Good Tip - book on a Monday or Tuesday at least 3 weeks out and sometimes you will beat the DFW price. Plus you have a way easier time at the airport.

:iagree: Where's the thumbs up on this thing?

Wrong thread.

If you are curious I was the one who posted New Orleans three times.

If you are curious I was the one who posted New Orleans three times.

And I am the other one. LOL

No idea what you are looking at. If you go 3 weeks out, OKC-LAX round trip is consistently $336 to $376 depending on the dates you choose, even non-stop. $183 for Allegient. That's pretty good! I couldn't even get anything higher than $848 to pull up for even tomorrow on a non-stop (cheaper for changing planes). Surely you can't be complaining about last minute rates? If those are expensive it means the planes are full or nearly full, which means good things for our airport.
I can't plan that far out. I'm an actor. I have things that constantly pop up and I made a split second decision to fly to Oklahoma to see my family.

Thanks for taking the survey. This is a comment we see on a regular basis. It's true, prices at OKC are more expensive than DFW and can contribute to leakage. To offset this, we continue to attempt to attract low-cost carriers. We also try to keep the cost of business as low as possible for the airlines. Competition is important though. We need more of it.
No problem! I want to give my business to OKC airport I just don't have the money sometimes.

Good Tip - book on a Monday or Tuesday at least 3 weeks out and sometimes you will beat the DFW price. Plus you have a way easier time at the airport.Will that work a week out? As I said on another post, I usually can't plan that far out lol. I know that sounds pretty silly, but I've had to cancel plane tickets because I've been booked for something last minute, so I'll usually just book something days in advance or if I'm really brave, a week.

Side note: has anyone here ever taken Amtrak Southwest Chief? I've been thinking of doing that. I was wondering how comfortable it was.

what's your time worth to you?

what's your time worth to you?
My time is worth as a much money as able to spend on it. Did I mention I'm an actor? You haven't seen me in movies or commercials yet, so I'm broke af lol.

I'm just one person. I can't imagine what the cost savings would be for a family of four. Must explain why virtually everyone I know opts to fly out of DFW.

i've lived in the OKC area for 10 years now. I have driven to both DFW and ICT to fly because I can save multiple hundreds of dollars on round trip flights. I prefer ICT because it's much smaller than DFW.
i just did a southwest search for non-stop from OKC and ICT to PHX for the same days (26 May to 28 May). OKC - PHX = $588 and ICT - PHX = $430. further out to 16 June to 18 June , OKC - PHX = $465 and ICT - PHX = $264. so for me and the wife to save $300 - $400, that's quite substantial and worth the $35 in gas it takes to drive to Wichita and back

my $0.02

I've never had bad luck flying out of OKC, price-wise. Or time-wise. For an airport its size, there are quite a few options (got a flight back from Phoenix at 10pm on a Wednesday, OKC time). Is it perfect, no. But for what it is, it is a very good airport.

I place a premium on time and convenience. Unless I'm trying to book an international flight, OKC has always been the best option for me when factoring in price, value of time, and convenience. I know just as many people like me as I do those who drive to DFW to fly out to save a little.

for plutonic panda

I've ridden the southwest chief. There's a ton of room I'm 6'4" and a big guy and the seats had plenty of room for me. However they don't lean back much (just like an airplane) and you'll be on that train for 10+ hours. I rode it to Chicago and then from Chicago on and had a big 2 week long trip so it was worth it.

As for the survey. I took the survey and I also relayed the cost issue. I fly out of OKC on occasion but choose DFW for cost savings. for us it's 3 tickets, soon to be 4 (youngest daughter is still under 2) Spirit gets a bad wrap but I've used it a lot and have had no problems. When you're talking about 3 or 4 tickets the savings are quite a bit.

So here's an example. We are flying to San Francisco in July 17-26(wife has a conference so we're all going) I put in the days on google flights and southwest.com and from OKC I'm getting $404 for Oakland/$414 for San Fran. so $404X3=$1212

Out of DFW we booked through united (just last week) for $96.40 each $96.40x3=289.20 We have the bags that fit on the ultra low cost planes so there's no other fees we ever get hit with. We've flown this way a few times now and have the routine down. (on edit this price doesn't seem to come up anymore, it might be sold out but it's what I got 3 tickets for as I checked the e-mail confirmation)

So even with Gas ($70 RT) and Parking ($9 a day for 10 days) we're at 289.20+70+90=449.20 vs $1212. Still a savings of $750 dollars. If I needed a hotel in Dallas that would cut into it but by going to Dallas we go see and stay a night with the Wife's grandmother. It's a win-win. Kids get to see great grandma. No cost for staying there. Grandmother insists we stay there so no issue there.

I place a premium on time and convenience. Unless I'm trying to book an international flight, OKC has always been the best option for me when factoring in price, value of time, and convenience. I know just as many people like me as I do those who drive to DFW to fly out to save a little.Same here. Yes, everyone can pull an example where DFW or ICT or TUL has a noticeably cheaper option than OKC. Even I have booked multiple trips where if I had been willing to drive to one of those other airports I would have saved hundreds. But I wasn't willing. I prefer the convenience of OKC. But normally you can find a competitive price to other regional airports if you book in advance. If you are booking with very specific time constrains that won't always be the case.

The only time I ever choose another airport over OKC is to avoid two connections, and you have to do that for some European destinations. So I have chosen DFW to only make one connection before. Having a family trip go haywire with two days spent at JFK will cure you of booking two connection flights AND flights that change planes at JFK.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but frankly, I just assume our current airlines expand operations here than we get someone like Spirit. I wouldn't want Spirit to come and a current airline to decrease their current operations in response. I prefer actual customer service, and while we may complain about the legacy carriers, they and Southwest are head and shoulders above Spirit.

Everyone, I sincerely appreciate the comments being made on this topic. This is the kind of information that Karen and I were hoping to gather for use in our airline meetings. If there is anyone not wanting to put their specific comments here or for anyone wanting to give additional details that they didn't include in their survey response, please feel free to email them to us at wrwa@okc.gov. Thank you.

Everyone, I sincerely appreciate the comments being made on this topic. This is the kind of information that Karen and I were hoping to gather for use in our airline meetings. If there is anyone not wanting to put their specific comments here or for anyone wanting to give additional details that they didn't include in their survey response, please feel free to email them to us at wrwa@okc.gov. Thank you.

No problem. I would love to fly out of OKC more often but the price points at dfw are just hard to ignore. The savings I quoted above are enough to go on a 2nd trip. This is not to say I haven't flown out of OKC I have once a year the last 3 years. but have flown 2-3 times a year out of DFW. if the price was close I'd choose okc. The airport is easier to navigate. nearby, cheaper parking (or free if a family member drops me off). We got TSA pre-check because we plan to travel quite a bit and it's very useful in large market airports.

Okc really needs to do something to control leakage to DFW, and while minuscule: potential SWO leakage from the N suburbs. OKC under performs similarly sized cities.

Another Tip - get a credit card affiliated with an airline. I have a Southwest card and the last 2 times I've flown to PHX it's cost me a total of $12.00 each direction. Just funnel your purchases through your card and use your points. Now it depends how much money you spend, but you can also pick up to 50,000 points on card referrals. A lot of the early and late flights can be had for as little as 6 to 9 thousand points, depending on destination.They give me a lot of points on card anniversaries, 6 free drinks (alcohol) a year and so on.

Perhaps some advertising on I-35. Several billboards in a row that drive the point home:

1st: Parking at DFW? $24/day. OKC? $7/day
2nd: Oklahoma City to DFW Airport? 3+ Hours. Downtown to WRWA? 17 minutes.
3rd: This is a long drive to DFW... are you ready to drive back after a long vacation and plane ride?
4th: You could already be onboard your plane at WRWA by now...or relaxing at the lounge (or bar or whatever).

Coming back north you could do some more:

If you flew into WRWA you could be at home by now.
Etc.

Perhaps some advertising on I-35. Several billboards in a row that drive the point home:

1st: Parking at DFW? $24/day. OKC? $7/day
2nd: Oklahoma City to DFW Airport? 3+ Hours. Downtown to WRWA? 17 minutes.
3rd: This is a long drive to DFW... are you ready to drive back after a long vacation and plane ride?
4th: You could already be onboard your plane at WRWA by now...or relaxing at the lounge (or bar or whatever).

Coming back north you could do some more:

If you flew into WRWA you could be at home by now.
Etc.This is really good. They should do this.

Another Tip - get a credit card affiliated with an airline. I have a Southwest card and the last 2 times I've flown to PHX it's cost me a total of $12.00 each direction. Just funnel your purchases through your card and use your points. Now it depends how much money you spend, but you can also pick up to 50,000 points on card referrals. A lot of the early and late flights can be had for as little as 6 to 9 thousand points, depending on destination.They give me a lot of points on card anniversaries, 6 free drinks (alcohol) a year and so on.

Works for some - but airline miles are becoming more and more worthless by the day. I rarely ever fly WN so not sure what kind of return you get on rapid rewards points, but from what I can tell it's hard to get 2 cents per point. AA has absolutely gutted AAdvantage (disAAdvantage is more like it these days). For most people it's best to just buy the cheapest ticket and use a cashback card.



Perhaps some advertising on I-35. Several billboards in a row that drive the point home:

1st: Parking at DFW? $24/day. OKC? $7/day
2nd: Oklahoma City to DFW Airport? 3+ Hours. Downtown to WRWA? 17 minutes.
3rd: This is a long drive to DFW... are you ready to drive back after a long vacation and plane ride?
4th: You could already be onboard your plane at WRWA by now...or relaxing at the lounge (or bar or whatever).

Coming back north you could do some more:

If you flew into WRWA you could be at home by now.
Etc.

Which is all well and true but the savings can be unbelievable. We've done it twice when flying to SoCal last minute when roundtrips from OKC are in the $700-800 range at least, but out of DFW $200. Even with a hotel room it saves so much money. The drive back is a total b!tch though, wow. Really horrible. Last time we did it I thought to myself - I would gladly pay someone $200 to drive me home from DFW - would still come out on top this way!

I think we all also need to be careful what we wish for when it comes to the ULCCs like NK and F9. They can both be a disaster operationally. Look at NK this week. Piss off your pilots and this is what happens - of course NK doesn't interline with anyone else so the pax are on their own to get where they need to go. We'll definitely see more "basic economy" fares at OKC if either NK or F9 come here. Now if that results in fares lowering across the board then it's a win, but that's not guaranteed IMO.

Another Tip - get a credit card affiliated with an airline. I have a Southwest card and the last 2 times I've flown to PHX it's cost me a total of $12.00 each direction. Just funnel your purchases through your card and use your points. Now it depends how much money you spend, but you can also pick up to 50,000 points on card referrals. A lot of the early and late flights can be had for as little as 6 to 9 thousand points, depending on destination.They give me a lot of points on card anniversaries, 6 free drinks (alcohol) a year and so on. This! ^ We funnel as many purchases as possible to our Rapid Rewards CC, pay it off every month, and reap the travel benefits. Almost every time we fly as a family of four, which is about 3-4 times per year, at least one of us goes for free. I have found none of the other frequent flyer programs to be anywhere close to SW as far as convenience and ease of award redemption.

With two little kids I just can't imagine hauling back and forth to DFW no matter the savings. Perhaps someday down the road when traveling is easier we'll try that. The convenience factor at Will is just so high! We love it! I filled out the survey and indicated that our biggest nonstop service holes (for us personally) at Will are to PDX and BOS.

so, why is OKC so expensive compared to ICT? I understand DFW with it being such a large airport and tons of flights per day, but ICT is smaller, newer, and fewer flights per day than OKC. What gives?

so, why is OKC so expensive compared to ICT? I understand DFW with it being such a large airport and tons of flights per day, but ICT is smaller, newer, and fewer flights per day than OKC. What gives?

I've never, ever seen Wichita cheaper than OKC. Maybe it's just me, though.

I've never, ever seen Wichita cheaper than OKC. Maybe it's just me, though.

Me either. In fact I've known multiple Wichita residents who drive to OKC to fly because fares out of WRWA are cheaper than ICT. But maybe that has changed recently.

Perhaps some advertising on I-35. Several billboards in a row that drive the point home:

1st: Parking at DFW? $24/day. OKC? $7/day
2nd: Oklahoma City to DFW Airport? 3+ Hours. Downtown to WRWA? 17 minutes.
3rd: This is a long drive to DFW... are you ready to drive back after a long vacation and plane ride?
4th: You could already be onboard your plane at WRWA by now...or relaxing at the lounge (or bar or whatever).

Coming back north you could do some more:

If you flew into WRWA you could be at home by now.
Etc.

I am glad you followed up your more blanket statement of "OKC should do something ..." with some specifics that you think would be appropriate. A more aggressive marketing campaign may be needed to try to bring some of those customers back into the fold. But I want you to read deeper into what you are seeing on this thread. It is mirroring comments we are seeing in survey responses. What is motivating a larger majority of customers here? Fares, not convenience. Not that I think we should completely throw out the idea of a convenience campaign, but the comments we are seeing tells us that our marketing money would probably be better spent informing people about deals on fares. They already know it is more convenient.

Perhaps some advertising on I-35. Several billboards in a row that drive the point home:

1st: Parking at DFW? $24/day. OKC? $7/day
2nd: Oklahoma City to DFW Airport? 3+ Hours. Downtown to WRWA? 17 minutes.
3rd: This is a long drive to DFW... are you ready to drive back after a long vacation and plane ride?
4th: You could already be onboard your plane at WRWA by now...or relaxing at the lounge (or bar or whatever).

Coming back north you could do some more:

If you flew into WRWA you could be at home by now.
Etc.

Nailed it! Great idea IMO.

I am glad you followed up your more blanket statement of "OKC should do something ..." with some specifics that you think would be appropriate. A more aggressive marketing campaign may be needed to try to bring some of those customers back into the fold. But I want you to read deeper into what you are seeing on this thread. It is mirroring comments we are seeing in survey responses. What is motivating a larger majority of customers here? Fares, not convenience. Not that I think we should completely throw out the idea of a convenience campaign, but the comments we are seeing tells us that our marketing money would probably be better spent informing people about deals on fares. They already know it is more convenient.

The point of it is to capitalize on their misery and boredom. You are essentially making them second guess whether it was REALLY worth the extra time and hassle in non-monetary ways.

Asking the airlines to lower their fares is a great way for them to never consider adding more service to OKC. Airlines don't like volume as much as they like yield. Instead of trying to attract fliers by strictly lower prices, the airport needs to attract fliers who are spending their money in DFW. The money is being spent, we need it back in OKC. The people who are only looking for fare sales are not the target audience, as airlines have learned. The target audience is those who seek the best value. There's a huge difference. Advertising limited time offers for fare sales is a great way to fill the last 10 seats at departure time. Increasing higher yield volume will make the airport even more attractive for increased service.

A billboard that advertises a $39 one way ticket to Dallas will fill the 7 seats a day that southwest is offering at that price, and would likely fill without a billboard anyway. It's throwing money away.

With GDS and the rapid increase in airfare watchdog services, people are already exposed to fare sales. People already see the fares in their searches. You would be accomplishing nothing of long term value with a billboard. You will be duplicating the information already being seen by these people.

OKC will not win on price against DFW. We are a small, high yield market. ABQ, TUL, ICT, OMA are all in the same boat. You have to nail the point home that price is not everything, time and sanity are worth the extra cost.

But as typical with government processes, money will be wasted as evidenced by your response.

If they see the billboards explaining the convenience of OKC, they've already purchased the ticket. You want to make them think about it from Purcell to the parking lot. 2 1/2 hours of hearing your screaming kids, dealing with I-35 craziness, and the pulsing temples of an approaching headache-- you want them to think. I'd easily pay $600 to get me out of this hell.

With GDS and the rapid increase in airfare watchdog services, people are already exposed to fare sales. People already see the fares in their searches. You would be accomplishing nothing of long term value with a billboard. You will be duplicating the information already being seen by these people.

OKC will not win on price against DFW. We are a small, high yield market. ABQ, TUL, ICT, OMA are all in the same boat. You have to nail the point home that price is not everything, time and sanity are worth the extra cost.

But as typical with government processes, money will be wasted as evidenced by your response.

Who said anything about asking airlines to lower fares? We also know that just advertising deals on fares is not the solution. But there is obviously a perception issue about cost here that may be convincing consumers to look elsewhere first. They are saying it is not about the inconvenience of traveling to another airport.

What's the number 1 selling point of any service: price. You are going to get that response 9/10 in any marketing survey. Price is king.

The reality is people are easily sold on higher price when offered a better value. They told you they want a cheaper price, but any salesman knows value will close the deal.

What's the number 1 selling point of any service: price. You are going to get that response 9/10 in any marketing survey. Price is king.

The reality is people are easily sold on higher price when offered a better value. They told you they want a cheaper price, but any salesman knows value will close the deal.

I see your argument and there are points I agree with. I still believe there is a perception issue that is not being addressed.

What's the number 1 selling point of any service: price. You are going to get that response 9/10 in any marketing survey. Price is king.

The reality is people are easily sold on higher price when offered a better value. They told you they want a cheaper price, but any salesman knows value will close the deal.

You are on fire today. Agree with everything you're saying.

Who said anything about asking airlines to lower fares? We also know that just advertising deals on fares is not the solution. But there is obviously a perception issue about cost here that may be convincing consumers to look elsewhere first. They are saying it is not about the inconvenience of traveling to another airport.

I agree with you Josh. I am the family that travels as much as I can and price is the ultimate concern. I do try to look at OKC first and I have flown a few times mostly with Southwest through OKC. I have thought about allegiant but so far the only flights they offer are to places I'm not really looking at going. Now in the future when my girls (3 and 1) are older we'll go to disney and we'll almost certainly fly allegiant out of OKC (it is at least 3 years away though so who knows). It can be inconvenient but seeing the signs wouldn't bother me. I'm going to drive down and cut my cost in half if I can. I can say that on the few times we've used WRWA it was because the savings weren't that big to go to Dallas. I presented some numbers of a flight we're taking and showed it was $300 for the 3 of us to fly and $1200 out of OKC. I would say if it was closer to $600 out of OKC the convenience would be worth it to just fly out of OKC.

That being said any chance of luring Spirit to OKC? just a few flights to dallas and connections on would be a win for a lot of people and help drive down costs.

I agree with you Josh. I am the family that travels as much as I can and price is the ultimate concern. I do try to look at OKC first and I have flown a few times mostly with Southwest through OKC. I have thought about allegiant but so far the only flights they offer are to places I'm not really looking at going. Now in the future when my girls (3 and 1) are older we'll go to disney and we'll almost certainly fly allegiant out of OKC (it is at least 3 years away though so who knows). It can be inconvenient but seeing the signs wouldn't bother me. I'm going to drive down and cut my cost in half if I can. I can say that on the few times we've used WRWA it was because the savings weren't that big to go to Dallas. I presented some numbers of a flight we're taking and showed it was $300 for the 3 of us to fly and $1200 out of OKC. I would say if it was closer to $600 out of OKC the convenience would be worth it to just fly out of OKC.

That being said any chance of luring Spirit to OKC? just a few flights to dallas and connections on would be a win for a lot of people and help drive down costs.

As we've done with other LCCs and ULCCs, we keep an open door policy and continue to meet with them. Allegiant has found a successful niche for themselves here and continues to try new routes. We're confident that others could do that as well, but we haven't had any assurances at this point that we are being considered in their short or long-range planning.

As we've done with other LCCs and ULCCs, we keep an open door policy and continue to meet with them. Allegiant has found a successful niche for themselves here and continues to try new routes. We're confident that others could do that as well, but we haven't had any assurances at this point that we are being considered in their short or long-range planning.

Hopefully spirit comes or frontier comes back. It's ultimately what's likely to help most with lowering costs out of WRWA. Love that there's alaska airlines with flights to Seattle which I'll likely use, hopefully they open up some routes from okc to other locations.

With Frontier I was really hoping it would work with their hub being so close in Denver. Not sure what happened there.

For my own admittedly selfish reasons, I hope Frontier doesn't come back to OKC and Spirit doesn't enter the market. I'd rather not see "Basic Economy" fares on DL/AA/UA at KOKC. But I know for others the value offered by ULCCs is critical.

The point of it is to capitalize on their misery and boredom. You are essentially making them second guess whether it was REALLY worth the extra time and hassle in non-monetary ways.

Asking the airlines to lower their fares is a great way for them to never consider adding more service to OKC. Airlines don't like volume as much as they like yield. Instead of trying to attract fliers by strictly lower prices, the airport needs to attract fliers who are spending their money in DFW. The money is being spent, we need it back in OKC. The people who are only looking for fare sales are not the target audience, as airlines have learned. The target audience is those who seek the best value. There's a huge difference. Advertising limited time offers for fare sales is a great way to fill the last 10 seats at departure time. Increasing higher yield volume will make the airport even more attractive for increased service.

A billboard that advertises a $39 one way ticket to Dallas will fill the 7 seats a day that southwest is offering at that price, and would likely fill without a billboard anyway. It's throwing money away.
I just don't think this will work at all. I'm sure the people who have already chosen to go to DFW aren't turning around and they will forget these billboards well before the next time they choose to buy a plane ticket.

Almost every single person I know in OKC drives to DFW simply because the fares are so much lower.

I don't know what can be done, but maybe OKC should just wait until the opportunity until a new hub needs to be formed somewhere and then jump on that with everything they have. I don't know the solution but I do knot the problem and speaking for myself, a few billboards won't do anything to make me change my mind.

What's the number 1 selling point of any service: price. You are going to get that response 9/10 in any marketing survey. Price is king.

The reality is people are easily sold on higher price when offered a better value. They told you they want a cheaper price, but any salesman knows value will close the deal.
This is too simplistic.

In any purchase there are 3 elements. Price, serivce, quality. You can pick 2 you will never get all 3.

The primary point is that spending advertising dollars on publishing fare sales by tenant airlines is a waste of money: everyone has a cell phone. Everyone can access google, orbitz, etc. at any given moment. People are already aware of fare sales and cheap tickets -- those sell first. The cheap tickets will always sell first. The goal should not be to advertise something that will already sell. It won't increase the number of available fares or change the amount of people using WRWA. A $39 fare may only have an inventory of 20 per day on a given route. That fare bucket will ALWAYS sell out. You would only be changing the amount of time that fare bucket sells and who is sitting in the seat. Those marketing dollars would simply be spent in vein with no appreciable change.

You aren't going to solve leakage to DFW. There are many people who will go to any length to save $1. You're not going to change their minds. But there are people who may be on the fence about it. They might not be in the extreme example of 4-digit savings. They may be saving $200-500. They might not have ever parked at DFW, sat in Dallas traffic, or even driven to DFW before. Their half-cousin may have recommended it. They are trying it. These are the people you aim to retain on their next trip. Several reminders that their $350 in savings is actually quite a hassle. Next time they might find it worth it to fly out of OKC.

In the future this problem will likely mitigate itself to some degree. Norman is growing, I-35 traffic is worsening. Traffic in DFW area will only get worse. The drive time will steadily increase making it less and less tolerable for some.

I literally fly for free, and Tulsa is the furthest from OKC I would ever consider flying to for the purposes of flying to Oklahoma. If I can't get to OKC or TUL I do not fly. I will not even fly for free to DFW because it sounds like a total hassle and waste of time. In fact, I have even purchase tickets from OKC to avoid driving to DFW for a free ride to DEN.

You fly for free. Most people don't. I know you were being a bit facetious with your saving $1 comment but when it comes to saving $300 per person or even much more than that, it doesn't matter how bad traffic is. I'm sure people would drive it even if it took 6 hours. That's a lot of money. Time is valuable sure, but sometimes people don't have a choice and it comes down to whether or not they can afford it.

You fly for free. Most people don't. I know you were being a bit facetious with your saving $1 comment but when it comes to saving $300 per person or even much more than that, it doesn't matter how bad traffic is. I'm sure people would drive it even if it took 6 hours. That's a lot of money. Time is valuable sure, but sometimes people don't have a choice and it comes down to whether or not they can afford it.

If a flight to OKC from LAX is too expensive have you considered driving to Las Vegas for a flight to a OKC? Would you drive to San Francisco for a flight to OKC?

If they see the billboards explaining the convenience of OKC, they've already purchased the ticket. You want to make them think about it from Purcell to the parking lot. 2 1/2 hours of hearing your screaming kids, dealing with I-35 craziness, and the pulsing temples of an approaching headache-- you want them to think. I'd easily pay $600 to get me out of this hell.

I'm getting the shakes about even thinking driving to DFW for flights reading this post. I've done it once...never again. If I can't fly out of OKC, then we're either not going or we're just making it a road trip (I know, sounds contradictory, but sometimes we can make some fun of the road trip).

Josh I'm siding with catch22 here. Is that survey link still live?

To steer the conversation away from billboards - what are some things WRWA could do to enhance the passenger experience to add value?

An airport lounge would be a good start. The airport should talk to American Express about their lounges. They are not airline specific as anyone with American Express can enter (I think - I use Amex but have not tried one)

Has valet parking started now that the rental car facility has moved out of the short term garage?

Partnering with Embark on a direct to downtown shuttle bus. Nonstop service every hour. $10 is fair. Connects to Streetcar-big selling point and even better if fare included 1-hour transfer allowance on streetcar (if they decide to have fares). Could later expand it if desired to add routes nonstop to Norman, or one-stop Moore then Norman. Edmond could also be a desirable point.





.

If a flight to OKC from LAX is too expensive have you considered driving to Las Vegas for a flight to a OKC? Would you drive to San Francisco for a flight to OKC?I've actually done that before though I will admit partly that is because I love Las Vegas so I'm biased there. However if a flight was cheaper like the ones compared to OKC VS. DFW, then yes, because I wouldn't have a choice if I couldn't afford them.

I've actually done that before though I will admit partly that is because I love Las Vegas so I'm biased there. However if a flight was cheaper like the ones compared to OKC VS. DFW, then yes, because I wouldn't have a choice if I couldn't afford them.

Just sounds like you need a better agent ;)

Just sounds like you need a better agent ;) you aren't kidding

Maybe another thing to offer people is free secure high bandwidth wifi, high amperage charging ports at the seats, maybe some little work cubicles with cat5 connections on their own subnets. Some little extra modern conveniences that doesn't cost the airport much more but can be important especially for families and business travelers.

I've never, ever seen Wichita cheaper than OKC. Maybe it's just me, though.

i posted on the past page 2 examples straight some southwest.com.

"i've lived in the OKC area for 10 years now. I have driven to both DFW and ICT to fly because I can save multiple hundreds of dollars on round trip flights. I prefer ICT because it's much smaller than DFW.
i just did a southwest search for non-stop from OKC and ICT to PHX for the same days (26 May to 28 May). OKC - PHX = $588 and ICT - PHX = $430. further out to 16 June to 18 June , OKC - PHX = $465 and ICT - PHX = $264. so for me and the wife to save $300 - $400, that's quite substantial and worth the $35 in gas it takes to drive to Wichita and back"

southwest has always been cheaper to fly out of ICT compared to OKC whenever i look and i've flown out of there 3 times because of the savings. i've also used allegiant from ICT because it goes to where i go.

An airport lounge would be a good start. The airport should talk to American Express about their lounges. They are not airline specific as anyone with American Express can enter (I think - I use Amex but have not tried one)

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AMEX club requires Platinum or Centurion card to access. As much as I like and use the AMEX and Delta lounges when I travel, they make more sense in locations where people have layovers. (However, I am amazed that New Orleans has a Skyclub)

Price is a concern but so is convenience. I can my house one hour before boarding time and make every flight. Driving to Dallas...I have to look at possible traffic and snarls and plan on getting to airport several hours early to ensure I make flight. Want me to fly more...offer me one way routes to places I want to visit for getaways. If I have to spend a day travelling in each direction...less chance of going.

Yeah, a lounge at WRWA really makes zero sense to me (speaking as a frequent business traveler). I try to time it where I spend as little time as possible from my garage in Moore to my seat (departures) so the idea of a lounge isn't going to be much of an incentive.

I'm getting the shakes about even thinking driving to DFW for flights reading this post. I've done it once...never again. If I can't fly out of OKC, then we're either not going or we're just making it a road trip (I know, sounds contradictory, but sometimes we can make some fun of the road trip).

Josh I'm siding with catch22 here. Is that survey link still live?

Sorry about the slow reply, here is the link: goo.gl/yKzais

Yeah, a lounge at WRWA really makes zero sense to me (speaking as a frequent business traveler). I try to time it where I spend as little time as possible from my garage in Moore to my seat (departures) so the idea of a lounge isn't going to be much of an incentive.

Non-hub airports do have them. MSY (DL), AUS (UA, AA), PDX (UA) PHX (UA) Are a few off the top of my head. None of those airlines offer any (meaningful) connections in those cities yet have dedicated airline lounges. You don't necessarily need a hub for a lounge.

To steer the conversation away from billboards - what are some things WRWA could do to enhance the passenger experience to add value?

An airport lounge would be a good start. The airport should talk to American Express about their lounges. They are not airline specific as anyone with American Express can enter (I think - I use Amex but have not tried one)

Has valet parking started now that the rental car facility has moved out of the short term garage?

Partnering with Embark on a direct to downtown shuttle bus. Nonstop service every hour. $10 is fair. Connects to Streetcar-big selling point and even better if fare included 1-hour transfer allowance on streetcar (if they decide to have fares). Could later expand it if desired to add routes nonstop to Norman, or one-stop Moore then Norman. Edmond could also be a desirable point.

Your ideas are very much in line with the planning ideas that get discussed here.
Regarding a shared-use airport lounge, this is something that we are seriously evaluating. One of our challenges is finding available space that is large enough and strategically located. We do have a few ideas. We also have had conversations with other airports that currently have lounges as well as with companies that operate these types of facilities. We agree this would be a good amenity for many frequent flyers.
Valet parking is not planned at this time. A recent parking study revealed that there is not a significant demand for that service at WRWA and would be difficult to sustain. Right now we're focused on the following parking upgrades:
- Parking reservation options for premium spots in lower level Garage A
- Completing repairs and rehabilitation of the lower level of the two-story parking garage, which will reopen as premium parking, the closest covered parking to the terminal building. We hope to have this open in June.
- The ability to reserve spaces online for premium parking, with the goal to eventually expand online reservations to all parking facilities.
- Installation and system upgrades of a new parking and revenue control system that will include “pay-on-foot” kiosks
-The installation of space locaters in the five story parking garages
- New wayfinding signage in all of the parking garages
- Renovations and upgrades to the elevator station in the two-story parking garage (this is currently in the engineering stage)
Several years ago, Embark did have daily bus service to the airport. Ridership was so low (1-2 passengers a day, some days 0 passengers) that the route was not sustainable. As the streetcar system develops and expands, we feel that Embark and City leadership will re-evaluate the possibility of a direct bus line to downtown.

Maybe this is already a thing, but wasn't there a plan where your pikepass would pay for parking? That seems super handy to me.

The ridership was low because it was 3x daily, had a million stops between downtown and took an hour. I am not proposing a city bus but a city-run direct nonstop shuttle. I think that would be more successful than a city bus meandering through the city stopping every 1/4 mile between the airport and downtown.

As for Austin Bergstrom having an AA lounge - don't forget that BA has a daily nonstop to London Heathrow; Not only can AA passengers access it but so can the many oneworld elite status and first/business class passengers who fly BA from Austin. Similar scenarios are present at other non-hub airports where the daily passenger counts for that airline's lounge are high enough to warrant it.

A common lounge makes more sense at OKC, which can be used not by passengers of any specific airline, but multiple airlines.

A shared lounge would be amazing! The airspace lounge in San Diego comes to mind.

Hourly bus service to downtown for $10 is going to be difficult IMO as long as uber remains legal and cheap. Why would anyone ride a bus for $10 if you can uber door to door for $15?

As for Austin Bergstrom having an AA lounge - don't forget that BA has a daily nonstop to London Heathrow; Not only can AA passengers access it but so can the many oneworld elite status and first/business class passengers who fly BA from Austin. Similar scenarios are present at other non-hub airports where the daily passenger counts for that airline's lounge are high enough to warrant it.

A common lounge makes more sense at OKC, which can be used not by passengers of any specific airline, but multiple airlines.

AA has had an admirals club in AUS for years, well before BA launched the LHR flight. It's one of the busiest spokes in the AA network and also high-yielding. SNA is similar - not a hub but a busy spoke with plenty of frequent flyers, thus gets an A.C.