PMD-SFO Trip Report
Jul 1, 2007 | 2:56 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: PMD
Programs: UA*G, NW, AA. WR-G, HH-S, IHG, ALL. TT-GE.
Posts: 3,116
PMD-SFO Trip Report
In 6 days it'll be a month since LAWA's PMD was revived with two SKW flights a day to/from SFO. Here are my observations:
* Opening day (June 7): I missed the morning ceremonies, but heard it live on local radio. Mayor Tony V. (LAWA) and Mayor Jim L. (Palmdale) and other dignitaries were there. That evening I went to observe the 2nd flight turning around. Arriving from SFO were about 15 passengers. (CRJ2's capacity being 50.) One was a Palmdale councilman. There's a group of 10 people of similar ethnicity which were recognized by LAWAPD and TSA folks--they took the morning 6456 to SFO and returned the same day on 6457. So even on the first day there weren't many passengers.
* Chatted with TSA folks, apparently they work a somewhat split 8-hour shift--the two departures being 1050 and 1905. There are about two TSA officers, and about two LAWAPD officers.
The next day I went online and bought myself a round-trip (June 22-24) to SFO on the 14-day promo fare (extended, was first supposed to expire back in May 22) for $186. I was considering driving all the way to an event near MYV and then to the RDD area that weekend.
* PMD brings back my memory of a neighborhood airport, namely GUM. (Former home to GUM: 5 minutes; current home to PMD: 10 minutes.) You can literally check in the bags way early, go home and pack the carry-on and do last minute errands.
* Upon return, I literally put my carry-on in the trunk of my car before returning to the terminal to WAIT to claim the checked bags. (Not possible at GUM due to customs.)
* No vendors at PMD, but there are vending machines. Free pastries were also available for morning passengers before departure. (Freedom Air Guam used to serve doughnuts and coffee, that was until they moved into the main terminal a.k.a. food vendor contracted territory.)
* The PMD road gate (20th St E) is indeed closed at night, so don't think of flying one-way out, return other ways and retrieve car at midnight.
* Friday morning PMD-SFO: 11 passengers. Sunday evening SFO-PMD: 16 passengers.
* On-board announcements: The PMD-SFO FA said we should look for the closest emergency exit. I'm sure it'd be more efficient for the 12 of us not to utilize all 6 doors. Then the pilot announced we were "number 1 for take-off". (This guy must have just come in from SFO. I mean, who else is using the PMD runways?)
* SFO: nothing unusual other than my complaint on this other thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=709702
Route, market, scheduling:
* Ever since the bid was announced and confirmed, local press reports have mostly been critical, especially when the fares came out. United has pretty much set fares to be not competitive to anyone outside of the Antelope Valley. If you live closer to BUR, WN is cheaper and better. But compared just with UA BUR fares, it's not that expensive. LAX has the natural disadvantage of ground traffic problems, so cheap fares there were not supposed to attract AV residents.
* Those late May negative press reports centered on scheduling and routing instead of fares. For example, people were complaining long layovers at SFO for transcons that suddenly make LAX preferrable. Add the usual ignorance about the ICC. (DOT/LAWA/Palmdale free ads carefully, only told people to go to united.com, but people call United anyway.)
* Looks like it's way too early to judge how successful/unsuccessful the route is, especially with a published early-September schedule change. Current schedule has two flights a day (one on Saturday) coming in for a half-hour turnaround at 10 am and 6 pm. The new schedule has one daily turnaround (11 am) and an overnight crew layover (arrival 8 pm, departure 6 am, except Saturday night). This is actually a smart move. A 6 am PMD departure beats driving to LAX hands down, and a 7 am SFO arrival will almost never be delayed, and your connections are likely overnighted planes which will depart on-time. Coming in from the East Coast, it's also perfect for the first morning departure to come into SFO at 9-10 am (also never delayed by SFO weather) for connection to PMD. Trans-Pac will also become more convenient.
* Opening day (June 7): I missed the morning ceremonies, but heard it live on local radio. Mayor Tony V. (LAWA) and Mayor Jim L. (Palmdale) and other dignitaries were there. That evening I went to observe the 2nd flight turning around. Arriving from SFO were about 15 passengers. (CRJ2's capacity being 50.) One was a Palmdale councilman. There's a group of 10 people of similar ethnicity which were recognized by LAWAPD and TSA folks--they took the morning 6456 to SFO and returned the same day on 6457. So even on the first day there weren't many passengers.
* Chatted with TSA folks, apparently they work a somewhat split 8-hour shift--the two departures being 1050 and 1905. There are about two TSA officers, and about two LAWAPD officers.
The next day I went online and bought myself a round-trip (June 22-24) to SFO on the 14-day promo fare (extended, was first supposed to expire back in May 22) for $186. I was considering driving all the way to an event near MYV and then to the RDD area that weekend.
* PMD brings back my memory of a neighborhood airport, namely GUM. (Former home to GUM: 5 minutes; current home to PMD: 10 minutes.) You can literally check in the bags way early, go home and pack the carry-on and do last minute errands.
* Upon return, I literally put my carry-on in the trunk of my car before returning to the terminal to WAIT to claim the checked bags. (Not possible at GUM due to customs.)
* No vendors at PMD, but there are vending machines. Free pastries were also available for morning passengers before departure. (Freedom Air Guam used to serve doughnuts and coffee, that was until they moved into the main terminal a.k.a. food vendor contracted territory.)
* The PMD road gate (20th St E) is indeed closed at night, so don't think of flying one-way out, return other ways and retrieve car at midnight.
* Friday morning PMD-SFO: 11 passengers. Sunday evening SFO-PMD: 16 passengers.
* On-board announcements: The PMD-SFO FA said we should look for the closest emergency exit. I'm sure it'd be more efficient for the 12 of us not to utilize all 6 doors. Then the pilot announced we were "number 1 for take-off". (This guy must have just come in from SFO. I mean, who else is using the PMD runways?)
* SFO: nothing unusual other than my complaint on this other thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=709702
Route, market, scheduling:
* Ever since the bid was announced and confirmed, local press reports have mostly been critical, especially when the fares came out. United has pretty much set fares to be not competitive to anyone outside of the Antelope Valley. If you live closer to BUR, WN is cheaper and better. But compared just with UA BUR fares, it's not that expensive. LAX has the natural disadvantage of ground traffic problems, so cheap fares there were not supposed to attract AV residents.
* Those late May negative press reports centered on scheduling and routing instead of fares. For example, people were complaining long layovers at SFO for transcons that suddenly make LAX preferrable. Add the usual ignorance about the ICC. (DOT/LAWA/Palmdale free ads carefully, only told people to go to united.com, but people call United anyway.)
* Looks like it's way too early to judge how successful/unsuccessful the route is, especially with a published early-September schedule change. Current schedule has two flights a day (one on Saturday) coming in for a half-hour turnaround at 10 am and 6 pm. The new schedule has one daily turnaround (11 am) and an overnight crew layover (arrival 8 pm, departure 6 am, except Saturday night). This is actually a smart move. A 6 am PMD departure beats driving to LAX hands down, and a 7 am SFO arrival will almost never be delayed, and your connections are likely overnighted planes which will depart on-time. Coming in from the East Coast, it's also perfect for the first morning departure to come into SFO at 9-10 am (also never delayed by SFO weather) for connection to PMD. Trans-Pac will also become more convenient.
Jul 1, 2007 | 3:13 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Ketchikan, Alaska
Programs: GSA City-Pair; emeritus AS MVPG/UA 1K/US Plat, etc.
Posts: 2,635
If AV people want the convenience of flying into PMD, right now, they're going to have expect that they're going to pay a premium for it. If they're expecting WN to come in and save them... well, they're going to be waiting awhile.
Jul 1, 2007 | 3:23 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS Plat, AA EP, Bonvoy Plat, Hilton Dia, Hyatt Glob, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 21,472
HkCaGu, thanks for the report. I was pricing out a flight into PMD a few days ago, and while the pricing was competitive with ONT (on UA from SFO, though much higher than WN from SJC), I couldn't find a way to book a car rental at PMD. The airport website claims there are three car rental agencies (Hertz, Budget and Enterprise), no online reservation site (including the companies' own sites) seemed to know about PMD. I guess I could try and call the car rental agencies in Palmdale directly...
Jul 2, 2007 | 2:29 am
#5
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 396
With loads like that and fares which will only get higher, service won't last. Hate to say it, but there's a difference between desire and reality, and reality simply will show that 2X Rj flights won't be supported at how high their operational costs are. Talking with my old college roommate who's left seat in the Crj for Skywest, he says internally they bet before the end of the year it'll be gone and my bet is before the holidays.
And what a joke, community and airport fought for and fought for airline service and then for what, no on site vendor services and airport lock up. Get their act together or once again we'll all have to put up with another community whining and crying for airline service down the road to which they haven't supported in numerous failed attempts. Support it or drive your butts to Burbank.
And what a joke, community and airport fought for and fought for airline service and then for what, no on site vendor services and airport lock up. Get their act together or once again we'll all have to put up with another community whining and crying for airline service down the road to which they haven't supported in numerous failed attempts. Support it or drive your butts to Burbank.