DuckAmuck

Hi all - after a few pleasant years in the Pacific Northwest, we're moving to Gainesville, Florida. I've been either Premier Silver or Gold on United the past few years (silver this year) and UA has been pretty good to us, all things considered - especially when it comes to redeeming mile.

It looks like the southeast is not one of United's areas of strength. In particular, United codeshares with Silver Airways in Florida and for Gainesville that means no hub connections - you can fly to MCO or TPA and if you're not traveling to a hub, you have to connect somewhere else.

DL has started mainline service from GNV to ATL but checking some prospective flights they are a lot more expensive. I'm also not looking forward to trying to redeem SkyPesos. US/AA is apparently getting better and flies to CLT and MIA, but I've never heard anything particularly good about them.

Anyone have any thoughts about what they'd do? I suppose I could also drive to JAX, MCO, or TPA and fly from there, but that's pretty inconvenient for business travel. (The lack of any easy travel to DCA on UA is a real bummer, too.)

787fan

if DCA is a requirement, then GNV-CLT-DCA is a decent option

UA-NYC

UA will now likely be the least convenient airline for you, relative to AA/US and DL...SE no longer a strong suit since US is out of Star.

PV_Premier

I used to live in GNV so I think I can speak to this pretty honestly.

Sorry to be frank with you but UA is a terrible option in the Southeast and especially in north FL. Out of GNV you're right, only MCO and TPA and that is on Silver -- they are often delayed and the Saab 340s are not good from the perspective of comfort.

Out of JAX, they've gutted the mainline operation and it's all express to ORD and IAD, mostly on E145s IIRC.

When I lived in GNV, it was back in the US still in *A days so it worked fine. Now with US gone, it's a rough ride as a UA elite in North FL.

DL is very strong in both GNV and JAX and is the best option. US/AA is probably the 2nd best, with express flights from GNV to CLT and MIA. IIRC, they also fly non-stop from JAX to DCA which is a good option for you it sounds like.

Even so, you're going to get used to driving to MCO to fly -- I did a lot of that living in GNV. JAX is a very nice airport and fills many of the gaps, but for me, if I was flying to SFO/LAX/DEN, I just drove to MCO and flew direct rather than swallowed the stop in ATL/CLT/IAD/ORD. the time was about equal, all things considered. at this point in my life, my most frequent route was to DEN so MCO just made sense.

If I ever moved back to FL, I'd be all-in on DL, unless the US/AA merger was fully wrapped up by then.

DuckAmuck

Thanks all. Guess I'll status match to DL before a few TCONs planned this fall, and see where the chips fall from there.

dank0014

Agreed with what others have mentioned. I have to make trips to Gainsville 4 times annually. It's one of my "hated" trips on UA since I always have to jump on Silver, which is a pain (mileage credit, poor connection options, and tons of cancellations, limited flights in / out, etc.).

I have a trip to Gainsville in September again, but not going to fly into that airport. I'm going to start flying into Jacksonville and driving to Gainsville, given the last two trips were full of cancellations and getting stuck another day there.

PV_Premier

this is the right way to do it if one is committed to UA...though with the UAX operation in full swing in JAX, the situation is sometimes only marginally better.

watch your speed around the small towns along US301 (especially Waldo and Starke). they're among the worst reputation in the country for speed traps and traffic citations, and late at night the cops will put you through the whole drill if they pull you over, even if you haven't had a drink in your lifetime.

caseminole

I too can provide some insight.

JAX is my hometown, and I live in Los Angeles. For years LAX-IAH-JAX was an easy route to make (CO), and planes for the most part departed on time

Once in a while, I routed thru CLE or EWR

GNV is where my parents ended up living (had to move them from JAX for health reasons), so I have really had to go there now a lot (5-6 times a year)...

For me, the best option is the LAX-MCO non-stop. The drive is 2 hours, but its not that bad.

I had 1 Silver Airways connection I was going to do, but the Silver flight MCO-GNV was cancelled, and Silver hired a van to drive me and 2 other people to GNV instead

MCO isn't a bad option since its a direct flight.

JAX is a much better airport IMHO. Its the same drive time to GNV as MCO (about 2 hours) and a LOT less people (security, access, rental car return, etc)

JAX has no United Club, but there is a Delta Club lounge there. At least in MCO, I also have UC access.

I know TPA is also an option, but haven't had to do that one yet.

So JAX and MCO are my alternates

Vulcan

I live 60 miles north of TPA and use that airport exclusively. Nice airport, but no UC. We have friends that live in Ocala (South of GNV) and, given a choice they will always pick TPA over MCO to drive to. To get to MCO, you need to drive thru and south of the I-4 corridor which is a traffic nightmare.

exerda

I have in-laws in the GNV area, and I haven't flown to GNV since US stopped giving 500 mile minimums. It didn't help that GNV fares were around 2x what they were out of MCO or TPA. I wanted to try Silver, but the connection times are awful (a 2:45 one in JAX last time I looked into it, for example), and then Silver decided they wanted to stop being an Express partner. I'm not paying more and flying a crappier airline without getting the full miles and benefits for doing it!


Even stringently obeying the speed traps in Waldo, Stark, etc., you ought to be able to make that drive in 1:30.

Of course, it also depends on which part of the Gainesville area you're headed to.


TPA isn't much farther than MCO and is a much better airport IMHO, but it sure feels like a really long haul the times I've driven it.

danhunterpost

Went to school at UF, graduated 9 years ago. I can confirm that United is the worst airline to use going into Gainesville.

sbm12

Agreed. I generally use JAX as my outlet rather than MCO to save 30+ minutes; door to door is 90 minutes back to where my parents still live in Gainesville from JAX and getting out of the airport and into a rental car is about 20 minutes faster than at MCO on average.

DL really offers the best combination of frequencies and service ex-JAX or GNV. From MCO it depends on where you're headed but DL is still pretty strong there as well. If DCA is a common option for you then AA is likely going to be your ride ex-JAX.

GNVFlyer

Also Silver does not recognize UA or Star status so you need to pay baggage fees even as a UA elite

zombietooth

It is less than 12 hours by car at normal highway speeds to DC from GNV. So, considering 3 hours minimum drive time plus parking and check-in cushion to MCO or JAX, plus transit time of around 4 hours for the flight/connections and baggage claim, etc., you would only be saving about 5 hours by flying, if you decided to keep UA as your option out of JAX or MCO. Driving to TPA takes consistently longer than the other two options from Gainesville.

Just something to think about.

exerda

I have never had the 12 hour experience. I-95 always seems to have something to say about that.