Logan Airport Flights and Airlines Discussion

Of course, direct, meaning a stop occurred somewhere, either Newark or Houston as I don't think Cleveland has a flight to San Jose. I'm sure there are still direct flights in this context, but it is not a nonstop.
 
kmp1284 said:
Of course, direct, meaning a stop occurred somewhere, either Newark or Houston as I don't think Cleveland has a flight to San Jose. I'm sure there are still direct flights in this context, but it is not a nonstop.
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You know, actually meant boston-san jose non stop, id completely forgotten about our stop in newark.
 
kmp1284 said:
Of course, direct, meaning a stop occurred somewhere, either Newark or Houston as I don't think Cleveland has a flight to San Jose. I'm sure there are still direct flights in this context, but it is not a nonstop.
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Direct flights are useless and a bit of a scam in my opinion. I have found that more than half the time I am on a "direct" flight, when I land at the first stop, they make an announcement that goes something like this "Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you traveling on with us to San Jose, there has been an unscheduled aircraft change and your flight to San Jose will now be leaving from Gate C 3 at 1:30pm." I'm convinced that the majority of the time, these are scheduled plane changes....
 
Fly 'Virgin America' from Worcester -- sort of

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe Assistant Sunday Editor November 6, 2008 02:08 PM

Every traveler I know here can't wait for the arrival of Virgin America.
Why? To begin with, it's a discount carrier with very competitive fares, but it's also cool: leather seats, free satellite TV, on-demand movies, streaming radio and a selection of MP3 tunes, power plugs for your laptop and soon,on-board Internet.
Virgin America plans to move into the Boston market in the future. But what if I told you that you could effectively fly the airline to Florida now?
Starting Nov. 22, Direct Air, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will begin flying three times weekly from Worcester Regional to Fort Myers/Punta Gorda and to Orlando/Sanford. This is the interesting part: Direct Air, which is essentially a charter company, is leasing Virgin planes and crew for at least the next two years for this service. So, basically, you get all the Virgin toys.
What about the discount part? Direct's fares are competitive: They start at $99 each way and are nonstop. Just as a comparison, I booked a hypothetical round-trip from Worcester to Punta Gorda departing Feb. 1 and returning Feb. 8 (these guys fly into and out of Worcester only Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) and got a rate of $267, including tax and fees. I then got on Kayak and the best I could do nonstop was $319 on JetBlue and with one stop $250 from Continental -- both were Boston-Fort Myers.
OK, so what is the downside? First, you will be flying from Worcester, which hasn't had regular service since Allegiant pulled out in 2006, and into secondary cities. But if you already live in the western suburbs, going to Worcester and skirting the traffic and hassle of Logan is worth it -- particularly with the Virgin amenities. (Never mind parking fees: At Logan, a week in the economy lot will set you back $108; at Worcester you park in front of the terminal for $42.)
Direct CEO Judy Tull said that the flights are envisioned as year-round but the carrier would make adjustments after they get a better fix on the strength of the Worcester market. She said that most likely Orlando/Sanford would not change but the flights to Punta Gorda may be seasonally substituted for another destination.
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link: http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/2008/11/fly_virgin_amer.html
 
speaking of low cost flights to Florida, here is another way of avoiding the chaos that is Logan. I flew Southwest out of TF Green last Saturday (Oct 25) down to Ft lauderdale. Came back this past Sunday. $89 down and $89 back (Yes saturday and sunday flights) booked 3 weeks in advance. 2 hour 15 min flight, direct. Unbelievably easy travel. Both Airports are right off I-95 and easy to get too. 8 Days in extended lot in Providence was $77 ($55 for week plus 2 days @$11). Oh and the flight back was 80% full so plenty of room to spread out.

So again, I share my love for TF Green. Now if they would only extend the runway and get that Intermodel train station built on time....
 
As a business traveler who flies over 250 times per year (for the last 8 years), I would sooner walk to wherever I needed to go than fly out of green or manchester.
 
Fair question.

I'll provide several reasons, just off the cuff:

1. Substantially more viable options for travel.
2. Substantially more nonstop itinerarires.
3. The ability to fly on carriers that do not herd passengers onto their equipment and have 1st class cabins.
4. Logan is accessible via the subway and via ferry so I never have to drive there.
5. If I wanted to drive there, it takes fewer than 20 minutes without traffic and has never taken me more than 40 minutes to get there with traffic (both green and especially manchester take longer without traffic--from where I live, anyway).
6. More dining options at Logan.
7. With the low cost carriers like JetBlue and Airtran, and the fact that Logan is not a true hub for any [legacy] carrier, the legacy carriers tend to have pretty reasonable fares to stay competitive with their low cost competition.
 
^Can't argue with that. I prefer Logan as well, but T.F. Green is about 10-15 minutes closer to where I live than Logan and traffic in Providence isn't usually as bad which is why when I fly it's about 50/50 between the two. I've never flown to or out of Manch.
 
Virgin America to start Hub service
Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe Assistant Sunday Editor
December 8, 2008 08:04 AM


Virgin America, the California-based discount airline, will launch service at Logan Airport starting Feb. 12 with service to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"Boston is a great fit for us when you look at our business strategy. We link major urban centers, and there are a lot of ties between Boston and the San Francisco area in terms of tech fields, medicine, education,'' David Cush, president and chief executive of Virgin America, said this morning.
Virgin?s announcement comes three days after it said that it would suspend plans to fly out of Chicago?s O?Hare Airport, the latest in a series of recent setbacks to the company?s aggressive growth plans.
Virgin is planning two daily flights from Logan to San Francisco International and three to Los Angeles, with main cabin rates starting at $149 one way, $570 for main cabin premium service, and $999 in first class. Tickets are now on sale on the airline's website.
Virgin, whose operational base is at San Francisco International Airport, began service in August 2007 with ambitious plans to be in as many as ten cities within its first year and up to 30 in five years.
It was the brainchild of British billionaire Richard Branson, who is a minority investor in the carrier and has licensed the Virgin brand to the company but is barred by US law from owning or controlling it.
Virgin currently serves San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, San Diego, and Seattle. Boston will be its eighth city.
Analysts have said that the key to Virgin?s growth would be its ability to develop a network around major business centers but it has recently been stymied in attempts to enter new markets.
The discount carrier said that it was planning to add two cities east of the Mississippi this year. And in a February interview, Cush hinted that the lucky two could be Chicago and Boston.
Virgin finally opted for Chicago and Newark, N.J. Plans for Newark got shelved this spring, however, because of government restrictions aimed at curbing air traffic in the New York area. And on Friday Virgin suspended its Chicago plans after failing to secure the gates they needed.
Virgin representatives had suggested that the carrier would likely not pursue expansion into Boston this year, amid the economic downturn.
But, Cush said, it was the decision to turn away from Chicago that opened the door to initiating service at Logan.
"We'd been talking to Logan since the beginning of operations in August,'' he said. "But things really heated up last week. We had some planes coming in, and we wanted to be able to put them in operation. So when it came time to look at pulling the plug on Chicago we got in touch with the people at Logan, and they were able to work out a nice offer of arrangements for us.''
Edward C. Freni, the Logan's director of aviation, has said that moves to consolidate operations of merger partners Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines in Terminal A would clear space for airport to offer gates to another domestic carrier.
Virgin?s Logan operations will be based in Terminal B, Matthew Brelis, an airport spokesman, said.
While the airline?s focus is on business travel, Virgin has also found favor with many leisure travelers owing to its newer planes, hip interior designs and mood lighting, and its luxury approach to lower-fare travel, which features leather seats, satellite TV, on-demand movies, streaming radio, and selection of MP3 music files. It also plans offer WiFi on all its aircraft by spring 2009.
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http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/2008/12/virgin_america_1.html
 
No big surprise here. Boston was going to be one of the next 3 or 4 cities they opened anyways. Great to see Boston get some added flight to Los Angeles after Delta cut their 2 daily and United is down to only 1 daily.
 
^That's good. I really like JetBlue, aside from the cancellations/delay fiasco they had a year or two ago, they've been fantastic, comfortable, and affordable every time I've flown.
 
I flew Spirit once, it was pretty good. I am pretty sure it is owned by Delta, and designed to be a JetBlue competitor. It will be good getting Virgin here too.
 
Spirits a good airline. I've got a relative who flies for them, it was always mostly an eastern seaboard line, Manchester-Ft. Meyers (or one of those other less major FL cities) a lot, and I guess they fly into Detroit a bunch too.
 
I think you're thinking of Song. That was a subsidiary of Delta and flew a lot of routes in competition with JetBlue such as JFK and Boston to Florida, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It was an all coach class arrangment on board and they had similar in-flight entertainment systems as well.
 
Is Song gone? I remember them...it was a good product, but did it just die with the whole airline industry crisis thing?
 
They were folded back into "mainline" Delta at least a year ago, maybe more. There's very little money to be made flying vacationers to Vegas and Florida and a dedicated fleet was simply not worth it with what oil was at the time.
 
kennedy said:
Is Song gone? I remember them...it was a good product, but did it just die with the whole airline industry crisis thing?
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Song and Ted (United) has their brand discontinued, and the planes and pilots were taken into their owners fleet. While the planes have been repainted, you can get lucky and get an old Song airline with delta, which means satalite TV
 
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