dougc33

I'm likely going to relocate from BOS to PIT and will need to fly back-and-forth from PIT to BOS every week - is there such a thing as an annual pass for people who are flying a single route on a very regular basis?

Failing that, any other suggestions as to how to minimize costs?

Athena53

I haven't heard of an annual pass, but if you're in a market where cheaper fares require a Saturday stayover, here are 2 legitimate ways to avoid them.

1. This requires you to have 2 airlines that fly the route. If you're stuck with USAir it won't work because if you do it on only one airline and they catch you they can get nasty and take away your FF miles. Fly PIT-BOS on Airline A on Monday. On Friday, fly Airline B from BOS-PIT. Monday take the remaining half of the trip on Airline B (PIT-BOS). The following Friday take the remaining half of Airline A, BOS- PIT.

2. If you're stuck with one airline, buy a one-way ticket from PIT to BOS. Then all your subsequent BOS-PIT trips are legitimate weekend trips with a Saturday night stayover.

Whatever you do, join the Frequent Flyer programs of your chosen airline(s). I used Plan 1 for a couple of years on monthly business trips between EWR and DFW. I ended up with Elite status on one airline and my husband and I got some nice trips with the miles.

ContinentalFan

Welcome to FT!

I don't know of any airline that offers an annual pass. Southwest might be the least expensive, but you'd have to fly to Manchester and I don't think that there is a direct flight. I think your best bet is to plan your flights so that you always have a Saturday night stay.

im_blue

US Airways is the only airline that serves BOS-PIT, normally priced at $159 roundtrip, but United charges $179 for the same flights through codesharing. In that case, could you treat them as two separate airlines?

747LWW

Great strategy! I have used your #1 but never considered #2.
Thanks

Athena53

You'd have to claim FF points under 2 separate programs- in the first example, you could get points on United for the first set of flights, and USAir for the second.

747LWW- you're welcome! I hadn't thought of it either, but it was buried in the Travel Policies of my previous employer. It's the only way they'll book this sort of repeat travel because it doesn't violate airline policies.

susancl

SW does have some great prices. Manchester is only a 1 hour drive north of Boston. SW also flies from Providence which is only a 1 hour drive south of Boston. They are both nice airports to get in and out of.

karthik

This is highly dependent on traffic of course. Your 1 hour drive could easily be a 2 hour drive. If you're trying to fly in for an early meeting or leave around rush hour in the evening, you do not really want to be going to PVD or MHT. The Big Dig has alleviated this somewhat, but it can still be a mess (even just coming from BOS; but you have the advantage of public transportation there if the roads are busy. Commuter rail will eventually extend to PVD but not for many years.) Anyways, both airports are indeed a pleasure to fly through. Flown out of PVD quite a few times, MHT very rarely (I'm on the South Shore so PVD is closer.) Never flown WN from either of them since I avoid WN so I can't comment on that... but I'm guessing the majors are fare-matching in some sense.

Though I just realized the OP is relocating from BOS and not to BOS so he's probably well aware of the traffic issues.

dougc33

THANK YOU for all of the great feedback.
1) Yes, traffic can be quite a mess - but I've never had to do it on a Sunday night back into Boston from Manchester - is it a nightmare? Probably during the summer even worse.
2) A little confused about the one-way ticket option - do you just buy one one-way ticket or do you need to buy one for every week? Or is it a "see, I've got a one-way ticket and I intend to use it" kind of protection?

Thanks again!!

Doug

ContinentalFan

Welcome to FT!

I forgot about Providence. That's another good airport. The problem with LUV is that there might be a connection, which is a hassle. You can't beat those fares!

FWAAA

No, you buy a one-way ticket from your home city to your weekly destination. You use it for your first trip to the worksite city. Then, later in the week, when you want to fly home, you use a round-trip ticket from your worksite city to your home city. Say you fly home on Friday and fly back to the remote worksite city on Sunday or Monday. THOSE roundtrip tickets will all contain a Sat night stay, making them cheap. When the assignment in the remote worksite city is over, your final flight home is also on a one-way ticket.

It's a legitimate end-run around the prohibition on back to back tickets, which was option #1 presented by Athena53.

karthik

Never done that either myself, but my guess would be that you'll have little traffic then... except maybe if it's summer and you have folks coming back down from Maine and New Hampshire. I've come back from the Cape enough times on a Sunday afternoon/evening and it was hellish.

Personally I just fly out of BOS 90+% of the time and take the T, get a ride, or take a cab. Being a 10 minute walk from the Red Line, the T is especially convenient now that the Silver Line goes directly from the terminals to South Station. (Red Line->Orange/Green Line->Blue Line->shuttle bus to terminals before was quite a pain.)

PVD can have its own traffic problems going by the city occasionally... (Well, only really ran into this picking up some friends a couple days before Thanksgiving, so that's to be expected.)

im_blue

Southwest charges $183 for PVD-PIT and MHT-PIT for a 3-hour flight with a connection, which doesn't make much sense for a 460-480 mile trip. It looks like US Air is the only option.

Awal

A quick search on www.kayak.com shows that JetBlue also flies PIT-BOS non stop for $69 each way (OK, I had to go to www.jetblue.com to find the one way price). I would recommend calling JetBlue/US Air to see if they offer any discounts for your situation. I have heard of some airlines offering prepaid passes although not in the lower 48. You may want to search both forums to see if you come up with anything and post there if you don't.

CrazyOne

Wow, sorry I missed this a few days ago. Could have put to rest a few of those things right away:

No Southwest, as you must connect in PHL. Maybe someday we'll get a nonstop PIT-PVD (or MHT, but I don't care about that one as much) on WN, would be quite useful for me sometimes, but so far it's not there.

This leaves US, and as someone finally mentioned, now JetBlue as well. US has more nonstop flights, and you can also choose PVD on US if that made sense for you (if you're going to points south BOS as opposed to downtown, for example). JetBlue only has two a day right now, but if their times work for you it can be good, and I think they won't have the Saturday stay restrictions that the others are describing ways to get around.

Not aware of any such annual pass, though. Many FTers make weekly commutes, and I've never heard it mentioned around here.

Beyond that, are you sure you want to move to PIT? Have you been here? You know what the culture shock will be like? Although, given the housing prices up there, I'm guessing you could live here and commute on the plane every week, spend money for hotel rooms and *still* be ahead. ^ Just be prepared for the culture shock. People here are stuck in the past, move slower, and they'll probably think you're rude sometimes. Oh, and they can't merge on a highway to save their lives! (This is based on my girlfriend's observations over the last couple years after moving here from the Boston area.) Go Steelers!