Lack of ua mainline flights; Does united have more regional jets than other carriers?
 

So I travel to cmh from time to time. I had only seen regional jets on united vs mainline on other carriers and regional jets. Does united have more regional jets than other carriers? It just seems like there are so few mainline flights on united compared to other airlines.

I did a detailed searched and united only flys one mainline flight to cmh each day.

It does seem like UA is becoming RJ Air

RJs are a necessary evil of course, but DL/AA have "better" aircraft and put more emphasis on the soft product (in F)

At CLE approaching 90 per cent non mainline. Most of the hub to hub flights ORD,DEN,IAD RJ now they are putting RJ's to IAH and EWR which were always mainline. The IAH thing is really puzzeling, every time I have flown to IAH CO days the flights have always been very full.

While I agree it seems like there are express jets running all day on every domestic flight, the truth is that there are roughly:

55 x Airbus A319
97 x Airbus A320
5 OR 6 x 737-500
36 x 737-700
130 x 737-800
43 x 737-900
134 x 757-200
21 x 757-300
5 x 767-200
35 x 767-300
16 x 767-400
55 x 777-200
23 x 747-400

and other than a handful of grounded 787 aircraft, these planes are flying pretty much round the clock to various destinations. It can't all be express jets

MSP has the same issue. We are down to 5 mainline flights out of 35 dailies (4x ORD and 1x SFO) and 1000 mi + flights to EWR and IAH and mostly E145's. It so frustrating that I have been flying US more often since they are all mainline or Embraer 175 from here (plus they are cheaper most of the time).

Turns out DL and UA are both "RJ airlines."

AA - 609 mainline, 244 American Eagle
DL - 714 mainline, 568 regionals
UA - 708 mainline, 552 regionals

I can deal with RJs - but UA just has so many bad ones

They're a lot more tolerable with 9 seat F cabins, E+ (or equivalent), wifi, full meals in F, etc.

Yes, the problem isn't the RJs per se but the quality of UA's RJs.

Proportionally the worst is US.

346 mainline, 285 express.
119 of those Express being the dreaded "Canada's revenge" CR2/CL65.

The best? WN.

hahaha i've never heard the CR's referred to it like that... but it seems pretty apt. :)

the CR2's are pretty awful. in my book it's pretty tied with the E145. i think the CR2 might be more uncomfortable, but personally on the routes i fly i just happen to encounter the E145 far more often so i hate it more...

"Worst?" - The problem is that many stations can't justify mainline service or, if they could, it would be at 1/4-1/3 of the frequency. The 2007-09 time period demonstrated the folly of flying empty aircraft and then cutting fares to fill seats.

It would be great if CMH and other stations could justify larger and more frequent aircraft, but they can't. This is about the local economy, not about some abstract decision by UA or DL (and just wait to see the proportion after the US acquisition of AA is complete).

The fact is that people who travel for work would prefer four flights/day on smaller aircraft rather than a single mainline aircraft at sometime when it can be sent out and back for a quick run.

I have to agree with this, particularly when you're trying to do a day trip and you need an early departure and late return. It's already difficult when originating at a hub, and the first flight of the day is after 8:00am to allow for connecting traffic, for example: JAX (9:29am), MCI (8:47am), and RIC (8:40am).

A good example is DSM. If you live in Des Moines, you can take a 6:03am OB to EWR and 7:30pm return. However, if you're originating in EWR, you end up taking a connection & working a short day or you pay for a hotel. And those are the only non-stops.

It's worth noting that DL has a policy of not flying 50-seat RJs on flights over 750 miles in length. I think they make a couple of exceptions for locations that otherwise would not have service as they cannot support anything larger, but it's a pretty solid rule. They're also acquiring the FL 717s and will reduce their RJ flying as part of that acquisition.

I find the E145 more comfortable in terms of seating if you get a single seat, but my experience on them on UA has shown them to be in horrible shape and rather unstable in the air compared to a Canadian Torture Tube™. I think I'll take a CRJ-100/200 over an E145. (Now if we start talking two-cabin E170/175 vs. CRJ-700/900, give me the Embraer every day.)

Apples and oranges, though.

DL's RJs are more likely to have First.

And on top of that, the DL RJ experience is superior. When they have First, there are more First (9-12 on DL vs. 6 on UA). They use glassware, tray linenes, meals served on proper plates with utensils, etc. There's a pillow and blanket on each seat. And sometimes there's WiFi.

UA has plastic cups and a snack box if you're lucky. Forget wifi, pillows, tray linens, etc. All of that with up to half the seats as DL. And that's IF UA has F on that RJ.

Without even considering the US merger impact, expect the AA ratio to move closer to the DL/UA ratio. AA has wanted to increase its regional flying via both larger RJs and outsourcing to cheaper regional carriers for some time, but were limited by the AA and AE pilot contracts. Those limitations have been relaxed during bankruptcy and we have already seen AA pick up some Skywest CR2 flying (already started) and Republic E170 flying (starting this summer).

There's a financial reason UA and DL have so many regional planes, usually operated by outsourced carriers, and AA will follow suit. The best we can hope for on any of the majors when it comes to RJs is that have First/E+ and aren't CR2s.