Interesting use of resources during a slower travel demand period. Nice to see United thinking outside of the box.

https://hub.united.com/united-seasonal- ... m=referral

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

I noticed they loaded a one off flight from IAH to MSN on August 29. However, the Wisconsin plays away on the 30th. What would be the reasoning?

No offense to the Blue Devils, but a little surprised that ND and Duke seemed compelling enough.

LAXdude1023 wrote:

I noticed they loaded a one off flight from IAH to MSN on August 29. However, the Wisconsin plays away on the 30th. What would be the reasoning?

EPIC probably has something going on. It drives a lot of one-off traffic to MSN throughout the year.

Edit: Found it, EIPC has their annual user group meetings the 26th-29th.

https://ugm.epic.com/

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

OKCDCA wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Cubsrule wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

WkndWanderer wrote:

No offense to the Blue Devils, but a little surprised that ND and Duke seemed compelling enough.

Is the market for Notre Dame fans really out of SBN or is it more like ORD? They could fly LGA-RDU for that game and get alumni from both schools.

tys777 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

Yes. Until I looked at the schedule, I didn't realize that they only have three games more than 300 miles from South Bend (and the third is Thanksgiving wekeend, when UA likely doesn't have the aircraft). It's a similar story with Alabama. Their only two "far away" away games have flights.

tys777 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

Tickets at Duke probably aren't hard to come by either.

tys777 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

How much of that is SBN originating versus having fans from an entire Christian denomination behind you? Kudos to United for the creativity here, but a huge portion of this is the marketing push they're getting today too (and kudos to them for that too). This one in particular seems more marketing oriented. If they've got a spare E175 at O'Hare that weekend though it is decent utilization. Notre Dame's fan base is less oriented to a specific city or geographic area than nearly any other college in the country though.

Hasn't DL offered special flights to/from SBN during FB season? It seems I saw B717 nonstops to LGA last year

tys777 wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

I noticed they loaded a one off flight from IAH to MSN on August 29. However, the Wisconsin plays away on the 30th. What would be the reasoning?

EPIC probably has something going on. It drives a lot of one-off traffic to MSN throughout the year.

Edit: Found it, EIPC has their annual user group meetings the 26th-29th.

https://ugm.epic.com/

Ironically, I actually have to be in Madison on the 29th so Im gonna take it.

Are these one-off flights positioning flights to pick up the respective teams that United happened to make into a revenue flight versus flying it empty?

A colleague of mine who is GS with UA, and a Notre Dame alum (which he somehow manages to magically slip into every conversation ) was over the moon a few years ago when they added EWR-SBN nonstop, although I understand it's (football) seasonal now.

Surprised there's nothing into XNA this year. I think we had a couple of UA upgauges last year.

Maybe our 2-10 season had something to do with it...

But as always, go Hogs!

tmu101 wrote:

Are these one-off flights positioning flights to pick up the respective teams that United happened to make into a revenue flight versus flying it empty?

No, these are flights moving in the direction of travel to the game, with a return back to away team city after game. Also, these schools don't all charter with UA, and the aircraft isnt big enough to take the teams.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

packcheer wrote:

tmu101 wrote:

Are these one-off flights positioning flights to pick up the respective teams that United happened to make into a revenue flight versus flying it empty?

No, these are flights moving in the direction of travel to the game, with a return back to away team city after game. Also, these schools don't all charter with UA, and the aircraft isnt big enough to take the teams.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Ah I gotcha thanks for that.

Slightly off topic but can/do airlines sell the positioning portion of charter flights for revenue? Or is that illegal?

OKCDCA wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

AA Already has a daily non stop flight from OKC to LAX. Plus Allegiant has seasonal service as well. I think United was looking for city pairs not already served.

jscottwomack wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

AA Already has a daily non stop flight from OKC to LAX. Plus Allegiant has seasonal service as well. I think United was looking for city pairs not already served.

AA is 2x per day even. So yes this route is already serviced but OU fans usually travel well.

Cool idea for some good publicity too.

tmu101 wrote:

packcheer wrote:

tmu101 wrote:

Are these one-off flights positioning flights to pick up the respective teams that United happened to make into a revenue flight versus flying it empty?

No, these are flights moving in the direction of travel to the game, with a return back to away team city after game. Also, these schools don't all charter with UA, and the aircraft isnt big enough to take the teams.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Ah I gotcha thanks for that.

Slightly off topic but can/do airlines sell the positioning portion of charter flights for revenue? Or is that illegal?

There’s no legal impediment to selling a repositioning segment for a charter. Most of the big carriers do it from time to time.

tmu101 wrote:

Slightly off topic but can/do airlines sell the positioning portion of charter flights for revenue? Or is that illegal?

I've seen it. A few years ago, I needed to fly from CVG to ICT. I looked online at options, and Delta was showing CVG-TYS-ICT on a CRJ9 as an option. Nobody regularly flies TYS-ICT of course, and this was already after Delta had cut Knoxville as a spoke from the Cincinnati hub.

Looking at schedules I figured the reason for the TYS-ICT flight was Tennessee basketball playing at Wichita State the next day.

I didn't book that because the timing was off - but I wish I could have. It would have been unique.

I have a friend who used to be a Republic FA and he said he did charter or one-off stuff for airlines all the time.

BHM to CAE is an interesting add. At just over 5 hours it's a relatively easy drive if you avoid Atlanta at rush hour. Of course, UA is flying an ERJ on the route so there's not a lot of capacity on it.

cledaybuck wrote:

WkndWanderer wrote:

No offense to the Blue Devils, but a little surprised that ND and Duke seemed compelling enough.

Is the market for Notre Dame fans really out of SBN or is it more like ORD? They could fly LGA-RDU for that game and get alumni from both schools.

Duke has a lot of wealthy alumni/fans. I remember back in the early 2000s when they were in the final four I worked a few ATA L-1011 charters from RDU for Duke fans (and donors).

I would imagine ND also has a fairly wealthy base as well, but they also have a huge bandwagon following.

RJNUT wrote:

Hasn't DL offered special flights to/from SBN during FB season? It seems I saw B717 nonstops to LGA last year

Yes, you're correct. They also upgrade the usual hub city flights to/from SBN from a CRJ to MD88 or A320.

Bricktop wrote:

and a Notre Dame alum (which he somehow manages to magically slip into every conversation )

He's certainly not the only one!

MrNuke wrote:

tys777 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

How much of that is SBN originating versus having fans from an entire Christian denomination behind you?

You're being facetious, right?

Notre Dame is a small school. You can probably look at any of the 15 most populous U.S. states and find more alumni from UCLA/Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State.

But you don't need 10,000 alumni attendees to fill an A320 at profitable fares.

MIflyer12 wrote:

MrNuke wrote:

tys777 wrote:

Notre Dame is one of those schools that travels really well no matter the opponent.

How much of that is SBN originating versus having fans from an entire Christian denomination behind you?

You're being facetious, right?

Notre Dame is a small school. You can probably look at any of the 15 most populous U.S. states and find more alumni from UCLA/Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State.

But you don't need 10,000 alumni attendees to fill an A320 at profitable fares.

Alumni yes, but ND has millions of fans that didn't go there. I mean, every alum seems to have it as their mission in life to evangelize for the school and convert people

RJNUT wrote:

Hasn't DL offered special flights to/from SBN during FB season? It seems I saw B717 nonstops to LGA last year

DL does and have used Airbus A320, 319, B717, MD88 and CRJ900 flights in and out of SBN for Notre Dame Football Games. The LGA flights have used all those aircraft except the MD88. Delta's gates at SBN are half height jet bridges and although the Airbus's can use them, the slope does not comply with ADA rules when using them. This is why Delta went to using MD88, B717 and CRJ900s for the flights to ATL/DTW/LGA and MSP on the football weekends.

SBN enplanements have also been up another 27% over last year which was a banner year for traffic. Another reason for United to do this on ND football weekends. With American back in SBN and a huge fan base of alumni in the DFW area those flights also fill up and American has to add extra flights on ND football weekend.

Cubsrule wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Not a lot of excitement among Sooner fans for the trip to LA. After playing in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago that kind of deflated playing against UCLA there. And the Bruins aren't a good team this year...

Good points. Despite the fact that I'm more than a casual college football fan, without the benefit of team-specific reasoning this seems like a somewhat random list of flights. Duke's a lot better than they used to be, but Notre Dame-Duke still seems like a random choice for a flight.

I was tempted to say that "It's Notre Dame" but, the more I think about it, how many ND alumni actually live in Chicagoland?

Anyway, here's some interesting observations (for those who didn't click on the link):

31 Aug: Auburn vs. Oregon at Arlington, TX (EUG-DFW, 739)
7 Sept: LSU at Texas (BTR-AUS, 739)
14 Sept: Alabama at South Carolina (BHM-CAE, RJ)
21 Sept: Notre Dame at Georgia (SBN-ATL, E175)
28 Sept: THE Ohio State University at Nebraska (CMH-LNK, E175)
12 Oct: Alabama at Texas A&M-College Station (BHM-CLL, 739)
12 Oct: USC at Notre Dame (LAX-SBN, 739)
26 Oct: Wisconsin at THE Ohio State University (MSN-CMH, 739)
9 Nov: Notre Dame at Duke (SBN-RDU, E175)

The teams in bold have charter contracts with UA. It's also interesting that they're adding flights marketed to big DL-sponsored programs such as Alabama and Notre Dame (both of whom charter with DL).

tmu101 wrote:

Are these one-off flights positioning flights to pick up the respective teams that United happened to make into a revenue flight versus flying it empty?

That's possible for Oregon, LSU and Ohio State; USC typically flies on a 757, if I'm not mistaken. The other schools such as Alabama and Notre Dame, probably not so much, since they charter with DL. Also, it doesn't account for the return flight the next day, I don't believe.

I’m a Texas fan but do you think the flight number for one of the NDs flight will be 303?

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Does OK usually fly UNITED? if not? There's really no incentive for United to put in a flight. The teams and school listed charter with United..

strfyr51 wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Does OK usually fly UNITED? if not? There's really no incentive for United to put in a flight. The teams and school listed charter with United..

Yes, OU is typically a UA 739 for regular season games and a UA 772 for the team and two 739’s for band and university staff in the post season.

Just wondering how crew scheduling works for this. Will United give priority to crew that are alumni of the respective schools involved?

strfyr51 wrote:

9w748capt wrote:

Nicely done UA! These routes usually command a nice premium. I'm surprised they're not adding OKC-LAX for Oklahoma @ UCLA, though.

Does OK usually fly UNITED? if not? There's really no incentive for United to put in a flight. The teams and school listed charter with United..

I’m not sure why the carrier with whom the school charters matters. What percentage of OU fans - even loyal OU fans - know or care with whom they charter? I’d be shocked if it’s double digits.