daily with 16 flights, all utilizing mainline aircraft, many of which are 757s with at least 182 seats per flight. That's a lot of seats each day.
You can search by schedule on NWA.com and select flights that only have one connection (or no connections seeing as you're in MSP). You may pay more for them, though. That's the consequence of having all that frequency of non-stop flights. You pay more for being able to choose from that many flights per day.
Good luck.
MSP-DTW is operated daily with 16 flights, all utilizing mainline aircraft, many of which are 757s with at least 182 seats per flight. That's a lot of seats each day.
You can search by schedule on NWA.com and select flights that only have one connection (or no connections seeing as you're in MSP). You may pay more for them, though. That's the consequence of having all that frequency of non-stop flights. You pay more for being able to choose from that many flights per day.
Good luck.
Oct 27, 2007 | 9:45 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: Fallen Plats, ex-WN CP, DYKWIW; still PAL Premier Elite & Hilton Diamond
Posts: 25,429
I fly to Chicago (ORD & MDW) every couple weeks. There seems to be plenty of capacity; in fact they recently reduced (now restored) a daily flight to/from MDW. The fares are very competitive -- $125 the last time I looked, we're still flying a bunch of $59 tickets I purchased a while back.
If the Chicago area is your destination, also take a loot at MKE & especially MDW and maybe RFD.
UA & AA also flight there direct, DL connects to ORD thru CVG/ATL/SLC & to MDW thru ATL.
DTW is often tighter but NW has routed us through ORD & MDW number of times when we were travelling between MSP & DTW.
If the Chicago area is your destination, also take a loot at MKE & especially MDW and maybe RFD.
UA & AA also flight there direct, DL connects to ORD thru CVG/ATL/SLC & to MDW thru ATL.
DTW is often tighter but NW has routed us through ORD & MDW number of times when we were travelling between MSP & DTW.
Oct 29, 2007 | 3:41 pm
#4
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Madison, WI, USA; NW Platinum, Marriott Silver, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 938