Will Rogers World Airport

[warreng88]

My wife and I just got back from Orlando for our annual Disney trip. We drove to Love Field for three reasons: 1) it was $1,000 cheaper (net $900 with parking and gas) than OKC, 2) Direct flight, no layover/connections and 3) the flight times were better and we didn't have to book a hotel overnight. If OKC could fix two out of three of these problems to most anywhere, we would do it from here, but it's not economical.

We looked at flying to Anaheim (yes, Disney as well) in May and the cost from OKC was the exact same as the one from Love Field but Love had direct flights (to Long Beach or Santa Ana) and OKC had a connection. With the connections came more time in the air, but we would deal with that if it was more convenient.

[brianinok]

My wife and I just got back from Orlando for our annual Disney trip. We drove to Love Field for three reasons: 1) it was $1,000 cheaper (net $900 with parking and gas) than OKC, 2) Direct flight, no layover/connections and 3) the flight times were better and we didn't have to book a hotel overnight. If OKC could fix two out of three of these problems to most anywhere, we would do it from here, but it's not economical.

We looked at flying to Anaheim (yes, Disney as well) in May and the cost from OKC was the exact same as the one from Love Field but Love had direct flights (to Long Beach or Santa Ana) and OKC had a connection. With the connections came more time in the air, but we would deal with that if it was more convenient.

You do realize OKC has 2 non-stop flights a day on American to LAX? We took those last month to go to Disneyland. 35 minutes later we pulled into the Grand Californian. Easy Peasy. Why would you want to drive 3 hours to DAL to save 20 minutes of drive time in CA? Even if there was traffic it's highly unlikely to be that much.

[David]

I can't imagine wanting to drive all the way down to Dallas for a flight instead of using our much nicer to get through local airport, even if it was a flight with a layover.

[warreng88]

You do realize OKC has 2 non-stop flights a day on American to LAX? We took those last month to go to Disneyland. 35 minutes later we pulled into the Grand Californian. Easy Peasy. Why would you want to drive 3 hours to DAL to save 20 minutes of drive time in CA? Even if there was traffic it's highly unlikely to be that much.

I have flown to LAX. I have also flown to Long Beach. And Santa Ana. Those two are much easier to get in and out of than LAX. It's like flying into Love versus DFW.

[warreng88]

I can't imagine wanting to drive all the way down to Dallas for a flight instead of using our much nicer to get through local airport, even if it was a flight with a layover.

Like I said, savings, direct flight and better flight times with no massive layover.

[Plutonic Panda]

You do realize OKC has 2 non-stop flights a day on American to LAX? We took those last month to go to Disneyland. 35 minutes later we pulled into the Grand Californian. Easy Peasy. Why would you want to drive 3 hours to DAL to save 20 minutes of drive time in CA? Even if there was traffic it's highly unlikely to be that much.

When was that? During Covid? Sorry but it’s hard to believe you landed at LAX and 30 minutes later you were pulling into the Grand California Hotel. That should be more like 2 hours.

[Plutonic Panda]

I can't imagine wanting to drive all the way down to Dallas for a flight instead of using our much nicer to get through local airport, even if it was a flight with a layover.

I’m willing to pay more to fly in and out of OKC. DFW is too big and is a pain in the ass to deal with. Now Love Field is a pretty cool airport. So far my favorite airports are OKC and Midway Chicago. The ones I hate the most are Denver’s and DFW. I don’t mind LAX and it’ll only get better once the renovations are done and the APM and K line are finished. I don’t understand the hate LAX gets. But I’ve never used any other airport in socal other than dropping someone off at San Diego’s.

[deeeznutz]

I grew up with DFW in my backyard so I actually like it because it is what I know. Will Rogers is great for OKC and Im glad its being expanded and given attention. I like Denver for food options. I cannot agree that Chicago Midway is anything but a hell hole, but maybe thats just personal experience. One place I love to travel to and loathe having to fly there is New Orleans. The airport there is sad.

[Celebrator]

I’m willing to pay more to fly in and out of OKC. DFW is too big and is a pain in the ass to deal with. Now Love Field is a pretty cool airport. So far my favorite airports are OKC and Midway Chicago. The ones I hate the most are Denver’s and DFW. I don’t mind LAX and it’ll only get better once the renovations are done and the APM and K line are finished. I don’t understand the hate LAX gets. But I’ve never used any other airport in socal other than dropping someone off at San Diego’s.

Try Long Beach or Burbank. Those are amazing airports to use!

[Plutonic Panda]

Try Long Beach or Burbank. Those are amazing airports to use!

Yeah Burbank is about to go through a renovation and Long Beach I’ve heard is great. They’re considering extending the B(Red) line to Burbank. I’ve also considered Ontario. They’re about to build their own APM but it’ll be underground and connect to the Metrolink system.

[scottk]

Like I said, savings, direct flight and better flight times with no massive layover.

We've done the same. Love Field is pretty easy to get to and SWA has lots of direct flights at much cheaper prices. HOWEVER, they have really grown in foot traffic since Covid, the last couple of times I have been there, the bathroom lines, gate waiting areas, and other common areas were packed.

As for OKC, I've noticed, and of course it's not every flight, but a lot of flights are significantly higher than our neighboring airports including Dallas Love, DFW, ICT, and TUL. I always compare, especially with SWA, and sometimes driving 2-3 hours in a different direction as you pointed out can save hundreds, if not even a one or two thousand dollars for multiple travelers.

I can see why we can't compete with DFW and Dallas Love in fare prices due to their volume, but why are TUL and ICT sometimes more than $100 cheaper per ticket for virtually the same routes?

[Richard at Remax]

So just curious i planned a trip to Orlando and compared it between flying the OKC nonstop and Love Field nonstop. I took into account of driving down the day of to catch a flight, and took into account of getting back at a reasonable hour to drive back to OKC. I also made it a family of four.

The random dates I chose and flights chosen (you could pay slightly more or less shifting these around since there are multiple nonstops from Love Field) but it was about $1747 to fly out of Love vs $1387 to fly out of OKC

Totally understand that there might be other variables in play but for these random dates I don't see any benefit from driving to Love

[Richard at Remax]

I took my family of four to disneyland last Feb and the nonstop to LAX was a no brainer. I'm pretty sure when we pulled into the hotel it was like 56 minutes from LAX. Connecting to the other LA airports were noticeably more expensive

[Plutonic Panda]

I took my family of four to disneyland last Feb and the nonstop to LAX was a no brainer. I'm pretty sure when we pulled into the hotel it was like 56 minutes from LAX. Connecting to the other LA airports were noticeably more expensive

I know you can straight shot down the 105(which unfortunately does not cut through Norwalk) so it’s the 605(which at that point is usually jammed) to the 5 and get off at Disney Way or Katella and generally Orange County has better flowing traffic because they have more lanes on their freeways, but I’m speaking of terms of going from the gate to the rental car place, and then just getting on the freeway. Are you talking about once you’re just on the freeway how long it takes to get to your hotel?

It’s also important to remember the California grand is the nicest on site hotel at least for now. Disney is planning on building a third massive theme park, but they are facing a lot of backlash from Anaheim residents, which is ridiculous in my opinion. Because if you’re going to the California grand, you’re just getting off at Disneyland Drive and it’s much faster. Often times the HOV exit gets backed up, funny enough. I guess you could take harbor as well to cut down the Katella. I’m just impressed that anyone could make it under an hour from LAX to their hotel at Disneyland if it’s on site. Of course when there’s no traffic, I’ll be doing 100+ on the 5 so that saves time but not that much.

I only know all of this cause I’ve lived out here for 10 years and a lot of times when friends or family come out here I go to LAX to pick them up and take them to Disney because that’s where they wanna stay at and it’s generally around an hour to an hour and a half drive just depending on traffic. Like even checking Google maps right now there’s a few back ups but traffic looks like it’s flowing pretty good and it’s saying it’s a little over an hour.

[Richard at Remax]

We took the early OKC nonstop and landed a little early around 9:15am pst. Got bags and hopped on rental car shuttle and got to the facility around 9:50ish. Got the the residence inn anahiem in under an hour. Big victory

[Plutonic Panda]

We took the early OKC nonstop and landed a little early around 9:15am pst. Got bags and hopped on rental car shuttle and got to the facility around 9:50ish. Got the the residence inn anahiem in under an hour. Big victory

I’d say. That’s certainly a great start to a vacation in Southern California. Within about a decade or so you’ll have the option of taking the automated people mover to the massive consolidated rental car facility. Or if you wanna take mass transit, there’s an initiative to extend the green line(c) to the Norwalk Metrolink station, which will take you to the Anaheim Arctic station. Disney runs shuttle buses for free to and from there. Or at least they did for employees I can’t remember whether or not they do it for Park guests or not. Though if you have little ones with you, I’m not sure I’d recommend using the LA metro system. A lot of homeless people going on profanity laced tirades were absolutely no reason and rampant drug use. But you don’t see that anywhere near as much on the Metrolink. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen that on a Metrolink train.

[brianinok]

When was that? During Covid? Sorry but it’s hard to believe you landed at LAX and 30 minutes later you were pulling into the Grand California Hotel. That should be more like 2 hours.

January. Flew to LAX on the morning flight on a Monday. Flew back to OKC on the evening flight. There was more traffic on the return to LAX on the Friday but still made it less than 45 minutes.

[Plutonic Panda]

January. Flew to LAX on the morning flight on a Monday. Flew back to OKC on the evening flight. There was more traffic on the return to LAX on the Friday but still made it less than 45 minutes.

Thats impressive.

[brianinok]

Granted, the last time we did this (summer) it did take about 1.5 hours from LAX, but the return was similar to what we had this time.

[warreng88]

So just curious i planned a trip to Orlando and compared it between flying the OKC nonstop and Love Field nonstop. I took into account of driving down the day of to catch a flight, and took into account of getting back at a reasonable hour to drive back to OKC. I also made it a family of four.

The random dates I chose and flights chosen (you could pay slightly more or less shifting these around since there are multiple nonstops from Love Field) but it was about $1747 to fly out of Love vs $1387 to fly out of OKC

Totally understand that there might be other variables in play but for these random dates I don't see any benefit from driving to Love

If that would have been our flight to Orlando, we would have done it in a heart beat. When we booked our trip, it was $1,000 more and there was a two hour layover in Houston on the way there and Austin on the way back. A direct flight and cheaper? No brainer. We always look at flying out of OKC first but Love is our next look due to the reasons I have posted about prior.

[BoulderSooner]

So just curious i planned a trip to Orlando and compared it between flying the OKC nonstop and Love Field nonstop. I took into account of driving down the day of to catch a flight, and took into account of getting back at a reasonable hour to drive back to OKC. I also made it a family of four.

The random dates I chose and flights chosen (you could pay slightly more or less shifting these around since there are multiple nonstops from Love Field) but it was about $1747 to fly out of Love vs $1387 to fly out of OKC

Totally understand that there might be other variables in play but for these random dates I don't see any benefit from driving to Love

you cherry picked flights quite a bit to make your point from dallas ..

just small tweaks makes it over 300 less then from OKC

[Richard at Remax]

you cherry picked flights quite a bit to make your point from dallas ..

just small tweaks makes it over 300 less then from OKC

Just to re state my comment from above, I said I took into account of driving down the day of to catch a flight, and took into account of getting back at a reasonable hour to drive back to OKC as well as "you could pay slightly more or less shifting these around since there are multiple nonstops from Love Field"

To your comment, is it worth it to you to save $300 but have to drive + park? I'd say no way but that's just me.

[HOT ROD]

We've done the same. Love Field is pretty easy to get to and SWA has lots of direct flights at much cheaper prices. HOWEVER, they have really grown in foot traffic since Covid, the last couple of times I have been there, the bathroom lines, gate waiting areas, and other common areas were packed.

As for OKC, I've noticed, and of course it's not every flight, but a lot of flights are significantly higher than our neighboring airports including Dallas Love, DFW, ICT, and TUL. I always compare, especially with SWA, and sometimes driving 2-3 hours in a different direction as you pointed out can save hundreds, if not even a one or two thousand dollars for multiple travelers.

I can see why we can't compete with DFW and Dallas Love in fare prices due to their volume, but why are TUL and ICT sometimes more than $100 cheaper per ticket for virtually the same routes?

This could be the classic 'supply and demand' situation, where either OKC has a lack of supply compared to other airports (doubt this) or that OKC has a higher demand than other airports (yeah, this) that isn't being met - hence higher price in OKC. This may not necessarily be a bad thing when you think about the 'cache' of a city, but yes - it can be frustrating for the market particularly when you're trying to save on the cost to fly (and availability).

The question is why airlines are not increasing the supply in OKC. ... We CLEARLY have the demand, it's not being met regularly, and therefore we lave significant leakage to DAL/DFW, TUL, and ICT; the former two having significantly more supply than OKC while the latter two having significantly less demand (hence lower prices in both cases than OKC).

I suggest (as has been said a million times) that the airport/city go after restoring the hub network for every airline and that we go after larger airplanes. THIS will start to increase supply and likely meet today's demand; which will lower prices. Perhaps use guarantees to incentivize the airlines for a period of time or better yet, OKC establish better travel/tourism resources.

I suspect the next few years will see better days for OKC as we get more high profile events in the city (NBA Finals and Playoffs and OKC Thunder continuing to be #1 team in the NBA, OU hopefully does better in the SEC maybe make the CFP, OKC being co-host of the 2028 LA Olympics, WCWS continuing to gain popularity, better concert/tour events) and the city improve its venues and attractions (Gold Dome, Armoury, new downtown arena, Legends Tower complex, opening of OKANA, OKC aquarium). With all of this, and more, going on; the airlines have to respond in kind. OKC leadership should guide that response by at least addressing the hub and capacity issue first, adding flight(s) to Mexico will also help (by providing OKC as an option to connect to Int'l).

[VeggieMeat]

I suspect the next few years will see better days for OKC as we get more high profile events in the city (NBA Finals and Playoffs and OKC Thunder continuing to be #1 team in the NBA, OU hopefully does better in the SEC maybe make the CFP, OKC being co-host of the 2028 LA Olympics, WCWS continuing to gain popularity, better concert/tour events) and the city improve its venues and attractions (Gold Dome, Armoury, new downtown arena, Legends Tower complex, opening of OKANA, OKC aquarium). With all of this, and more, going on; the airlines have to respond in kind. OKC leadership should guide that response by at least addressing the hub and capacity issue first, adding flight(s) to Mexico will also help (by providing OKC as an option to connect to Int'l).

This recent fog has also shown the airport needs some upgrades to the lighting and landing systems. For example, tonight SKW3703 (SLC-OKC - https://www.flightradar24.com/SKW3703/390c9eef) had to divert back to SLC after holding at OKC because the only runway capable of CAT II approaches necessary in this weather is 35R. With winds out of 170, either 35 are not usable, and conditions the last few nights have been below the approach minimums on the 17s.

[PhiAlpha]

This recent fog has also shown the airport needs some upgrades to the lighting and landing systems. For example, tonight SKW3703 (SLC-OKC - https://www.flightradar24.com/SKW3703/390c9eef) had to divert back to SLC after holding at OKC because the only runway capable of CAT II approaches necessary in this weather is 35R. With winds out of 170, either 35 are not usable, and conditions the last few nights have been below the approach minimums on the 17s.

Our southwest flight from Houston landed about 30 minutes before the Denver and SLC flights got turned around. Took two attempts and you couldn’t see any lights on the ground until we were what looked like about 30-50 feet above the runway (possibly lower). I’ve flown a ton and never have landed in fog like that. Touched down so hard that several people woke up screaming LOL. Solid job by the pilots to get it on the ground.