Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
COflyerBOS wrote:Wild guess, but I’d imagine Houstonians are more loyal to WN at HOU than UA at IAH.
CODCAIAH wrote:enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
I kind of get it, but can you elaborate on how competing with UA @ IAH, instead of with WN @ HOU, will help B6's fares/profitability on these routes? Do B6's higher-yielding Houston-area passengers prefer IAH over HOU?
indcwby wrote:COflyerBOS wrote:Wild guess, but I’d imagine Houstonians are more loyal to WN at HOU than UA at IAH.
Very much so when when the merger took place and jobs got moved out of Houston to Chicago. And then when United tried its best to block WN from getting the City of Houston to allow for International flights in HOU. People don't forget.
COflyerBOS wrote:Wild guess, but I’d imagine Houstonians are more loyal to WN at HOU than UA at IAH.
CODCAIAH wrote:Do B6's higher-yielding Houston-area passengers prefer IAH over HOU?
indcwby wrote:COflyerBOS wrote:Wild guess, but I’d imagine Houstonians are more loyal to WN at HOU than UA at IAH.
Very much so when when the merger took place and jobs got moved out of Houston to Chicago. And then when United tried its best to block WN from getting the City of Houston to allow for International flights in HOU. People don't forget.
TWA772LR wrote:I always thought IAH would be a better fit for B6 than Hobby. A lot of Houston business is expanding north and traffic on 59 north of downtown has better traffic than 45 between Hobby and downtown.indcwby wrote:COflyerBOS wrote:Wild guess, but I’d imagine Houstonians are more loyal to WN at HOU than UA at IAH.
Very much so when when the merger took place and jobs got moved out of Houston to Chicago. And then when United tried its best to block WN from getting the City of Houston to allow for International flights in HOU. People don't forget.
Absolutely no one in Houston (unless they are employed or had family employed by United) cares about what sCO jobs left Houston or where HQ went. The only thing they care(d) about when it came to the 2 airlines was when they notice a decline in the quality of service during the merger. No one remembers that CO announced IAH-AKL or things like that; most Houstonians couldn't even point out what building Continental had their HQ in.
enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
hohd wrote:If B6 wants to improve its yields to/from Houston, they have to fly than 1 flight. 1 flight a day is not going to attract that many passengers, especially JFK should be at least 2 flights. B6 codeshares with several airlines at JFK internationally, including many Star alliance carriers and I am sure they can feed the flight.
LH658 wrote:Though Jetblue served HOU, with same amount of frequency let see if it works for IAH. If it goes well, I wonder if AA will join back in the JFK game, or DL.
airbazar wrote:enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
B6 has no problem competing with WN in many other routes and WN doesn't even fly from NYC so I don't think your assumption is correct.
My suspicion is that IAH attracts higher yields and it's also where their BOS/JFK based customers want to go, and that's why they want to fly there.
usdcaguy wrote:airbazar wrote:enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
B6 has no problem competing with WN in many other routes and WN doesn't even fly from NYC so I don't think your assumption is correct.
My suspicion is that IAH attracts higher yields and it's also where their BOS/JFK based customers want to go, and that's why they want to fly there.
WN does fly HOU-LGA, so they do serve NYC. Personally, I don’t get the aversion to Hobby. It’s been remodeled and it gets you inside the loop much faster, but I do realize west Houston is easily accessible via the Beltway from IAH, and there are more offices located out there these days.
usdcaguy wrote:airbazar wrote:enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
B6 has no problem competing with WN in many other routes and WN doesn't even fly from NYC so I don't think your assumption is correct.
My suspicion is that IAH attracts higher yields and it's also where their BOS/JFK based customers want to go, and that's why they want to fly there.
WN does fly HOU-LGA, so they do serve NYC. Personally, I don’t get the aversion to Hobby. It’s been remodeled and it gets you inside the loop much faster, but I do realize west Houston is easily accessible via the Beltway from IAH, and there are more offices located out there these days.
FSDan wrote:I assume there's a decent reason that DL hasn't picked up JFK-IAH thus far while serving all the other large Texas markets...
Texas77 wrote:usdcaguy wrote:airbazar wrote:B6 has no problem competing with WN in many other routes and WN doesn't even fly from NYC so I don't think your assumption is correct.
My suspicion is that IAH attracts higher yields and it's also where their BOS/JFK based customers want to go, and that's why they want to fly there.
WN does fly HOU-LGA, so they do serve NYC. Personally, I don’t get the aversion to Hobby. It’s been remodeled and it gets you inside the loop much faster, but I do realize west Houston is easily accessible via the Beltway from IAH, and there are more offices located out there these days.
I haven't been to hobby in years, but I still have the lasting impression that it is a dump- it might not be, but that's my and many other people's perception from years ago. the area isn't great either, as has been pointed out.
but your last point is the most important- location. it takes an hour to get to hobby from north houston, half that to get to IAH. and while united's service does indeed suck, I can get almost anywhere on a direct flight from IAH. so for all the people living in all the nice new neighborhoods in north houston, there is almost no choice. and from all the places in west houston, it is probably equal trip length to either, so IAH might win out due to more flight choices...
stxbohn wrote:
This one... Miss the blue top and logo. It was very tasteful, one of the only buildings lit up back in the day. For those who are counting, they were also in the AIG building at one point too.
Off topic, sorry. Back to Jet Blue - what gate will they be at in Terminal A? Is there a common use gate(s) somewhere?
theasianguy wrote:The odd thing about Houston is that IAH, despite being further out, is perceived as the frequent flier airport, while HOU, closer to town, is considered the leisure airport. Most people I know who work in oil/gas, healthcare, consulting, and higher education have status with UA because of the vastly superior schedule and network that UA's fortress hub at IAH provides. There will be occasional complaints about UA's onboard product, but in the end, no alliance other than Star can provide the flight options to top business markets, especially internationally.
There was a perception that HOU was more of a leisure airport because of Southwest, but that notion is fading quickly. As WN fares have increased, more and more budget travelers are being pushed towards Spirit at IAH. Also, almost everyone I know has the MileagePlus card to take advantage of UA basic economy.
CODCAIAH wrote:enilria wrote:This was in a leaked post a while back that was deleted. I’m assuming B6 would rather compete with UA fares than WN fares.
I kind of get it, but can you elaborate on how competing with UA @ IAH, instead of with WN @ HOU, will help B6's fares/profitability on these routes? Do B6's higher-yielding Houston-area passengers prefer IAH over HOU?
STEADYFLYING wrote:If they are struggling on this route, I don't see how moving to IAH is going to make much of a difference. Sure they may gain customers on the north side of town who live closer to Bush, but they're going to lose customers on the south side who don't want to spend an hour or more driving to IAH. They're also now going to have to directly compete with UA,NK and DL who combined have 23 flights today between IAH and NYC, vs WN who only have 3 between HOU and LGA.
In terms of attracting Houston based travelers, I think B6 has the following 4 problems.
1. They only have one flight a day to JFK and BOS, while their competitors have multiple.
2. Their flight from HOU-JFK is poorly timed, leaving at about 11am. This is too early for business travelers who want to leave later in the afternoon and too late for tourists traveling to NYC who want to leave early in the morning and have the rest of the day in NY.
3. Their prices don't seem to be very competitive. They're usually more expensive than even UA.
4. UA, DL and WN all serve LGA which is much more convenient when visiting Manhattan than JFK.
These are just my observations as a Houston based traveler. I would definitely be interested to hear what those based in NYC think.
evank516 wrote:This is probably B6 trying to salvage their presence in Houston before they give up on flying there altogether. They've shown us that they're not afraid to close stations, and I personally don't see Houston in general lasting much longer for them.
STEADYFLYING wrote:If they are struggling on this route, I don't see how moving to IAH is going to make much of a difference. Sure they may gain customers on the north side of town who live closer to Bush, but they're going to lose customers on the south side who don't want to spend an hour or more driving to IAH. They're also now going to have to directly compete with UA,NK and DL who combined have 23 flights today between IAH and NYC, vs WN who only have 3 between HOU and LGA.
In terms of attracting Houston based travelers, I think B6 has the following 4 problems.
1. They only have one flight a day to JFK and BOS, while their competitors have multiple.
2. Their flight from HOU-JFK is poorly timed, leaving at about 11am. This is too early for business travelers who want to leave later in the afternoon and too late for tourists traveling to NYC who want to leave early in the morning and have the rest of the day in NY.
3. Their prices don't seem to be very competitive. They're usually more expensive than even UA.
4. UA, DL and WN all serve LGA which is much more convenient when visiting Manhattan than JFK.
These are just my observations as a Houston based traveler. I would definitely be interested to hear what those based in NYC think.
BravoEcho757 wrote:Well this proves it then. B6 moving to IAH must mean the United acquisition/merger is imminent. Now excuse me I need to get some more tinfoil....
ctrabs0114 wrote:BravoEcho757 wrote:Well this proves it then. B6 moving to IAH must mean the United acquisition/merger is imminent. Now excuse me I need to get some more tinfoil....
You know that's not going to appease the AS fan club who have been dreaming about that AS/B6 merger...
Now that I live in Dallas, I would be tempted to fly WN on DAL-HOU over AA/UA via DFW-IAH, but I personally prefer to drive down 45 instead of flying down.
BenflysDTW wrote:When was the last time IAH-JFK was served nonstop?
TWA772LR wrote:ctrabs0114 wrote:BravoEcho757 wrote:Well this proves it then. B6 moving to IAH must mean the United acquisition/merger is imminent. Now excuse me I need to get some more tinfoil....
You know that's not going to appease the AS fan club who have been dreaming about that AS/B6 merger...
Now that I live in Dallas, I would be tempted to fly WN on DAL-HOU over AA/UA via DFW-IAH, but I personally prefer to drive down 45 instead of flying down.
Well, you can see it as the beginning of AS and B6 collecting, or UA is going to take over both
You're freaking nuts for preferring to drive down 45. Its a parking lot from Galveston to Dallas. You must have the patience of a saint!
theasianguy wrote:BenflysDTW wrote:When was the last time IAH-JFK was served nonstop?
AA ended IAH-JFK in January 2014. The route lasted less than 1 year and was only 1x daily on a 737-800.
TWA772LR wrote:You're freaking nuts for preferring to drive down 45. Its a parking lot from Galveston to Dallas. You must have the patience of a saint!