Flights You're Surprised Exist
 

Okay, the one that always comes to mind (for me, anyways) is DTW-AMM (Amman, Jordan) on Royal Jordanian.

That one makes sense - the Detroit area probably has the largest arab population outside of the middle east.

I believe it's gone now, but up until recently Continental Express ran RJ flights from one end of Houston to the other (EFD to IAH and back). This was one of the few scheduled air services in the world that connected co-terminals.

Before 9/11/01, United Express flew IAD-BWI as well, which makes sense because of the often horrendous traffic between the two airports.

I was very surprised when I first heard about both routes, thinking ground transportation would have been the only option for such a short distance!

Flights You're Surprised Exist
 

I once flew Fresno-Oakland-San Francisco on a Hughes Air West DC9.

That flight by G.W. Bush to Baghdad last Thanksgiving was pretty surprising.

But I guess that's not the kind of flight you're after? ;)

UA used to have an OAK/SFO. The flight was surprisingly long (just over 5 minutes) because of the takeoff and approach of the respective airports. Back when there were 750 mi minimums and triple miles (mid-80s), it was a worthwhile extra segment.

I read in a newspaper article somewhere that the UK travel industry uses the phrase "Norwich to Knock" to describe unlikely routes (i.e., routes from one out-of-the-way small town to another)

I thought of that phrase earlier this week when I boarded flight NW1276 - Boise ID to Providence RI! (I suspect most traffic on that flight will have been to or from the intermediate stop, MSP)

sometimes i kind of wished they had a sjc-sfo lol! i hate commuting to sfo everytime i am going somewhere, but then at least there is a lounge i can use...

At one point they also ran flights between IAH and HOU (Houston Hobby, close to EFD). Service was primarily turboprops, IIRC, but there were occasional mainline flights for maintenance purposes.

I believe that EFD-IAH was a great way to avoid congestion on the Houston motorways.

Parking fees as well. EFD offered free parking.

With the widening of US59 done all the way from Downtown to Humble, getting to IAH is really much easier and faster than before. And if you worry about traffic getting through Downtown, the 610 E. Loop is never congested. Yes, Gulf Freeway is still a mess at times, but the "problem area" is much shorter than it used to be.

In the '90s, CO used to have a "positioning" flight to move an aircraft from EWR to LGA. It was open for booking by non-revs, but I never took it so I don't know if revenue pax were allowed on it.

I once flew Miami - Ft Lauderdale..... :confused:

IMHO, the world's most obscure route operated by a widebody aircraft is Air India's service CCJ-AAN-SLL-CCJ operated by an Airbus 310-300.

I'm willing to bet that 99% of the world hasn't heard of even ONE of the cities served.

For the record it operates from Kozhikode, India to Al-Ain, UAE to Al-Salalah, Oman.