What Is In Wendover, Utah?

phxtravelboy · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:00 am

While browsing on FlightAware I came across this flight on Allegiant, which continued from LSE to ATW, and then back to ENV. Wendover, Utah.

What is in ENV to warrant such a flight? A gambling charter to neighboring Nevada?

cbphoto · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:04 am

Casinos and Casino charters! Allegiant has a small base in Wendover specifically for the casino charters.

GE9X · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:31 am

Quoting phxtravelboy (Thread starter):
What Is In Wendover, Utah?

This : https://wendoverfun.com/flights/

"The Resorts at Wendover and Allegiant Airlines flight program partnership allows guests from over 65 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada to enjoy a lavish resort getaway. "

phxtravelboy · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:35 am

Oh wow. I wonder how successful these flights are? I wonder if Allegiant has a guaranteed profit on these flights from the casinos?

I'm from WI, very close to ATW originally, and I've never seen any sort of advertising whatsover back there for these services.

Brewfangrb · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:49 am

I'm vaguely aware of this. But phxtravelboy is right, they sure don't advertise it much, if they do at all. I wonder how people who don't already know about it find it.

Beardown91737 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:53 am

The casinos are in West Wendover NV.

Each town has a HS, plus West Wendover has a golf course and a city park. That is all the green you see in the Google Maps satellite view.

The airport is larger in area than Wendover is.

clickhappy · Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:00 am

The airport and base are also rich with history.

I wonder if this is still there?

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Royal S King

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Royal S King

26point2 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:09 am

Quoting GE9X (Reply 2):

..."lavish resort getaway"? Wendover? Bendover perhaps.

FATFlyer · Sun Nov 23, 2014 5:47 am

Allegiant was given the charter flight contract in 2010. Prior to that it had been operated by Xtra Airways.

intotheair · Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:03 am

I've driven through Wendover a few times. It's the midway point between Denver and San Francisco, though we would usually stop for the night in either Elko, NV or SLC, as there's a little bit more going on in those places compared to Wendover. There really isn't much there. It's the closest place for Mormons to get their gambling fix, and it's one of the few places with population between Salt Lake and Reno. Those are the only reasons why it would get air service from the thrift shop equivalent of airlines.

as739x · Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:13 am

One of the more interesting things I found with Wendover is you can sit there at night and watch the F-16s from Hill AFB circling before entering the bombing range to the north.

It's also the only town near the famous Bonnevile Salt Flats

bohica · Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:39 am

Quoting GE9X (Reply 2):
a lavish resort getaway.

Other than a few casinos, there is absolutely nothing in Wendover. It is out in the middle of nowhere. In fact the term "Bum F... Egypt" would be a good description of Wendover.

slcdeltarumd11 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:45 pm

Honestly some pretty decent casinos out in the middle of nowhere, charters from across the Western US feed them and supply alot of the weekday demand.

wedgetail737 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:56 pm

Quoting Brewfangrb (Reply 4):
I'm vaguely aware of this. But phxtravelboy is right, they sure don't advertise it much, if they do at all. I wonder how people who don't already know about it find it.

Quoting phxtravelboy (Reply 3):
I'm from WI, very close to ATW originally, and I've never seen any sort of advertising whatsover back there for these services.

Like Laughlin, NV, the advertising for the flights to Wendover, UT usually comes in the form of postcard from one of those
casinos. In my experience, if you gamble quite a bit in Reno or Las Vegas, you have a good chance of getting one of these
postcards...especially if you gamble at Harrahs. We get them maybe once or twice per year!

Also, I have seen advertisements in newspapers. It's usually a small-ish advertisement, not in the paper all the time and you
really have to dig through the paper to find them.

aviatorcraig · Sun Nov 23, 2014 4:32 pm

Isn't this the place that Capt Paul Tibbets assembled his 509th unit in preparation for dropping the A-bomb in Japan at the end of WW2?

I recall reading somewhere they based themselves here to practice dropping dummy bombs because it was out in the middle of nowhere and away from prying eyes.

maxamuus · Sun Nov 23, 2014 4:41 pm

Quoting aviatorcraig (Reply 14):

Isn't this the place that Capt Paul Tibbets assembled his 509th unit in preparation for dropping the A-bomb in Japan at the end of WW2?

The Wendover airbase was quite large during WWII. The Enola Gay was based there. There is a effort to restore the hanger as well as the buildings.'

http://www.wendoverairbase.com/restoration_enola_gay

[Edited 2014-11-23 08:42:57]

brilondon · Sun Nov 23, 2014 5:39 pm

Quoting GE9X (Reply 2):

"The Resorts at Wendover and Allegiant Airlines flight program partnership allows guests from over 65 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada to enjoy a lavish resort getaway. "

yeah and where is that largest ball of twine?

N1120A · Sun Nov 23, 2014 5:49 pm

Quoting brilondon (Reply 16):
yeah and where is that largest ball of twine?

http://youtu.be/Tcw326PJuDw

tan1mill · Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:03 pm

The airport itself is in Utah, but most of the town is in Nevada. If you look on Google Earth, you will see that the casinos are just barely (by mere yards) within the state boundaries. Nevada has a few gambling towns that are conveniently situation just inside the state like Wendover for the convenience of out of state visitors. Mesquite is another that comes to mind, though I don't know how many if any casino charters they get.

SLCUT2777 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:13 pm

Quoting tan1mill (Reply 18):
The airport itself is in Utah, but most of the town is in Nevada. If you look on Google Earth, you will see that the casinos are just barely (by mere yards) within the state boundaries. Nevada has a few gambling towns that are conveniently situation just inside the state like Wendover for the convenience of out of state visitors. Mesquite is another that comes to mind, though I don't know how many if any casino charters they get.

Wendover & "West" Wendover. Better known to locals as "Bendover"

SLCSFOPDX · Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:19 pm

Sometimes you'll also see flights come in from places like EUG, FAR, BLI, YYC, etc. on behalf of G4.

[Edited 2014-11-23 10:23:08]

iowaman · Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:20 pm

Quoting tan1mill (Reply 18):
Mesquite is another that comes to mind, though I don't know how many if any casino charters they get.

Mesquite, Nevada does not have any casino charters as the airport is too small for an MD80 or other mainline services. LAS is an easy drive of an hour and a half or even a little less. SGU is even closer at about 45 minutes and has the capability to handle an MD80.

BravoOne · Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:13 pm

It's actually amazing what kind of talent these casinos draw. Perfomers that few years back would command huge crowds now play for the folks they can draw from SLC and a few Nevada towns.

KingFriday013 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:57 pm

Quoting clickhappy (Reply 6):
I wonder if this is still there?

It is!

Wendover is a neat little town. Of course most of the business is from the Casinos, but right nearby is the Bonneville Salt Flats, and an hour west is Elko, NV, nearby which are some pretty cool ghost towns. Elko is also one of the "legal counties" in Nevada

Quoting as739x (Reply 10):
It's also the only town near the famous Bonnevile Salt Flats

SLC is only a couple of hours away and has a much better rental car variety

Also, right at the exit for Bonneville, is a gas station with a restaurant called the Salt Flats Cafe. Cash only, but very inexpensive and authentic. Possibly some of the best Mexican food I've ever had.

-J.

spinkid · Sun Nov 23, 2014 8:00 pm

Must be a pretty good price on a package tour to entice you to Wendover, over Las Vegas or Reno.

and what's with all the hate towards Wendover (Bendover?????) Let's keep it classy A.Net

spinkid · Sun Nov 23, 2014 8:05 pm

Answered my own question

https://wendoverfun.com/

Starts at $189 roundtrip for 3 nights, that's pretty cheap

KingFriday013 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 8:50 pm

Quoting spinkid (Reply 24):
and what's with all the hate towards Wendover (Bendover?????) Let's keep it classy A.Net

Well since you asked...

It's in the middle of nowhere.
Only Allegiant (and maybe Sun Country at some point?) fly there.
There are three big casinos, which are all kinda old but still cheap.
There isn't much to do in Wendover proper except gamble and drink.
There's a big cowboy statue in West Wendover.
Half of the town is practically dry (the Utah side).
Did I mention it's in the middle of nowhere?

That said, I think it's a neat little town. I wouldn't go out of my way to make it a destination, but it's a fun stop along the way.

-J.

DrColenzo · Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:06 pm

The Bonneville Motor Speedway is very close by to Wendover, which I suspect during the annual speed week makes the airport much busier than at any other time of the year.

clickhappy · Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:38 pm

Don't think Sun Country ever flew there, but Casino Express, then Xtra did. Casino Express moved from Elko to Wendover around 2007 IIRC.

BD338 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:31 pm

Quoting BravoOne (Reply 22):
It's actually amazing what kind of talent these casinos draw.

The best comment I ever heard about Wendover was from Comedian Lewis Black, who said; absolutely one of the top three places in the world...to kill myself...he goes on to paint quite accurate an picture of the place. Tumbleweeds with casinos.

UltimateDelta · Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:36 pm

Quoting KingFriday013 (Reply 26):
It's in the middle of nowhere.

I did my very first night cross-country flight there- at least it was easy to find in the dark!

Freshside3 · Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:51 pm

Quoting BravoOne (Reply 22):

It's actually amazing what kind of talent these casinos draw. Perfomers that few years back would command huge crowds now play for the folks they can draw from SLC and a few Nevada towns.

Yes, some of my friends saw ZZ Top there.....

TheCheese · Mon Nov 24, 2014 3:22 am

Quoting spinkid (Reply 24):
Must be a pretty good price on a package tour to entice you to Wendover, over Las Vegas or Reno.

If you're Carl Pastrewski the Cement Baron of Southwest Wisconsin, Eileen Nelson-Hansen-Nelson the #1 Real Estate Closer in the Twin Cities, or Norm Willis the Hot Tub Hot Shot from Fargo, you're a nobody in Vegas.

But in Wendover, you're a Big Shot who will be treated like a king... As long as you keep hitting the big-stakes gambling, you're going to get better service than you would ever get in Las Vegas or even Reno.

slcdeltarumd11 · Mon Nov 24, 2014 3:40 am

Wendover casino floors are pretty nice, for someone really into gambling its can be a much better experience for the money you have to put out. The casinos are all open and appear to be doing pretty well last time I was there.

Beardown91737 · Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:47 am

There is also Primm, NV for the border casino lineup. When you drive from SoCal, Las Vegas is 40-45 miles from the state line, depending if you are going downtown or to the south strip. Primm sees a lot of turnaround buses. My wife and I saw both the Beach Boys and Weird Al at the amphitheater there.

Haven't been to Wendover, but Primm does not offer odds as favorable as Downtown LV or the off-strip casinos, or Laughlin. Their market is the day trippers, though they have 3,000 to 4,000 hotel rooms among their three hotels.

No airport there, but prior to the Great Recession, there was an Ivanpah Valley airport planned as Las Vegas' second airport. That would have been to the north of Primm, between there and Jean.

SEPilot · Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:31 am

Quoting aviatorcraig (Reply 14):
I recall reading somewhere they based themselves here to practice dropping dummy bombs because it was out in the middle of nowhere and away from prying eyes.

Exactly right. It was also selected so that the crews would have nobody to talk to. I remember a tale about one crewman who got a little drunk and said a little too much, and Tibbets had him drummed out of the program the next day. I think that was before they had moved to Wendover. The crews were not very happy about the location.

Glareskin · Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:47 am

Quoting SLCUT2777 (Reply 19):
Wendover. Better known to locals as "Bendover"

And the Enola Gay was there?
Sorry but it makes me think of different situations than gambling:
http://youtu.be/rMHTo4sAYKA

bennett123 · Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:20 pm

Do you know where the Conair C123 is now?.

Mtia

Goldenshield · Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:06 pm

Quoting Beardown91737 (Reply 34):
There is also Primm, NV for the border casino lineup.

On the other end, there's Mesquite, which has 3 casinos, and is an actual city that's bigger than Primm, Jean, AND Wendover. It's primary draw is the Southern Utah gambler.

SJCMSP · Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:16 pm

Wendover, UT and West Wendover, NV are really one continuus city. There's literally a line in the road marking the border and the casinos start within inches of the line. I remember approaching it late one night across the salt flats and could see the lights about 40 miles before I got there.

jetwet1 · Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:43 pm

Something to understand about these little casino towns, they have been doing the fly/gamble packages since before most of us were born, some still do it, others, like say Searchlight do not.

In comparison to say a Vegas casino, these places don't do a massive business, but they are well run (someone who used to work for me runs the Montego Bay) and profitable. They serve a niche and have cultivated their market very well. All three are owned by Peppermill who certainly know what they are doing.

They offer cheap, but good food, booze and rooms, along with travel deals, which makes for a nice fun get away, much in the way Vegas did years ago, unlike today where a meal on the strip has become IMHO stupidly priced (we went out tonight with my brother and sister in law, $6 for a shrimp taco, WTF) and at some places room costs along with the "resort fee" are becoming silly as well.

As someone who lives in Vegas, we head to Laughlin every now and again, along with Palm Springs, Wendover is just to far away for a nice couple of days of fun.

KingFriday013 · Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:34 pm

Quoting DrColenzo (Reply 27):
The Bonneville Motor Speedway is very close by to Wendover, which I suspect during the annual speed week makes the airport much busier than at any other time of the year.

Most people go to SLC and drive from there... all the rental car agencies in Wendover (I think there are two, maybe three) are franchises and have a really limited fleet. Without a car (or someone else to take you), there's no way to get from the airport to the Salt Flats (or even the exit) -- although it's only three or four miles, I suppose one could walk it

Of course the hotel business picks up during Speed Week, but as for people flying in, Wendover isn't as busy as it could be.

If you want some fun Salt Flats reading, allow me to self-plug my Ride Report on a Camaro I took out there. The pics alone are worth it!

Quoting Beardown91737 (Reply 34):
Their market is the day trippers, though they have 3,000 to 4,000 hotel rooms among their three hotels.

Yep. The folks who fly in I would expect more often than not stay a night or few. But there are several bus companies from SLC, most notably Le Bus and Lewis Stages, that do day trips and provide enough comps that the trip is practically free.

Quoting bennett123 (Reply 37):
Do you know where the Conair C123 is now?.

It's still there. When you are driving from town to the airport, it's actually right along Airport Way.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8476/34812742.jpg

(Don't mind the Subaru... it was only a rental. From SLC, by the way.)

Quoting jetwet1 (Reply 40):
Something to understand about these little casino towns, they have been doing the fly/gamble packages since before most of us were born, some still do it, others, like say Searchlight do not.

Metropolis was gonna be a big town too, until they ran out of water

-J.

panova98 · Tue Nov 25, 2014 11:19 pm

Love places like Wendover. No scheduled airline service, just casino charters.

Laughlin, Nevada (through the Bullhead City, Arizona airport just across the river) has about 3 or 4 gambling charters every day. Harrah's-Laughlin and Don Laughlin's Riverside use Sun Country 737s and Republic E-170s from all over the West, the Southwest, California, western Canada, and as far East, I believe, as Indiana and Ohio.

Interesting clientele...lots of defibrilators onboard and at the terminal, I'm told, but hey, they do spend money, so God bless them!

As the East is becoming saturated with casinos, maybe they'll start charters for the westerners tired of heat, the sand, wind, and dust. Like to places as the under-construction Maryland MGM National Harbor casino extravaganza. Fly into Reagan-National, take a Potomac River shuttle (or Duck) over to the casino and later up the river to visit Watergate and take in the Nats at Nationals Park. Casinos right next to BWI, too.

Wendover and Laughin are nice, but for those of you from Bakersfield or Fargo, check out DC and the circus that is your Congress. (Cherry blossoms, early April!)

ABQopsHP · Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:36 am

Some trivia about Wendover Airport/KENV The movie Independence Day had parts of it filmed there. And the final scene , was filmed next door at Bonneville Salt Flats.

Also in the 90s there was an airline called Casino Express, who ran charters for the Red Lion Hotel/Casino up there. They advertised in the El Paso and Albuquerque newspapers all the time.

JD CRP

wnflyguy · Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:39 am

Wendover gets a lot of charter flights and private jet traffic during speed week at the Bonneville salt flats. Otherwise it's a random casino junket charter. Last schedule service was FedEx feeder service to SLC.

Flyguy

mtnwest1979 · Wed Nov 26, 2014 5:24 am

Quoting ABQopsHP (Reply 43):
Also in the 90s there was an airline called Casino Express, who ran charters for the Red Lion Hotel/Casino up there. They advertised in the El Paso and Albuquerque newspapers all the time.

The Red Lion is in Elko, and the Casino Express flights were to EKO. Every once in awhile they would sell the outbound flight to
locals in Elko for cheap (SEA $99, BOI $49). Not too sure if that sold much. I was at Elko Airport one Sat about 1989
and XP had their 2 737s and also there were two QX F28s doing gambling runs. Busy place. The owner of Red Lion then sold airline off and that is when they morphed into xtra Airways......

Also, Alpine Air offered scheduled SLC-ENV flights for a real short time. When the drive is a straight shot on I-80 at 70+ mph, don't know why they tried that.

[Edited 2014-11-25 21:27:40]

RetiredWeasel · Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:34 pm

Quoting ABQopsHP (Reply 43):
Some trivia about Wendover Airport/KENV The movie Independe

......

And in the late 80's and/or 90's, on at least 2 occasions, an entire squadron of F-16s (min of 12 aircraft) deployed to Wendover for 2 weeks and flew Red Flag sorties from the airfield. The logistics of this kind of deployment is immense and set the stage for future 'desert' operations.

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