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Old Apr 27, 2008, 4:35 pm
  #1  
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Opinions on irr-ops?

Hello all,
I'm new to the Bay area and thought I'd ask your opinions of what to do during irr-ops... I will be flying from ORD quite often and have noticed that San Jose and Oakland are potential alternative routes. During Irr-ops have any of you flown into them or used them as a potential alternative or is it a bad idea for reasons unknown to me?
Any general feedback would be greatly appreciated the day things go south
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 4:38 pm
  #2  
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Originally Posted by melampus83
Hello all,
I'm new to the Bay area and thought I'd ask your opinions of what to do during irr-ops... I will be flying from ORD quite often and have noticed that San Jose and Oakland are potential alternative routes. During Irr-ops have any of you flown into them or used them as a potential alternative or is it a bad idea for reasons unknown to me?
Any general feedback would be greatly appreciated the day things go south
OAK and SJC are great backup plans for getting home during irrops. The only issue may be transit from those two airports, depending on whether you drive to SFO and where you live in the City. If your company will cover the cost of cabs, I'd just cab to SFO and cab home from OAK or SJC if irrops hits in ORD.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 4:43 pm
  #3  
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I've been bumped off ORD-OAK and flown ORD-SFO instead. In that case, UA even provided a voucher for ground transport.

Public transit is pretty decent at OAK and SFO, so it only takes about an hour to get between them. You could use public transit from SJC using bus to Caltrain or BART in Fremont, and make it work, but that would be my last option.

Just depends how badly you want to get home. You do need to watch for things like train schedules late at night (midnight BART closure, for instance).
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 6:06 pm
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Another option for you may be WN SFO-MDW and OAK-MDW (both have non-stops).

If you're living in SF, OAK and SFO are both good, but SJ may be a bit more problematic.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 7:22 pm
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At SFO, we don't call them irrops -- they're just ops. On-time arrivals and departures are irregular.

I've had less trouble connecting through ORD than DEN -- DEN is just a disaster, with incredibly rude CSRs on the evening shift (YMMV if you're 1K -- I wouldn't know). Either way, I'd strongly recommend not booking the last flight of the evening to SFO -- it's a sure recipe for disaster.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 7:38 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by PTravel
At SFO, we don't call them irrops -- they're just ops. On-time arrivals and departures are irregular.

I've had less trouble connecting through ORD than DEN -- DEN is just a disaster, with incredibly rude CSRs on the evening shift (YMMV if you're 1K -- I wouldn't know). Either way, I'd strongly recommend not booking the last flight of the evening to SFO -- it's a sure recipe for disaster.
I agree with your comments re DEN, but only with respect to UA's CSR's there. F9 has some good folks and I haven't used WN there but that airline is pretty consistent throughout its network.

SFO ops aren't actually that bad. There are delays when there are clouds over the approach but those delays tend to be a couple of hours. It's more of a problem for people who are connecting at SFO than those who are O&D here. The same thing happens at ORD if the wind blows more than 10 MPH and all of ORD comes to a grinding halt with 4+ hour delays and 50% cancellations the minute a bolt of lightening hits the state of IL. And don't get me started about afternoon ops at EWR even in good weather.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 8:04 pm
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Originally Posted by rjque
I agree with your comments re DEN, but only with respect to UA's CSR's there. F9 has some good folks and I haven't used WN there but that airline is pretty consistent throughout its network.
I should have qualified my comment -- I was referring only to UA.

SFO ops aren't actually that bad. There are delays when there are clouds over the approach but those delays tend to be a couple of hours.
Well, yeah, but a couple of hour delay is, at least in my opinion, pretty irregular.

It's more of a problem for people who are connecting at SFO than those who are O&D here.
I've gotten stranded in DEN a couple of times, and it's chronic problem on my LAX/SFO commute. Even a year ago, when I was doing the same commute, I could count on getting to LAX from SFO and back well within the work day. Now, I always go out or back the day before I need to be somewhere.

The same thing happens at ORD if the wind blows more than 10 MPH and all of ORD comes to a grinding halt with 4+ hour delays and 50% cancellations the minute a bolt of lightening hits the state of IL. And don't get me started about afternoon ops at EWR even in good weather.
New Jersey has an airport?
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 9:41 pm
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Thanks everyone for the comments. The cab is expensed so if it just means a more expensive cab ride I will not have any problems. Great to know they are options (albeit a little far).
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 10:02 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by melampus83
Thanks everyone for the comments. The cab is expensed so if it just means a more expensive cab ride I will not have any problems. Great to know they are options (albeit a little far).
Late at night they aren't really far from SFO at all. SJC is the farthest and adds about 20-25 minutes to the ride.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 10:04 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by PTravel
I should have qualified my comment -- I was referring only to UA.

Well, yeah, but a couple of hour delay is, at least in my opinion, pretty irregular.

I've gotten stranded in DEN a couple of times, and it's chronic problem on my LAX/SFO commute. Even a year ago, when I was doing the same commute, I could count on getting to LAX from SFO and back well within the work day. Now, I always go out or back the day before I need to be somewhere.

New Jersey has an airport?
I have been screwed by UA in DEN a number of times, often because of UA's resistance to having a DEN-Bay Area flight leave later than 8:45 or 9:00. The 9:45 F9 has saved me from having to find a hotel near DEN when UA got me there late.
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 10:58 pm
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Originally Posted by rjque
Late at night they aren't really far from SFO at all. SJC is the farthest and adds about 20-25 minutes to the ride.
Wow, SJC-SFO in just 20-25 minutes, that is moving along!
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Old Apr 27, 2008, 11:32 pm
  #12  
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
Wow, SJC-SFO in just 20-25 minutes, that is moving along!
Admittedly, a bit of an exaggeration. It's 33 miles with a freeway speed of 75 MPH in no traffic, so just under 30 minutes.
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