Anywhere on the road

Folks really drive from Bakersfield to Sacramento, daily? 4 hours each way??!!

N830MH

Yes, it is! Very easy drive from Bakersfield to SMF. Isn't too bad at all.

That'll do. They will considered it. I'm sure they will take a flight to OAK or SJC. Yes, they can catch Hawaii flights from OAK or SJC.

N830MH

Southwest has release a schedule date for Fresno and Santa Barbara.

https://www.swamedia.com/releases/re...s-as-low-as-39

FAT to Las Vegas and Denver. Effective on April 25, 2021.

SBA to Oakland, Las Vegas and Denver. Effective on April 12, 2021.

PAX62

Surprised by the lack of intra-California options for both.

Putnik

I was hoping for a MDW to FAT flight, but now they are directly competing with United, because they have the same ORD-DEN-FAT route.

FATFlyer

United should be restoring the nonstop ORD-FAT in coming months. It has stayed in the future schedules but has been part of the rolling cuts as UA watches traffic.

Last month, FAT handled about 60% of its December 2019 traffic number. Other California airports that I have seen report so far for December 2020 were under 40% of their December 2019 traffic.

Putnik

I didn't know that United had a direct ORD-FAT flight. I worked on a project in the fall of 2019 and my only option was a 35-40 minute layover at DEN. After running thru the huge Denver airport a couple times, I decided to fly Southwest direct to San Jose and drive 2 hours to Fresno. That ended up being much more relaxing.

FATFlyer

The FAT-ORD flight became year round in 2019 after previously being a summer seasonal, you should have been able to see it in schedules. In 2019 it was a night arrival in Fresno with a quick turn back to ORD as a red-eye. When it resumes this year the eastbound red-eye is supposedly gone with the aircraft instead RON in Fresno for a morning departure to ORD.

N830MH

I doubt that. If they add more nonstop flights FAT to MDW, HOU, DAL, BWI, PHX, BNA and else.

pinniped

Love it!! Just switched an April trip from MCI-LAX-MCI to MCI-DEN-SBA-LAS-MCI.

Happily trade an extra ~2h30m each way in gate-to-gate time to avoid the entire LAX rental car process and LA-to-Santa Barbara traffic.

Putnik

It is a pretty drive though along the PCH, once you get to it.

pinniped

It is! We've done it quite a few times.

Honestly the drive...once past LA...isn't the part I hate. It's dealing with LAX that I'm most thrilled to avoid. Renting a car always adds a solid 30-45 minutes each way to the trip. Because the process of getting *back* to the terminal when we leave can take so long, and the traffic getting there is so variable, we inevitably feel the need to be dropping the car off 2+ hours before the flight.

This will be my first flight into SBA. Sight unseen I'm going to assume that it's a fairly low-stress airport and rental car process. Timing is also better....we arrive around lunchtime and depart late afternoon, giving us several more hours in the area than if we were using LAX.

We talked about heading up the coast a bit one day along PCH. Might depend on what's open in April...

pinniped

Flew DEN-SBA and SBA-LAS over the weekend. Lovely small airport. Really happy WN added this one.

N830MH

Glad to hear it! Hope you have a great flight. Enjoy the flight!

Colin

SBA-SMF now on fall schedule 1x daily nonstop