Surprised to find that UA is ending non stop service between IAD and PHL ( 4 flights) after Jan. 7, after many years of service. Sorry to see this go! Apparently this is not coming back any time soon.

This will leave them with ZERO flights from Philly to any airport on the east coast.

FLIHGH wrote:

This will leave them with ZERO flights from Philly to any airport on the east coast.

Not even EWR?

Seems like a bad move given united wants IAD to be a connecting hub

ual763 wrote:

FLIHGH wrote:

This will leave them with ZERO flights from Philly to any airport on the east coast.

Not even EWR?

UA codeshares with Amtrak from EWR to Philadelphia, Stamford, New Haven and Wilmington.

Also between NY Penn and Boston and Washington DC on Acela Express.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/earn-miles/amtrak.html

ednort wrote:

Surprised to find that UA is ending non stop service between IAD and PHL ( 4 flights) after Jan. 7, after many years of service. Sorry to see this go! Apparently this is not coming back any time soon.

Believe this was announced a few months ago.

It actually makes sense. UA flies PHL-ORD, DEN, IAH already for O&D and can steer more connections through those hubs. If one is going south domestic, because of PHL having nonstops to those markets, there was likely low desirability of a UA ticket like PHL-IAD-RDU or PHL-IAD-MCO and few takers. Lastly, UA knows a lot of PHL pax head up to EWR for international. Since the NJ Turnpike widening expansion and even more recent I-95 continuous route to Turnpike, it's been a big boon for UA at EWR/loss for AA at PHL. There is also the Amtrak codeshare (ZFV) which is used by some, most those that live in Philly. The one to watch is MDT-IAD. I think UA will keep that, as it's limited to only MDT-ORD otherwise and MDT doesn't have the variety of nonstops like PHL.

This was posted and discussed in an OAG update thread last month. I'm guessing this is a risk vs. reward thing; not enough O&D pax, and these flights are at risk of some pretty massive delays, especially on bad weather days. PHL gets shafted from a traffic management perspective — it's kind of the redheaded stepchild of the northeast — so I'll assume a short hop to IAD isn't really worth the effort of having to reaccommodate misconnects regularly.

The OAG thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1406163

Agreed. When UA says it wants to use IAD as a connecting hub, it means to cities you cannot get between with one flight only, UA or any other airline- the IND-IAD-ORF types for example.

phluser wrote:

It actually makes sense. UA flies PHL-ORD, DEN, IAH already for O&D and can steer more connections through those hubs. If one is going south domestic, because of PHL having nonstops to those markets, there was likely low desirability of a UA ticket like PHL-IAD-RDU or PHL-IAD-MCO and few takers. Lastly, UA knows a lot of PHL pax head up to EWR for international. Since the NJ Turnpike widening expansion and even more recent I-95 continuous route to Turnpike, it's been a big boon for UA at EWR/loss for AA at PHL. There is also the Amtrak codeshare (ZFV) which is used by some, most those that live in Philly. The one to watch is MDT-IAD. I think UA will keep that, as it's limited to only MDT-ORD otherwise and MDT doesn't have the variety of nonstops like PHL.

They built that I-95 to NJ Turnpike connector quick, I think it just opened recently. Depending on what time you go you can now get to EWR from Northeast Philly in an hour ten minutes.

International pax to Europe can still be routed on Air Canada via Toronto as well.

ual763 wrote:

FLIHGH wrote:

This will leave them with ZERO flights from Philly to any airport on the east coast.

Not even EWR?

The EWR-PHL route ended maybe 2-3 years ago but like others mentioned the Amtrak codeshare works to still connect passengers from Philadelphia to Newark airport.

Bobloblaw wrote:

Seems like a bad move given united wants IAD to be a connecting hub

It tells me that United doesn't think PHL-IAD-XXX is competitive against AA's PHL-XXX TATL non-stops; or, it doesn't want to give the kind of fare discounts to make that work.

MIflyer12 wrote:

Bobloblaw wrote:

Seems like a bad move given united wants IAD to be a connecting hub

It tells me that United doesn't think PHL-IAD-XXX is competitive against AA's PHL-XXX TATL non-stops; or, it doesn't want to give the kind of fare discounts to make that work.

I don't think so either. Besides its so much cheaper fly to even books flights at NYC to fly through PHL than fly at PHL itself.

MIflyer12 wrote:

Bobloblaw wrote:

Seems like a bad move given united wants IAD to be a connecting hub

It tells me that United doesn't think PHL-IAD-XXX is competitive against AA's PHL-XXX TATL non-stops; or, it doesn't want to give the kind of fare discounts to make that work.

I mean for domestic flights. PHL should be connected to the entire UA domestic sysytem.

Bobloblaw wrote:

MIflyer12 wrote:

Bobloblaw wrote:

Seems like a bad move given united wants IAD to be a connecting hub

It tells me that United doesn't think PHL-IAD-XXX is competitive against AA's PHL-XXX TATL non-stops; or, it doesn't want to give the kind of fare discounts to make that work.

I mean for domestic flights. PHL should be connected to the entire UA domestic sysytem.

I remember a couple of years ago, I had to be in Pittsburgh last minute. AA was $400 for a PHL-PIT nonstop on Sunday, while UA had a $150 PHL-IAD-PIT flight. I ended up driving but I was close to considering that UA option. But I guess not enough people were flying via IAD for connections and justifiable. Connections via ORD and Southwest's MDW were a lot higher and not really attractive. It will be a loss for competition to certain markets. But I guess most people get their company/client to pay for the nonstop (typically only AA), or they drive when the fare is too high. I'd like to see UA restore CLE-PHL if CLE is still a focus city for UA.