No More Direct Chicago Flight

[Geo]

After a year of daily direct flights to/fro Chicago and Ft. Walton Beach, American Airlines has announced that they will end this route in early September...

This is a real bummer. I used this flight for business travel to Chicago quarterly and it is a dream. I was hoping that a St. Louis direct flight would follow...

Sadly, a sign of the times...

Use it or lose it...

Besides filling the flights, is there anything that can be done to get American to reconsider? Do letters/petitions hold any weight? I suspect not but thought I'd throw it out there because it seems there are a lot of SoWallers who are airline industry savy...

Cheers,

G

 

[scooterbug44]

WHAAA!!!!

Why did they cancel it? It was only 2 flights a day and full every time I flew it!

Loved that I was either 'stranded' at my car or a $12 bus ticket from my parents!

 

[Rudyjohn]

this is wonderful. :roll:

 

[peapod1980]

That stinks. Though we already know what a headache it is to get from St. Louis to Sowal via the airlines. So not worth it, such a hassle.

 

[Beach Runner]

When we fly, we always fly into PC, but I looked and didn't see any Delta non-stops from Chicago to PC -- most of them have a long layover in Atlanta. No problem for us since we'd start in Atlanta, but a pain if you're coming from Chicago. ARGH!

 

[Rudyjohn]

well, I've never flown non-stop from Chicago.

I almost prefer PC anyway and have flown in there as often as VPS.

 

[Geo]

Then and Now

Here is the story a year ago:

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/okaloosa_5676___article.html/chicago_airport.html


Here is the story this week:

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/1739214/

 

[Geo]

well, I've never flown non-stop from Chicago.

I almost prefer PC anyway and have flown in there as often as VPS.

It is a dream. Wheels up to wheels down is under 1 hour and 45 minutes. I will be doing this flight twice next week. I wish there was something we could do...

 

[scooterbug44]

I loved that flight!

This will shock everyone, but I don't do well with the frustrations of connecting flight issues, delays, hours of waiting, overnight strandings, and other way too common aspects of air travel.

 

[Rudyjohn]

Air travel is certainly changing as we speak. Daily.

We all know about the recent add'l charge for checked baggage. My son flew out of O'Hare on Delta a week ago to Massachusetts with his cello. When I made the reservation 2 months ago, we had planned on him checking his cello and then he would carry on his luggage. We were bracing ourselves for the extra charge for checking the instrument because of its size but it was at that time w/in the acceptable parameters.

Well, the ticket agent got out his tape measure (we knew this was not gonna be pretty) and because it was 3 linear inches beyond what was acceptable with their recently updated limitations, we had to pay $150 one way for his cello to fly in the belly of the plane. We even tried to buy the cello a seat on the plane, (approx. the same cost in the long run), but all seats were filled.

We had to put additional $$ on his debit card for his return flight. At the time of booking his flight, I figured I was saving $300 by checking the cello. :angry:

Flying is no longer a convenience.