Foggy DC day, but started off with a run on the mall, and now a custom waffle at the DCA Admiral's Club -- with a view of my ride home!
05.03.2026 12:33
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Foggy DC day, but started off with a run on the mall, and now a custom waffle at the DCA Admiral's Club -- with a view of my ride home!
Tortas Frontera after an early AA arrival at ORD. Best airport sandwich worldwide. Don't even try to dispute that.
Any time I (briefly) wade into the replies to your posts, I try to tell myself what I'm seeing are bots, because the alternative makes me so sad for society.
And as always, keep up the great work with all of your podcasts. Always looking-forward to the next one!
Well if you made a habit of using the more convenient airport, you could get status in the better loyalty program and have the same there. Win-win!
You know, there's a nice airport on the Potomac, 30 minutes closer to home than IAD, with 3x daily to MHT...
Hopefully in the future, tools will get good enough to allow customers to specify preferred connect times. Having no bags and Global Entry, for example, I'd love to be able to go below standard I:D MCT if given the option.
Or above MCT if schlepping bags and have a desire to check out a lounge...
On many itineraries, I seek out longer-than-minimum connects if I have the time. Short connects are always great if you need them (thus they should be offered), but all things equal give me a few extra minutes of buffer!
Now OTAs and Google Flights all rank by [???] with opaque algorithms. So the [two] minutes of elapsed time still doesn't matter to customers, but also now no longer seems to matter in selling channels either.
It's quite liberating as a planner now to have this anachronism retired.
So many things change in this business, and my thinking is (hopefully) shifting with it.
20 years ago, I was in the camp of "[two] minutes of elapsed time doesn't matter to passengers, but it's huge on GDS displays -- which ranked first by fare (usually the same) and then by elapsed time".
Feels like that's it then. Not padding.
Further, airlines run block targets in the 70-80% range. Meaning that percent of the time the block will actually be shorter than planned.
It's not padding as much as solving for gate availability, minimum connect times, etc.
I bet you didn't deice? Having to put block in for that, and then not needing it, cuts a lot of "flight" (really block) time out.
Never thought I'd be reading about "proton flux data" in my weekly aviation newsletter. Thanks, @visualapproach.bsky.social! Courtney's emails are the ones I look forward to most in my inbox.
That time of year, again...
Frontera at ORD might be my favourite sandwich in the world. Always make a point of grabbing one whenever I'm there.
Yes, very runnable. One of the most enjoyable urban runs I've ever done.
Geez, if only I had some inside info about AA's planned route network for Summer 2026, I could have delayed this summer's PRG trip a year and flown nonstop from the PHL!
Get out early if you want to see the big sights crowd-free. Beautiful at sunrise (photo).
news.aa.com/news/news-de...
DFWZRH last flew in 2006! Before the iPhone even existed!
I think we can call DFWZRH 'new' at this point.
Nope, almost 80%. I imagine the (relatively) short stage leaves a lot of fuel-related weight off the plane.
Imagine how much faster DCA would have been!
We have an 0825 in Aug, and we'll see if we can get it a little earlier. Also in future schedules as well!
Ah nm, I see it's the other direction. 1000 too late. We'll take a look at that.
Agh, hate forcing you to IAD! Is the 0630 CMHDCA too early and the 1155 too late?
No doubt. I seek out dirt whenever I can!
Thrilled to have our new Boeing 787-9 "P" aircraft on-property. Will sell them this weekend on ORD-LHR/LAX to start, then as more deliveries come in, PHL-LHR/ZRH. Finally, for the winter, we'll get DFW-BNE on the P which was intended from the start. 51J/32W/161Y -- loving that "P"remium config!
We'll have these airplanes in service sooner than the XLR, for sure! Stay tuned!
Would you rather fly nonstop to ATH or connect? If you cared about travel, where would you rather live? Which city is better-off? CLT or SAT?
CLT does not have a competition problem. CLT has the same competition as SAT, with a bonus hub built on top of it. With all the associated benefits. (22/22)
So, Mr. McGee, do you think CLT would rather have the air service of SAT? By your share metrics, things would certainly look better, but I would hazard a guess that the city leaders of SAT would be thrilled to have a CLT-sized hub in their city. (21/22)
Transform AA’s hub-level service to that of a spoke-level of service, and CLT has essentially the same number of flights as SAT. That baseline level of flying exists already. AA’s hub, at its core, is incremental. (20/22)
Take away AA’s hub in CLT and the level of competitive volume is essentially the same as SAT. AA’s hub doesn’t limit competition, it is additive to a baseline level of competition. (19/22)