Palmdale service ending
 

Early December.

So doubling the frequency didn't work, I guess.

Looks like .bomb lets you still book flights around Xmas.

That was fast. :(

Didn't even last as long as MDW or RFD. :rolleyes:

Hmm they are still selling tickets from PMD, and they are cheaper, If I book will they probably rebook me from BUR?

OP do you have a source for this?

No surprise there.

Bleh.

Guess the subsidies are being pulled as this is the only item keeping this running. The thought was doubling the flights with smaller aircraft would work, but I guess that wasn't the case.

The old PMD thread (now closed) has this link to an LA Times story:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-m...,5587770.story

One real shame is that the GSA never got their act together in allowing Government travelers to use this route and build a business base with some potential for volume. PMD was not a part of the City Pair program for FY2008 so for all the trips I took there in the past 11 months I flew to LA and drove. Of course now that they finally get a Government contract to PMD for FY2009 it is extremely overpriced :td:

The CrankyFlier has an good analysis.

http://crankyflier.com/

Agreed, there was some possibility for PMD's success if they could get more government fliers using it (my government contracts allowed me to use it, and I did, twice, for travel to Edwards).

Otherwise, I've flown from PMD several times, but mostly since they seemed desperate for passengers (weekend trips to SFO while at Edwards, $99 RT was a pretty good way to cover that distance)

Did UA ever offer government fares during FY2008? Continental, even before they totally withdrew from the GSA city pair program, offered government fares on routes not awarded by GSA. UA could have done that on PMD-SFO between June 7, 2007 and September 30, 2008. Apparently they didn't, and the FY2009 "bids" are so ridiculous.

None for PMD that I was able to find in FY08. On top of that, the real problem is agency by agency. My travel folks are very particular (I have another name for it of course :p ) about routing, contract carriers, etc. so if it doesn't appear in their system (like PMD) I'm probably not going to be flying on it.

I believe "DG" type fare were filed, but since no contract was issued for 2008 covering PMD, it didnt appear as an official route to anywhere. Same govt rules would apply, but if the GSA and GAO wanted you to drive to LAX because no official award was given, they shot themselves in their own foot....and UA on this route as well.

There goes one of the primary reasons why I jumped to UA this past year. Meh, 'twas fun while it lasted...

I attended the open house a month prior to the initiation of services. It seemed like everyone in the event was just oozing with optimism...and here we are again, almost a year and a half later and back to where we started...:rolleyes:

What makes things even more interesting is how much was spent for the Palmdale Flyer bus service that connected PMD with the Van Nuys Fly Away and the Metrolink Via Princessa Station in Santa Clarita: $75,000 with only less than 80 passengers ever using it since it's inception. It was a nice, cheap option to get from PMD to LAX (via Van Nuys) when it lasted though. ;)

as long as an airline has a fare that is 1 dollar LOWER than any Gvt fare, with the same restrictions, then CWT/SATO is allowed to book it.

For Palmdale & other markets "not covered", there is some wierd formula for determining if official gvt travelers can fly or drive, and they have to be on a fare similar to other gvt fares.