Pit Schedule - Unofficial

ELP_WN_Psgr

ELP_WN_Psgr

Senior
Nov 29, 2003
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Okay folks.

Initial pattern is supposed to be 10 departures daily.

4 to Philadelphia: 0635, 1005, 1410, 1730.

(return flights at 0820, 1140, 1545, 1905)

4 to Chicago - Midway: 0740, 1140, 1540, 1940

(return flights at 0735, 1040, 1440, 1840)

1 to MCO: 0855 (return at 1135)

1 to LAS: 1330 (return at 1530)

I expected more but I imagine we'll see more, soon enough.

Thoughts?

PS - if you look closely that looks like a single gate in operation.
 
ELP_WN_Psgr said:
Okay folks.

4 to Philadelphia: 0635, 1005, 1410, 1730.

(return flights at 0820, 1140, 1545, 1905)

Thoughts?

PS - if you look closely that looks like a single gate in operation.
[post="248396"][/post]​
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It will be interesting to see how the PIT-PHL flights do. Airtran tried a couple years ago and failed miserably--brought the fares down on US and most people stayed with US.
 
US1YFARE said:
It will be interesting to see how the PIT-PHL flights do. Airtran tried a couple years ago and failed miserably--brought the fares down on US and most people stayed with US.
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To be morbid, they probably don't plan on competing with US on the route forever (or for any protracted period of time).

While I respect ELP_WN_Psgr's information (which is usually spot-on), I'm suprised that PHL is in the first round of cities. Or even the second.

I would have thought something like:

4 or 5x MDW.
2x MCO or FLL.
3x MHT or PVD.
1x LAS
2x BWI

I think the PHL thing is a mistake (at first) because US will match. Airtran did try this, and it backfired. I'd wait until a lot of the businessfolk are racking up RR credits, and then throw the PHL route on.
 
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To be morbid, they probably don't plan on competing with US on the route forever (or for any protracted period of time).
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I think that is an accurate statement. Even if USAirways does survive, I don't think WN expects them to be a long term factor in the PHL-PIT O&D market.

While I respect ELP_WN_Psgr's information (which is usually spot-on), I'm suprised that PHL is in the first round of cities. Or even the second.
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I'm flattered that some folks appreciate my opinionology. Now if i could just talk some sense into Art.......he could even check bags thru PHL which he states (in another thread) that he is afraid to do on his carrier of choice.

Here's the real deal.

Southwest is not Airtran. Southwest has the staying power to sit there and run 20 trips a day between PHL and PIT empty if they so chose. It won;t come to that...but they aren;t as close to the edge as the good folks from Atlanta.

Southwest mastered something a long time ago between DAL-HOU-HRL and LBB-HOU-DAL and DAL-HOU-MSY and HOU-MSY-MCO. What they mastered is called the one stop, or thru flight if you prefer.

You can bet that most everything running PHL-PIT will initially have another leg on it.

What that means is they don't have to subsist solely on local traffic. Thrus can do you a lot of good and allow you some frequency.

Let's be honest about it......a year ago at this time, if I had told you that PHL-PVD would go from 100 psgrs a day to 1,093 and Southwest would be carrying 64% of them, would you have believed me?

If I had told you Manchester would go from 87 passengers a day to 950 and WN with a 64% market share would you have had me committed.

The same thing will happen between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Right now it is a 422 passenger per day market. In a year it will be somewhere between 2600 and 3200 passengers a day and Southwest will be carrying 55% or so.

Southwest, much to the chagrin of the legacy carriers, really does offer a good product. Pretending it isn't is a sure fire way to head to the poorhouse. And if their product is good in one area more than all others, it is the 1 hour commuter type flight. Up in the morning and back that evening. They've only gotten it down to a high art form out here in the hinterlands for the last 34 years.

But to answer the earlier poster's question.....they will do it because they aren't Airtran. And it is going to happen. That market will expand so much that USAirways will still be carrying lots of folks......it will just so happen that Southwest carries more.
 
ClueByFour said:
I think the PHL thing is a mistake (at first) because US will match. Airtran did try this, and it backfired. I'd wait until a lot of the businessfolk are racking up RR credits, and then throw the PHL route on.
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I beg to differ

5:30am PIT - PHL is on EMB170, next flight is at 7:30am on a 767. If I have an 8am or 9am meeting in PHL I sure don't want to take that 5:30am and the 7:30am is now too late. I suspect the 6:35am on LUV will be popular (until US notices it's losing on this route).

LUV will also price this so low US can't compete. I know I'm tired of the over $600 PIT - PHL flights.


Airtran also suffered from a time when Pittsburgers were too loyal to US. I think those days are long gone.
 
My prediction...WN PIT-PHL flights will be full...look at the connections possibilities via PHL....the Northeast, Florida, and out West..The things people do to save a dollar..Time will tell............
 
US doesn't have the dry powder to "squash" WN on this route. I suggested a year ago that PIT-PHL made a great deal of sense for WN to consider, and I still think it makes a great deal of sense.

As ELP observed, this route is the prime example of WN's core competency. It's an interstate route between the two largest cities in the state, at a distance that makes a same-day round trip sensible. At the fares WN charges, it also draws people who would have otherwise driven, or not gone at all. This is precisely the DAL-HOU playbook, thirty years later. It will work now for the same reasons it worked then, only moreso.
 
Connections, Connections, Connections..... Yes the people in Pit are use to Non-Stop flights, but expect MANY to flee USAirways and connect in PHL in the short term.
 
TransatlanticFlyGuy:

Let's see...US fare PIT-PHL = $327.00. Wn fare Pit-PHL $78.00.

Which will I take? DUH!

PS: You have a lot of nerve calling other people "queens"!
 
The comments regarding WN's perfection of this type route are interesting in light of the fact that this is also what US, PI and PS had done before WN was a glimmer in Herb's eye. Rakesh Gangwal termed this type of route "goofy flying". Wolf/Gangwal unraveled the core flying done by US/PI (Randy Malin had taken care of PS's entire route structure previously), handing these bread & butter routes to Mesa, Chatauqua and the like. The stated goal was to transform mainline US into an International Carrier along the lines of UA, AMR, DAL, CO & NWA. It failed since capital was used to enrich select shareholders under a stock-buyback plan and to purchase RJs for the regionals. WN will eventually have PHL-PIT to themselves, one way or another.
 
Hope777 said:
Connections, Connections, Connections..... Yes the people in Pit are use to Non-Stop flights, but expect MANY to flee USAirways and connect in PHL in the short term.
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UMM, Why would people in Pittsburgh fly to PHL to connect on SWA when they can fly NONSTOP out of PIT to ALL the destinations they want to go on US? Especially because NO airline is SAFE from the Philly factor! I think the majority of you are all wrong, US will match or even lower those fares that SWA will have out of PIT especially to PHL. I think SWA might be on the begginnings of spreading themselves too thin! B) With US's lower cost structure to start kicking in soon, they really have got nothing to loose, US is NOT going anywhere anytime soon, so it will be a long battle for SWA at PIT. <_<
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PIT people are fed up with USAirways. It has cost everyone of them $$$ in form of Taxes. And do you think the inept Management at U will price correctly? I for one Doubt it. The once a year flyers may stick with U, but the bread and butter flyers who have been screwed by U enough will be gone.
 
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