Houston Abilene Flight (San Angelo, Texarkana: venue)

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Google shows 4 hours Houston to Abilene. By the time you drive to the airport, park, appropriate amount of time early, get through security, fly, pick up rent car, and drive to destination, you're probably pushing 3 hours. Just drive. No sweaty fat guy next to you; any time you want to use the bathroom you just pull into a gas station, if you want to take 4 giant suitcases it's OK, you can carry your pocket knife, shampoo, and razor blades.

No flight from Houston to Abilene exists anymore. It would be through DFW.

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

No flight from Houston to Abilene exists anymore. It would be through DFW.

Yes, I understand; my point is that even a direct flight saves you maybe an hour total time, at the cost of a great deal of inconvenience versus just driving. Of course if you have to go thru DFW there's no way you'll beat the door-to-door time of driving.

Personally, even before covid, I was driving if the door to door time for driving was 6 hours or less, as door to door for flying for that distance is still 3+ hours in most cases. I'll sacrifice 3 hours for the advantages of not flying.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Yes, I understand; my point is that even a direct flight saves you maybe an hour total time, at the cost of a great deal of inconvenience versus just driving. Of course if you have to go thru DFW there's no way you'll beat the door-to-door time of driving.

Personally, even before covid, I was driving if the door to door time for driving was 6 hours or less, as door to door for flying for that distance is still 3+ hours in most cases. I'll sacrifice 3 hours for the advantages of not flying.

I get you, flying is a hassle, and the net time difference often ends up not being much. The one thing I can say for flying is that you legitimately get to do other things while waiting in the terminal or on board. I don't believe in texting and checking emails while you're driving.

Of course, if you're a passenger in the car, then it's different.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Google shows 4 hours Houston to Abilene. By the time you drive to the airport, park, appropriate amount of time early, get through security, fly, pick up rent car, and drive to destination, you're probably pushing 3 hours. Just drive. No sweaty fat guy next to you; any time you want to use the bathroom you just pull into a gas station, if you want to take 4 giant suitcases it's OK, you can carry your pocket knife, shampoo, and razor blades.

4 hours? From where, College Station? That's a six-hour drive. Highly doable, but not really for a day trip if the OP wants to get in and out of Abilene quickly.

It is a shame that a confluence of factors is keeping this flight from happening, the largest being the pilot shortage.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

4 hours? From where, College Station? That's a six-hour drive. Highly doable, but not really for a day trip if the OP wants to get in and out of Abilene quickly.

It is a shame that a confluence of factors is keeping this flight from happening, the largest being the pilot shortage.

The last time I went to San Angelo from Houston / Brenham, I drove rather than AA through DFW. If there was still a nonstop flight, I'd fly.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

4 hours? From where, College Station? That's a six-hour drive. Highly doable, but not really for a day trip if the OP wants to get in and out of Abilene quickly.

It is a shame that a confluence of factors is keeping this flight from happening, the largest being the pilot shortage.

Its a two pronged issue IMO:

1) As we are both acutely aware, the pilot shortage is the main driver.

2) UA compartmentalizes hubs. It doesnt have a mega hub ala DFW or ATL. IAH is the Latin America hub. Outside of catering to O&D, thats the role it plays in the network. In order to maintain service to IAH, there must either be a contribution to the Latin America Network or there must be sufficient O&D to Houston. Of the smaller Texas cities most do not contribute much to the Latin America network, places like MAF, LBB, and AMA have the O&D. Places like ABI, SJT, and TXK do not.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Its a two pronged issue IMO:

1) As we are both acutely aware, the pilot shortage is the main driver.

2) UA compartmentalizes hubs. It doesnt have a mega hub ala DFW or ATL. IAH is the Latin America hub. Outside of catering to O&D, thats the role it plays in the network. In order to maintain service to IAH, there must either be a contribution to the Latin America Network or there must be sufficient O&D to Houston. Of the smaller Texas cities most do not contribute much to the Latin America network, places like MAF, LBB, and AMA have the O&D. Places like ABI, SJT, and TXK do not.

With respect to #2, its a shame, but you're 100% correct. They are really pushing the connections through ORD and DEN, and I can't blame them - Houston is just too far south to efficiently serve east-west connections when compared to those other two. So it does seem that at this point, its mostly LatAm + O/D. Which still kind of sucks for us local fliers because in the age of Covid, a lot of bigger mainline stations are down to 2 or 3 flights a day at this point.

The rumor is that UA does want to grow the hub in the future and the airline itself will always be able to recruit pilots (unlike their regional carriers) so hopefully post-Covid we'll see some nice growth. I won't be holding my breath though.

[Raider Scott]

It is more like 5.5 - 6 hours car drive from Houston to Abilene.


As a former Red Raider and one that has a daughter that went to Tech as well...I cannot tell you how many times I have made that drive.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

With respect to #2, its a shame, but you're 100% correct. They are really pushing the connections through ORD and DEN, and I can't blame them - Houston is just too far south to efficiently serve east-west connections when compared to those other two. So it does seem that at this point, its mostly LatAm + O/D. Which still kind of sucks for us local fliers because in the age of Covid, a lot of bigger mainline stations are down to 2 or 3 flights a day at this point.

The rumor is that UA does want to grow the hub in the future and the airline itself will always be able to recruit pilots (unlike their regional carriers) so hopefully post-Covid we'll see some nice growth. I won't be holding my breath though.

On the contrary. Houston is usually United’s largest passenger hub (and Chicago the larger hub by number of flights). What AsBelow said is basically true on AA having a super huh in DFW while Delta has an even bigger super hub in ATL. Depending on the direction, you’ll end up traveling through a different place. If you’re going from Phoenix to Nashville for example, you’ll likely go to Houston while you’ll go through Denver if you’re instead headed to Portland. Obviously, this is true of all airlines, but to AsBelow’s point,
UA is less focused on having a super hub than the others. And obviously, IAH has a huge Latin American hub as SF has an Asian hub and so forth.

Who knows what the future of the airline industry will look like but for now this is the case.

[Rogarven]

I was amazed that daughter got a nonstop from AUS to ELP on AA. Same going back. I thought only WN would have that and she would have to go to DFW from ELP . Perhaps AA is expanding routes. AA sure isn't the airline that it used to be though. :-(