urbanSTL

Anyone ever flown into Panama City, Florida from Lambert? Anybody other than the usual suspects fly there? Was hoping USA3000 did, but no luck.

I use to live on the Gulf Coast - Pensacola to be exact.



The airports along the emerald coast are limited and small. Panama City is very small and I believe is serviced only by NWA thru Memphis or Delta thru Atlanta (although I hate Delta).



good luck.

There are no nonstops to that area. Your only viable options for Panama City Beach would be PFN or VPS (Valparaiso/Destin/Eglin AFB). Get an itinerary with a short connection in Memphis and it's pretty convenient. Anything longer than a 30 to 35 minute connection through MEM and door to door time is almost as much as driving.

Lambert will need to offer a great deal of incentives for AA to put that kind of money on the table.

what's with the "offering incentives". How about they allow international flights to fly out of Lambert TAX FREE?!!?!

JCity wrote:

Lambert will need to offer a great deal of incentives for AA to put that kind of money on the table.

what's with the "offering incentives". How about they allow international flights to fly out of Lambert TAX FREE?!!?!

That wouldn't be a drop in the bucket. With AA's firm stance that Lambert's status quo is working for them, it would require major incentives or subsidizations to ensure they would not operate the service at a loss. Even with that said, there's always the (very realistic) possibility that AA has absolutely no desire to start London service at all, especially given their aircraft shortage. London service would be nice for Lambert's 'bragging rights', but STL does have a very wide range of easy options for London/Europe travel.

London service would be nice for Lambert's 'bragging rights', but STL does have a very wide range of easy options for London/Europe travel.

I've tried many of those options to London/Europe and wouldn't say any of them were easy options. Most have involved long layovers and delays.



Its especially bad if you trying to go beyond London & Western Europe to Eastern Europe, Africa, & Middle East. There are no direct flights from North America to East Africa, which normally takes 3 to 4 flight segments and 2 days travel time (one way).

That wouldn't be a drop in the bucket.

really? Is it really that bad? If the city were to offer ANY foreign carrier the rights to land at Lambert for FREE, they still wouldn't be interested?

Great Lakes adds additional flights to and from Williamson County/Carbondale, IL

Monday, March 10, 2008 1:22 PM CDT

BY CODELL RODRIGUEZ



MARION — Great Lakes Aviation, LTD, will change times and add a new flight to its Williamson County Regional Airport to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport schedule.



The current schedule has flights leaving Williamson County Regional Airport 6:07 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. and leaving Lambert at 12:55 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The 6:07 a.m. flight has been changed to 6 a.m. and the 12:55 p.m. flight has been changed to 9:40 a.m. They have also added a flight that leaves Williamson County at 3:48 p.m. and arrives in St. Louis at 4:26 p.m. There is also an additional flight that leaves the St. Louis hub at 3 p.m. and arrives in Marion at 3:38 p.m.



“We added the flights to give people more options out of Williamson County,” Director of Sales and Marketing Monica Taylor said.

Champion Air will cease all operations as of 5/31/2008 throughout the United States.



http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080331/20080331006223.html?.v=1



Puerto Vallarta was the only Champion route left, but it will be sad to see those old -27's gone.

Congrats to the city and Lambert for significant improvements of the past couple of years!



Sometimes, incremental change goes unnoticed but comparing Lambert today to 3-4 years ago, the progress has been great!

Add another casualty to the list. ATA ceases operations immediately.



http://www.ata.com/



The only direct immediate impact to STL is the codeshare on Hawaiian flights via Southwest, but it will be something to watch as the effects eventually trickle through the system. ATA was sizable in Indy.

ATA was Indy based.

Billkn wrote:Add another casualty to the list. ATA ceases operations immediately.



http://www.ata.com/



The only direct immediate impact to STL is the codeshare on Hawaiian flights via Southwest, but it will be something to watch as the effects eventually trickle through the system. ATA was sizable in Indy.

ATA also had a sizeable operation at MDW (Chicago Midway). I remember flying on an ATA B737 to Orlando MCO from MDW three years ago. This is the latest in a string of airline casualties. First Aloha Airlines, then Champion Air, now ATA....all this in a week. This just shows that what high fuel prices and poor economy can do to the struggling airline industry.

ATA seemed kind of goofy. It went from a charter airline specializing in vacation spots out of Indy to trying to be a carrier with its hub in Midway. Use to fly their MDW to LAG flight all the time when I lived in the Chicago area. It was a good flight for me, usually empty with newer planes and leather seats. Definitely not a good flight for them.

Lambert garage cleared for takeoff

By Ken Leiser

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/03/2008







The maze of construction barrels and yellow tape is gone.



No doubt, finding a parking spot inside the Main Terminal parking garage at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport isn't quite the mysterious adventure in frustration that it used to be.



And for most regular patrons, the relief was long overdue.



The $19.4 million repair job ran months behind schedule because the garage's condition was worse than thought. But now, with the exception of some interior directional signs, work on the garage is mostly complete, making it less of a hassle to park in one of the nearly 2,000 spaces near the Main Terminal.



more:



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

As of June 1, American is trimming these regional frequencies.



Atlanta goes from 7 to 5 flights

Philadelphia 5 to 4

Windsor Locks/Bradley 3 to 2

Columbus 4 to 3

Tulsa 3 to 2

Charlotte 4 to 3

Nashville 5 to 4

Baltimore 3 to 2

Milwaukee 5 to 4



Rumor has it AA is also considering grounding additional MD80's within the next year. That could have a substantial impact on STL if it indeed does happen.

Are these old TWA planes?

But most of the MD80 and larger planes would have to, most likely, be replaced with similar sized jets - only because of the volume of passengers these routes have from/to STL.

I doubt AA will phase out all MD80's mostly in 2009 thru 2012. The MD80's are maily in ORD, DFW, and STL

American plans to replace all 243 MD80 jets with Boeing 777's, and 737's.



I was recently on a JFK flight to ORD (American Airlines) and the two flight attendants were ex-TWA and it was an ex-TWA plane (737)



I also had a flight from JFK to ORD with a connection in my hometown of STL - how wierd is that! I was happy to see all the connection traffic though in Concourse C. Lambert and American Airlines officials keep saying connection traffic has rose at the American STL Hub. I huess I did my part.



For the record... I live in STL - travle biz a lot.



Peace.

matguy70 wrote:But most of the MD80 and larger planes would have to, most likely, be replaced with similar sized jets - only because of the volume of passengers these routes have from/to STL.

I doubt AA will phase out all MD80's mostly in 2009 thru 2012. The MD80's are maily in ORD, DFW, and STL

American plans to replace all 243 MD80 jets with Boeing 777's, and 737's.



I was recently on a JFK flight to ORD (American Airlines) and the two flight attendants were ex-TWA and it was an ex-TWA plane (737)



I also had a flight from JFK to ORD with a connection in my hometown of STL - how wierd is that! I was happy to see all the connection traffic though in Concourse C. Lambert and American Airlines officials keep saying connection traffic has rose at the American STL Hub. I huess I did my part.



For the record... I live in STL - travle biz a lot.



Peace.

No way MD80s are replaced by 777...the new 737s possible, but the 777 is a long-range widebody with 2x the capacity of the MD80, so a totally different market.



Also, TW didn't fly 737s...never did at any point in their history.



Some of AA's MD80s are ex-TW, but a good number are AA planes as well. AA immediately got rid of TW's 717s (big mistake) and 767s, have grounded some of the older MD80s, and recently sold the 757s to Delta.

Frontier.com wrote:
On April 10, 2008, Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, in the Southern District of New York. This action followed an unexpected attempt by Frontier's principal credit card processor to substantially increase a "hold-back" of customer receipts, which threatened to severely impact Frontier's liquidity.



Frontier Airlines intends to continue normal business operations throughout its reorganization process. Specifically, we expect to continue to:



- Operate our full schedule of flights;

- Honor tickets and reservations and provide refunds and exchanges per our standard policy;

- Maintain our EarlyReturns frequent flyer program and other award-winning customer service programs;

- Provide employee wages and benefits without interruption; and

- Pay suppliers for goods and services received during the reorganization process.

In the wake of quickly losing Champion, ATA, Skybus, Skyway and Aloha, hopefully people aren't scared off by the word bankrupt and continue to use and support Frontier. As of now, this has no major ramifications to the passenger.

I just got back from Austin, originally, I was suppose to come back on Wednesday, but returned on Friday. I was stuck in Austin because the flight was from AUS-DFW on an MD-80 and from DFW-STL on another MD-80! Both flights were cancelled! I stayed at the Hilton near Austin Bergstrom Airport Weds night and the next day I ended up renting a car at Hertz and drove it upto STL!!



AA is terrible at handling this situation with the MD-80 groundings! So many angry people at Austin, some were even crying and fuming mad. There was this couple who saved up for a trip to Paris, France and took the time to go, but AA cancelled the flight and they would've missed their connection at ORD and this certainly ruined it for them, they cried and left and promptly called their credit card company for a refund. It took me 4 hours just to get a car, apparently a lot of people who had flights on American did the same by renting cars and driving them to their final destinations. I ended up getting a Ford Fusion, which was okay at least I got something to drive since I could not stay in Austin any longer! The hotel and car rental was an expense out of my own pocket, AA did not really want to give me any compensation instead they finally insisted on giving me a useless $300 travel voucher or 500 AAdvantage Miles. I accepted the AAdvantage miles, but I question why did they do this all this week when they had months to do check and perform maintenance on these MD-80s. I will call my CC and get a refund of $255 I paid for the airfare.



AA doesn't have enough aircraft to handle this and this certainly will not help their bottom line and PR.

AA immediately got rid of TW's 717s (big mistake) and 767s

I agree!



As for Frontier, the ground is shaky. Sad, but scary right now.



Lately Frontier has cut many destinations and flights and service is lacking something great. The airline seems very unstable if you ask me.



Some info:



http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stori ... ily72.html

matguy70 wrote:

AA immediately got rid of TW's 717s (big mistake) and 767s

I agree!



As for Frontier, the ground is shaky. Sad, but scary right now.



Lately Frontier has cut many destinations and flights and service is lacking something great. The airline seems very unstable if you ask me.



Some info:



http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stori ... ily72.html

I'm optimistically confident in their new leadership. Cutting routes was a positive move for them. The cut routes were under-performing, mostly Mexican, point-to-point leisure routes. They expanded too quickly into a market that is very tough to operate in the black. Their in-flight service is often regarded as one of the best out there, and their maintenance staff is top notch. In addition to inefficient A318's and this credit issue, they needed a safeguard to restructure. Ch. 11 certainly isn't the nail in the coffin for them. I think United will be the one to keep an eye on in the next year.

True. But it makes Frontier a target for takeover or more serious cuts in the near furture.