In what way would the company address this to make commuting easier?
You nailed the problem! 20 more seats per flight and we wouldn't be having this conversation. And this is not just about PIT...every employee should realize that their non-rev 'travel benefits' aren't worth anything, because you can't use them. Tell prospective employees to go to work for Delta, at least they have big airplanes and are not afraid to use them.
Yeah, but a bad theory and totally pulled straight from downunder. People have been behaving lately.
Not exactly true. The Company may indeed NOT have provisions to purchase your home (and Why should they?) but they would be required to pay for Moving Expenses should You decide to relocate to another Base. There have been MANY displacements over the years and many individuals HAVE picked up and Moved to a new location. PIT is a unique situation.......Once upon a Time, a Very Large Base of Operations....employees that are very established in the area with family and friends ("It's 'burgh thing") and unwilling to leave Western PA under any circumstance. So, now You have the Commuter Issue. Packing Up and Relocating for ANY Company is a BIG DECISION to make for most people- Packing Up and Relocating for A-N-Y airline and certainly US is questionable at best. The PIT debacle (closing a Hub at one of the Best airports in the World ) is as much a Company Issue as a Stupid Factor with local politicians who REFUSED to provide any assistance/incentive for the airline to stay there. When US pulled their stunt of vacating their leases right before the deadline.......it was a classic chess match.........US basically told PIT to 'keep Your airport, We'll Go elsewhere"........and that they did. Now, a multitude of people past and present have to live with it. The current Management cuts at PIT are indeed a little excessive though..........it's not like no one lives there anymore.
The fact that nobody has rushed in to replace the lost flights shows that there really isn't much of a market there.
Very True. All one has to do is check out the Airport Parking Lots. Over the years, Employee lots were moved back Further and Further to accomodate giving space to Customer Parking and even after the US pulldown and dismantling of the Hub, the lots REMAIN FULL. Sure the STEELER'S are One of the Marquee Franchises in Sports but they sure as hell don't park at the airport and Tailgate in those lots..........so the traffic is obviously coming from somewhere. Why US turned over flying PIT to LAX and SFO to United is still a topic of discussion. It is NOT like United had much of a presence in Pittsburgh to begin with. The traffic US handed over in PIT was MORE than on a Silver Platter......it was a Mobile Buffet they pushed away. ANOTHER S-t-u-p-i-d decision made by some Master Magician of the Airline World. (When You sit back and look at all the BS that transpires, You have to wonder "WTF were they thinking?". 🙄
Let's add the third kind of person: the one like my friend who had to relocate to PIT or face unemployment! She really doesn't want to be there as the locals are very hostile if you don't want to wear black and gold (she's a Ravens fan) and hates the brutal winters! Not to mention the fact that the only question her neighbors ever ask her are when she's going to have kids, as if a woman in her 30s can't be single and happy!
