fujiteam

I have recently switched from Delta to United, BDL-DTW to BDL-IAD/DCA. I have booked onto 5 United flights so far. The first BDL-IAD was delayed 3 hours for late aircraft and I was able to switch to a US flight to DCA. The second was delayed about 20 minutes (DCA-CLE) due to the earlier DCA-CLE flight being delayed due to late aircraft. Fine on CLE-BDL. The next flight BDL-IAD was fine as it was a 5:30am flight, hard to delay that one. Now tonight I was booked on IAD-BDL, but it has been delayed 1 hour so far with the plane late 4 flights earlier. I was able to go DCA-BDL on US again this time.

I understand I am flying United Express and have had worse experience with Delta subsidiaries than main line, but nothing like this. I checked the status on my flight tonight from United, 55% on time, average delay 62 minutes.

Am I in a bad time slot (late night), bad route, bad airline? I am now only slightly disappointed with the lack of F on any of the flights.

Please tell me it gets better.

unavaca

UX reliability is the pits. If your flying is going to involve a lot of UX, I'd recommend picking another airline.

IIRC, Southwest has a large operation at BDL. Have you considered going to A-List with them?

fujiteam

US over UA? Until US aligns with AA I could do that and keep my checked bag, US CC has no free bag.

unavaca

I'm not too familiar with US's East Coast operation. Does WN work for you? Free bags, all-mainline, and a large BDL operation (>25% of all BDL traffic).

fujiteam

it flies to bwi, but that is a hike for the GF to get to and from. plus it is usually $100-$150 more

EmailKid

This appears to be the new normal, and I've had plenty of mainline flights delayed as well

CR7s have domestic FC, which i quite like if u/g comes through.

goalie

Or do what I do and pad my connections UA->UX (and vv) and UX->UX whenever possible

Often1

If your new commute is to DC, a strong recommendation for US to DCA. UA serves IAD from BDL and that's a huge schlep for a short hop.

Additionally, the UX short hops from IAD are the first flights delayed/cancelled when there's any form of IRROPS north of IAD (which is a good % of the time). When departures are reduced, UA will can its BDL flight before a FRA.

unavaca

I think you might be hosed, then. US and UA are the only carriers at BDL that fly into DCA and IAD, respectively.

This would be the perfect time for high speed rail...

fujiteam

Thanks for all the confirmation of my fears. I guess I will keep the US/UA stuff in mind while I can and expect delays. I looked at rail and driving and neither is appealing.

dcpdxtrans

hi speed rail will not be coming to a city near you

PVDtoDEL

Just stick with US - UA reliability for Northeast Regional routes is horrific.

spin88

No, it does not get better.... Sorry, but that is the truth.

UAL over-scheduals their airplanes, so when an earlier flight is delayed, the delays then build (no way to make up time). Jeff Smisik, the CEO just promised on the 3q call to further cut the times between flights = problem gets worse. That is why the first thing flight is ok, end of day is awful.

Plus, as others have noted, UAL will dump the UX flight in favor of a mainline. And I would not expect the same 50 seat, no FC, RJs to go away, that is UAL at its core domestically.

Unfortunately when you picked a program, you did not research how GREAT OF AN AIRLINE UAL is. As punishment you can watch the back to back Jeff Smisik videos they show on the mainline planes (which you will BTB never see on UX) on the web (start with the "changes you will like" one).

I second the US suggestion, they along with WN are the only way to go if you are doing BDL to DC on a regular basis.

trk1

The United flight on time % at Iad is better than the Us at Dca no matter what the poster tell you.

I take Ua from Dca and iAd to Cle about once per week and am early as often as being late.

fujiteam

I was quoting IAD-BDL, just mentioned my CLE experience.