Frontier Airlines To Significantly Increase Cleveland Flights

Maybe I’m missing something, but since United’s service to LGA/EWR is for the most part remaining intact, what is the rationale for Delta and Airtran significantly increasing their capacity between CLE/CAK and NYC?

I’m a regular on Airtran’s CAK-LGA flights, and there’s plenty of empty seats even on the Monday morning and Thursday evening flights… the rest of the week is usually empty

@Rob:
The major reason is that American is cutting its 4 daily CLE-LGA flights effective 04/01.

But United is also cutting CLE-EWR down to 5 daily including 1 regional jet. United is also going all regional on the 8 daily CLE-LGA flights.

Delta and Southwest are definitely hoping to capture traffic that was formally loyal to American and United.

What was the United capacity to LGA/EWR originally?

I know that just about all the United flights out of LGA were already regional jets, and I don’t remember there being much more than 5 flights between EWR and CLE

Airtran’s capacity increase alone is probably the same as AA’s decrease. And like I said…. Airtran’s current flights are nowhere near full. I regularly get my own 3-seat rows flying them during the peak travel times.

And the other airlines aren’t full either. I flew Delta twice on the route and cleared FC both times with just my SPG crossover status.

I know I’m not exactly providing scientific stats here, but I’ve flown all the airlines between NYC and CLE/LGA and I just don’t see it

@Rob:
Currently EWR is 6x though it has been 7-8x.
LGA also had 1 or 2 737s for a while until now.

CLE-NYC flights have always had relatively light loads but they have been profitable due to very high non-leisure fares.

I think DL is just trying to chase UA out of the market. Hard to see UA keeping 8 daily flights between 2 non-hubs (CLE and LGA) in the face of this much competition.

As for WN, they got extra LGA slots due to the AA merger and they need to stick ’em somewhere. I am pleasantly surprised to see CAK get another slot though I agree that it seems unlikely to last.

I do think WN stands to gain from AA exiting CLE-LGA. A lot of budget travelers were using Avios (or buying Avios off brokers) to get to NYC and will now go back to flying out of CAK to save money.
Though AA does still have 1 daily CLE-JFK flight.

I wish you well, Dan, but quite frankly not too many of your followers care about CLE.

@zvi:
I’ve only done 1 thing in the 9.5 years I’ve been blogging: write about things that interest me.

That others find things I say to be interesting has been a pleasant surprise. But after all these years I still write for me.

Fair points.

I think the bigger question is where the heck is AA/US?

How is US allowing the only flights to PHX be on Frontier?

And how is AA not ramping up it’s Dallas flights like crazy?

There are going to be a lot passengers who now have to connect to get to/from Cleveland, and US/AA seem to be doing nothing to ensure those connections AREN’T through Atlanta

@Rob:
1. AA will dehub PHX. Just wait for it.
It doesn’t stand a chance between DFW and LAX powerhouses.

2. I actually thought WN would add PHX. They seem asleep at the wheel though they’re torn between CAK and CLE right now.
I’d say there’s a 60% chance that within a year from now they will consolidate all flights to either CAK or CLE.

3. UA isn’t cutting CLE-DFW, it’s one of the surviving flights.
Plus AA recently upgauged CLE-DFW from ERJs to MadDogs to A319s.

Unless UA cuts their flights there’s more than enough capacity there.

4. I think DL is just getting started and we’ll see more expansion from them as they continue to eat UAs lunch nationwide.

stop it Dan. You’re a celebrity in some circles and we come out to hear you speak, which you do surprising well I may add. This is not about your provincial preferences, and has not been for years. This is much bigger and you know it. Continue writing about CLE if you want, it just does not apply to the vast majority of us. Kol Tov.

@Dan

Agree on 1, but it won’t be happening for a few years. In the meantime, i just find it really odd that the only airline flying between the 2 airports isn’t the airline that has a hub at 1 of them. They currently have flights from PHX to places like Omaha, Sacramento, Des Moines etc. You’re telling me that those planes wouldn’t be far better utilized flying to CLE instead with only a niche airline that no business traveler would take to compete against?

On point 3, I don’t think AA should increase capacity between DFW and CLE for O/D traffic – they should do it because of all those travelers who used to have direct flights and will now need to connect somewhere…. how is AA not doing everything in their power to make sure that connection point isn’t Atlanta (or Houston)? That same logic can be applied to US and connections through PHX – it just seems like a no brainer to try to tap into all the newfound connecting traffic as much as possible

Zevi, please appreciate Dan for whatever he does, and guess what there are quite a few people that are interested in CLE news.

@zvi: I wish you well, Zvi, but quite frankly not too many of Dan’s many followers who care about CLE give a damn about your opinions. I do wonder, vaguely, if you are from the overpopulated ghetto of Lakewood, where parents have to pay bribes to get their children into day school or, are you from smelly Brooklyn perhaps where people waste half of their day looking for parking spaces? Either way, stay where you are. We don’t need any smug, misguided elitists in CLE.

@zvi:

If you don’t care about reading it, don’t read it. Noone’s forcing you.
I never fly to CLE, but enjoy reading Dan’s posts to gather some insight into the airline industry.

Wow! Everything is changing so fast. I have AA miles that expire this June. Do you think USair and AA will allow us to transfer miles back and forth (much like UA and CO did) to extend the life of those miles? If yes, do you think it will be in time?

please remove comment #12 sounds pretty close to the Jewish Press

@zvi:

so because you are a fan and come out to hear him speak he now should limit his posts on his blog to those that apply exclusively to you and your similarly situated brethren?

Zvi, you remind me of the Country Yossi radio show a long while back where a caller was asked to identify the five boroughs for a trivia prize contest thing. “Boro Park Villiamsburg… Monsey…” or something along those lines was her answer.

Always wondered if it was real but it encapsulates a mindset that speaks of its ignorant delusion for itself once you take just one baby step outside of it.

Country, I know you for sure read Dansdeals at 1am, was genendel fabricated or real?

@wow:

Dan please remove comment #15, then please remove comment #12, #15 offends me, #12 just offended my mother, and afterwards please remove comment #17 because I am self effacing and it sounds a lot like a piece I read in The Onion.

@Dan’s Unlicensed Unretained Attorney Pro Bono:
I think what would be nice and maybe zvi’s point is that maybe we can have more of these type of posts for other cities as well where a majority of the readers reside like tri-state area, phil or southern california? I would love to hear more about direct flights to my city also.

@Anonymous:
Efshar you are right as far as Zvi’s point. The normal decent human way to express this if you weren’t raised as a vilda chaya, would be something like “Hey Dan I sure could use this kind of info in my town, could you do more of these types of posts for us here in “____” insert name of Zvi’s local area.

Boy some people are very touchy. I was implying that Dan writes a lot about CLE which I believe applies to a very small minority of his blog followers. I was not in way disrespecting the wonderful people of Cleveland, and yes, I would rather live there than in this dog-eat-dog area we call New Yawk City (sic). Maybe then I’d care a lick about CLE.

I’m not from CLE, but I always enjoy Dan’s analysis pieces about the changing CLE market. I wish there’d be more bloggers that would do in-depth analysis of individual airline markets.

@zvi:

I am not touchy just someone who sits around like an oisvurf commenting, or worse…a kiss-&@$.

I must give you credit now as a more open minded New Yorker who can admit there are other possibly good places in the universe. I always believed and still do that it is not the actual people that are rude or nasty or whatever negative you may see in a given city or community, it is usually the situation that lends itself toward that.

If you gave those same people four extra feet of individual space to exist breathe park etc. they would be more pleasant and peaceful.