JerryFF

My friend's company has an office in Detroit and one in Washington. Last minute flights on NW (or just about any of the major airlines) are exhorbitant. They have taken to flying WN via MDW, but it is an enormous waste of time.

With solid operations in both cities it is curious there are no nonstops in this market where the fares are so high. I know that no one ever really knows why WN does or does not fly a given route, but this one would seem to be a logical choice whenever they chose to do it.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

SonOfACockroach

My guess is they will add DTW-BWI. Right now, there's a huge expansion project at BWI, which will give WN 20 more gates. I've heard they're planning on flying about 300 flights daily out of BWI after the project is completed. With such an expansion of the operation, it seems ludicrous that they wouldn't add DTW nonstop.

cabinpressure

They can't add it soon enough, IMO. Advance purchase Friday-Sunday DTW-WAS fares are now more than $300. Things may improve when Spririt starts non-stop service to DCA, but it's only going to be 1 flight per day.

I frequently drive to CLE to take the WN nonstop to BWI. From Ann Arbor, I've found it actually takes less time to drive to CLE and fly to BWI than it does to drive to DTW, fly to MDW, have a layover, and fly from MDW to BWI. Plus, it's usually less than half the price.

Last weekend in the same CLE airport long-term parking row as me were 1 other Michigan plate and 3 Pennsylvania plates. Probably has something to do with fares at DTW and PIT.

DavidDTW

We have discussed this routing before. I think Southwest will have a lot of happy Detroit area passengers if and when they start flying DTW-BWI. We are all just very impatient for them to do so!

East Coast Wing

I would gladly welcome a BWI-DTW routing too…I remember paying $150 r/t when Pro Air flew the route back in the late 1990s! It seems like the kind of route Southwest would want to fly…particularly since it is a longish drive from the Baltimore/DC area and only NW serving the route nonstop. Of course, maybe Southwest still has a bitter taste in their mouth from their experience with Detroit and the City Airport mess in the late ‘80s?

cabinpressure

United flies DTW-IAD but with less frequency.

WN doesn't seem to have grown much in Detroit, but the PHX flights are a good sign, I suppose.

If WN adds regional jets (something they're apparently considering), I wonder if they would consider moving back to DET from DTW. It would cut down on ATC delays and attract east-siders (just as FNT draws pax from Oakland County). They'd probably need to cut PHX but could add BWI.

HRDiva

Fares from DCA to DTW should be dropping soon. The DOT awarded slots to Spirit for that very reason.

L Dude 7

Did WN actually fly out of city airport? does anyone fly there now?

CoMooter

Yes 1989-1991 if memory serves me correctly...but the problem was that it has a very short runway (ala BUR), which I have been told WN considered to be an accident waiting to happen. If memory serves me correctly they lasted about 1 1/2 years there and then moved to DTW. No scheduled carrier has used the airport since Pro Air went under.

cabinpressure

A couple of excerpts from the Detroit News website archives:

5/8/00: "Pro Air is the third major airline in the last 12 years to take a shot at operating profitably at Detroit City Airport and miss. Southwest tried for five years (1988-93) after the Coleman Young administration spent $25 million to upgrade the facilities. USAir Express replaced Southwest for less than a year, pulling the plug in May 1994. Both Prestige Air and Spirit Air made noises about coming to town, but never made it."

12/4/01: "City Airport has hosted numerous small carriers over the years, but none -- with the exception of Southwest Airlines -- stayed for more than a year or two. Southwest was hampered by the airport's short runway, which required its planes to fly below capacity and with fuel tanks less than full. Because of promises from the city the runways would be lengthened, Southwest stayed until it became apparent there would be no changes."

East Coast Wing

There was also commercial service before Southwest and the expansion in the late 1980s. If I remember correctly, Wright Airlines operated in the early 1980s between DET and Burke Lakefront (BKL) in Cleveland. In 1986 Comair operated a SF-340 between DET-BKL Monday through Friday and I used to take this flight a lot to visit my mother in Cleveland on weekends...I would take the Comair flight down on Friday and a Republic flight back on Sunday from Hopkins to Metro. At the time the City Airport terminal was tiny with no jetways and no security...just a small gate area and a door to the ramp. In addition to Comair, Fisher Brothers operated service as Northwest Airlink to BKL and Jetstream, operating as Piedmont Commuter, had a flight to Erie, Pennsylvania.

us2

From A2, you could also head to CMH and save the toll on the Ohio Turnpike. I routinely make CMH to A2 in 2:45, which is pretty close to the time to CLE if not a little less. However, the drive is a real bore and full of cops between Findlay and Delaware.

L Dude 7

Geography may also come in to play. From Northwestern PA (Erie, etc.), CLE is a flat, straight shot along the lake, while PIT is a longer, hillier trip. (And flying from Erie, odds are you'll probably end up connecting in PIT or CLE anyway!)

cabinpressure

I've gone to CMH a couple times to pick up my SO (flying in from DC to visit her parents in Dayton), but it seemed like the last 20 miles or so are kind of slow because there's no freeway -- although I never timed it.

I can usually get from my apartment to CLE in 2:15 because I live near I-94 in A2 and the CLE airport is west of the city. Toll is only $3.25-$3.50 each way depending on where you enter (US-23, I-75, or I-280).

I'll have to keep CMH in mind as capacity controls drive up the price of Sunday night BWI-CLE. Thanks.

AS Flyer

One flight per day won't have that much effect on the airfares from DTW.