United adds second OKC-LAX flight

[brianinok]

I hope it's okay to post the story here. Mods, if not, please delete.

Will Rogers World Airport

WILL ROGERS WORLD AIRPORT — — United Airlines today announced they have added a second route to its nonstop service from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles (LAX). United launched nonstop service from Oklahoma City to the west coast in September 2006. T

OKC to LAX

Departure: 6:30 a.m.
Arrival: 7:25 a.m.

Departure: 5:40 p.m.
Arrival: 6:36 p.m.

LAX to OKC
Departure: 10:45 a.m.
Arrival: 3:36 p.m.

Departure: 6:25 p.m.
Arrival: 11:15 p.m.

Tickets may be purchased online at United Airlines - Airline Ticket Reservations, Vacation packages and deals to Domestic and International travel destinations, by calling United Reservations at
1-800-UNITED-1 or through a travel agency.

Delta Airlines began nonstop service between Oklahoma City and LAX last month.

Will Rogers World Airport now offers 30 nonstop flights to 26 cities/markets. That is 15 more than what the airport offered one year ago this month.

[HOT ROD]

This is great, I was wondering when United would add another flight to LAX.

Hopefully we can get a mainliner for at least a few business days. ..

It seems, however, that the last sentence is an error, WRWA offers 30 n/s flights to 26 cities/markets. Doesn't OKC have well over 200 flights a day (over 100 departures and 100 arrivals daily)? and aren't all of them non-stop to somewhere?

Since this is the case, it seems to question the last sentence; am I way off or missing something??? Shouldn't the last sentence read, "WRWA now offers 102+ nonstop flights to 26 cities/markets per day." ...???

JennAirports????

It seems as tho we under-state our airport whilst Tulsa overstates theirs (and everything else they have). Why is this????

[Oil Capital]

This is great, I was wondering when United would add another flight to LAX.

Hopefully we can get a mainliner for at least a few business days. ..

It seems, however, that the last sentence is an error, WRWA offers 30 n/s flights to 26 cities/markets. Doesn't OKC have well over 200 flights a day (over 100 departures and 100 arrivals daily)? and aren't all of them non-stop to somewhere?

Since this is the case, it seems to question the last sentence; am I way off or missing something??? Shouldn't the last sentence read, "WRWA now offers 102+ nonstop flights to 26 cities/markets per day." ...???

JennAirports????

It seems as tho we under-state our airport whilst Tulsa overstates theirs (and everything else they have). Why is this????

You are right! That was really bad writing. I think what the writer was trying to say was there are 30 non-stop routes?? (I'm sure the writer didn't even fully understand what he/she was trying to write, just parroting something they read in a news release or on a website and doing it poorly.) I'm guessing WRWA has nonstops to 26 different metros, which includes nonstops to 30 different airports. Cities with multiple airports that get nonstops from OKC are Houston, Chicago, LA and Dallas-Fort Worth.

[venture]

Good news. Should help offset the cutbacks coming from Express Jet.

[Karried]

Good news...

It is so frustrating trying to fly anywhere out of OKC sometimes!

We're having to drive to Dallas to fly to S. Carolina to save $1,000.00 and to avoid a nine hour flight time! Thanksgiving.

From Dallas to Myrtle Beach, I found tickets for 290 pp - Total travel time 4 hrs 21 min...

From OKC is was nearly twice as much and two stops each way... Chicago, North Carolina.. total travel time 9 hours each way!

Instead, I'll be driving 3 hours to Dallas the day before - do some shopping, spend the night and stay at Radisson ($99) at the Airport, free parking for a week, free shuttle to the airport and then drive back to OK the day we fly in.

It will be a nice trip.. (unless the weather is horrid).

But, how much nicer it would be to drive 15 min to airport here in OKC and be in S.C. in less than 5 hours?

[lpecan]

Good news. Should help offset the cutbacks coming from Express Jet.

Oh no! Is ExpressJet cutting OKC-LAX flights dba Delta Connections? Or (even worse) are they cutting their XJET service out of WRWA?

[Oil Capital]

Good news...

It is so frustrating trying to fly anywhere out of OKC sometimes!

We're having to drive to Dallas to fly to S. Carolina to save $1,000.00 and to avoid a nine hour flight time! Thanksgiving.

From Dallas to Myrtle Beach, I found tickets for 290 pp - Total travel time 4 hrs 21 min...

From OKC is was nearly twice as much and two stops each way... Chicago, North Carolina.. total travel time 9 hours each way!

Instead, I'll be driving 3 hours to Dallas the day before - do some shopping, spend the night and stay at Radisson ($99) at the Airport, free parking for a week, free shuttle to the airport and then drive back to OK the day we fly in.

It will be a nice trip.. (unless the weather is horrid).

But, how much nicer it would be to drive 15 min to airport here in OKC and be in S.C. in less than 5 hours?

No offense, but I think you should get a new travel agent or conduct a somewhat more thorough search. There are plenty of one-stop flights to Myrtle Beach available from OKC, none of which involve Chicago or North Carolina. (Through either Houston or Atlanta), and all of them will give you far less travel time than driving 3 hours to DFW and THEN taking a one-stop flight from DFW to Myrtle Beach Your true total travel time on the DFW route is 7 hours and 21 minutes)... The one-stops I found from OKC would give you a travel time right around 5 hours, total.

And as to price, I just did a very cursory search on Orbitz for some dates around Thanksgiving... Yes, the prices from OKC were somewhat higher, but they were nowhere near double, and once you factor in your car mileage and hotel costs... not to mention the much greater time you have to spend for your OKC-DFW-Myrtle Beach travel.

Take a closer look at traveling from OKC next time.

[Jen at Airports]

That was my mistake. I corrected it on the Web site this morning, but didn't see it posted here until just now. What we have is nonstops to 29 different airports in 26 different markets/cities. The additional United flight to LAX doesn't move those numbers, although we are grateful for the addition. I was under the weather Friday and not thinking clearly! Of course, we have more than 29 nonstop flights from Will. Duh, on my part.)

At any rate, we are delighted with the success of United's nonstop to LAX. The big thing with the new schedule is excellent connections to destinations in Hawaii -- as well as connections to Saigon, Tokyo, Hong Kong. Thanks, jen

[Jen at Airports]

Keep in mind, all the messages here relating to the need for nonstop flights is material for conversations with airport schedulers with whom we meet twice a year. It helps for us to hear about demand. I want Nashville. My sis lives there. We all want a nonstop somewhere.

I feel very stupid for the whole 30 nonstop thing...let's blame it on strep throat and the germies I catch from my little ones!

[Karried]

Thanks for the advice but for the travel plans I needed, I couldn't find any one stops that left on the dates or the times I needed ( kids in school) for less than $692 pp.

I searched every travel site from Travolocity to Kayak to Orbitz.... and direct airlines as well.

The $290 pp was the least expensive I found anywhere with the least amount of travel time, so I'm happy with it.

The next inexpensive flights had two stops and total travel times of minimum 9 hours each way ...

Anyway, this works for our family... with a family of four and Grandma... that extra $1200-$1500 or more can be better spent..

Like on shopping in Dallas :-)

This is just one that I just looked up after typing my message - one stop..

United Flight 5314 operated by UNITED EXPRESS/GO JET / Flight 7218 operated by UNITED EXPRESS/MESA AIRLINES
12:15pm Oklahoma City, OK (OKC)
6:51pm Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR)
5hrs 36min - 1 Stop
Change planes in Washington, DC (IAD)
$692
per person

[Kerry]

Karried - Not that you need any additional travel advice but OKC-ATL-Charleston,S.C. would have been a viable option. Only a 1 hour drive on the S.C. side.

[Karried]

Thanks Kerry, yes, I looked into that too .... we decided a trip to Dallas would be nice anyway.. next time, we might try it that way ( if there is a next time :-) we're visiting the in-laws ... lol

[Kerry]

Hmmm, having to choose between in-laws in Dallas or a day in Charleston, and you picked Dallas? You chose wrong grasshopper. Just kidding - but not really.

[HOT ROD]

I think her in-laws are in Myrtle Beach SC, and she's saying they might not go back again, as such.

Thanks for the advice tho, Kerry. I'd rather pick Charleston also, gives OKC numbers and $$,support of OUR service.

[HOT ROD]

JennAirports, please!!! check your private messages (here on OKCtalk, scroll up and on the top right side, you'll see a link for private messages). Thanks.

[jbrown84]

Oh no! Is ExpressJet cutting OKC-LAX flights dba Delta Connections? Or (even worse) are they cutting their XJET service out of WRWA?

Yeah. What's this about Express Jet cuts?

[Karried]

Hmmm, having to choose between in-laws in Dallas or a day in Charleston, and you picked Dallas? You chose wrong grasshopper. Just kidding - but not really.

lol! It's much much worse... a week in SC of pure togetherness with the in-laws!

In the same timeshare! ahhhggggggggg

btw, what are the airport regs on bringing valium or mass amounts of alcohol? j/k

Actually, I do kid, all the sisters and family are meeting there and we are all the same age so that will be fun.

If we're not too tired, we are planning on driving through Ardmore and seeing the Wild Animal park and the Christmas display on the way home.

[venture]

OKC to Albuquerque reduced to 1 daily flight from 2
OKC to Austin reduced to 1 daily flight from 2
OKC to Ontario remains 1 nonstop and 1 direct
OKC to San Diego remains 2 nonstops
OKC to San Antonio reduced to 1 daily flight from 2
OKC to Sacremento remains 1 nonstop with 2 directs

ExpressJet posted a lost for the previous quarter. From the sounds of it, load factors are steady in the mid 50s. Not sure of the specifics for OKC since they don't post airline specific stats like most airports - Jenn, is this something we can get on a monthly basis? If you need to know exactly what I'm looking for, let me know.

Words is that the Austin and San Antonio routes are up to total cancellation if traffic and yeilds don't improve. I wouldn't be shocked to see American and Southwest still putting up a fight on these routes - routing people through Dallas. I know companies like Dell have switched over to ExpressJet and away from Southwest...but who knows now. The decrease in frequency is not a good thing for business travelers.

[TStheThird]

Can anyone answer why it is so much more expensive for me to fly to OKC than it is for me to fly to Tulsa? I fly back from Norfolk every other month and Tulsa is always about $200 cheaper. Why is that?

[Taggart]

Dunno, I regularly fly to and from LAX or Burbank, CA and OKC is always the cheapest route. SATX to OKC is cheaper than Tulsa as well. Maybe just the air service?

BTW - there are more flights to Burbank than LAX and it's a heck of a lot less hassle.

[Jen at Airports]

What airline? I'll talk to them.

[Jen at Airports]

VENTURE79: I'm always amazed at how much you all know about the business! I do know those stats exist, but I think the airlines didn't want them posted. I'll find out.

[Jen at Airports]

I'm now using the nonstop destination list HOTROD created. Very good. You've helped end internal and external debates with all the people controlling our universe. LOL!

[HOT ROD]

Thanks Jen, I hope my ideas can help/add.



One more thing Jen, if I click into the individual airline service AIRLINE INFO - it's not up to date. Each airline with error shown below, quoted from the website to the right.

- United only shows ORD, DEN, and LAX. It's missing IAD. "Offers daily nonstop departures to Chicago, Denver, & Los Angeles "

- Continental only shows IAH and EWR. It's missing CLE. "Offers daily nonstop departures to Houston Intercontinental, and New York Newark"

- Southwest only shows DAL, HOU, MCI, STL, LAS, PHX. It's missing BWI. "Offers daily nonstop departures to Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas and Phoenix"

- Delta Connection only shows ATL, CIN, and SLC. It's missing LAX. "Offers daily nonstop departures to Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City."

I also checked the "master list" of cities and it still hasn't been updated. Im guessing it takes time before it hits the webservers tho.

Keep up the good work!!!