Horizon Air Adds More Jet Service from Medford and Eugene to

[Aussie767]

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2003--Horizon Air announced today it would add one additional direct jet flight from Medford and Eugene, Ore., to Los Angeles International Airport starting April 6.

Medford service will increase from one to two nonstops to LAX. In Eugene, where Horizon currently offers two nonstops to LAX, a third flight that makes an enroute stop in Medford each way is being added. Horizon is the only airline offering direct service from Eugene or Medford to Southern California.


More Here (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030116/160508_1.html)

Regards

[Lance]

When a airline wants $688 to fly from MFR to SEA. I would rather take the nine-hour drive. Don't get me started on Horizon. images/smiles/icon_mad.gif

[tommyalf]

$688 images/smiles/icon_redface.gif That's totally outrageous! I hate when companies take advantage of captive audiences. No wonder why the Alaska group is doing better then most. It's just like NW they own the Northwest and it shows in their fares for many places.

[Airnerd]

$688 huh? My search shows the Horizon RT fare MFR-SEA at $206 (14 day advance purchase). Doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me. Aren't last-minute business fare always pretty high... Even on 'low-fare' carriers?

http://horizonair.alaskaair.com/www2/company/Fleet/images/Q400.gif

[JeffM]

"..Horizon is the only airline offering direct service from Eugene or Medford to Southern California..."

Two words.. SUPPLY / DEMAND.

Obviously not much demand or others would add it.

Jeff

[shamrock145hvy]

I'm glad all LAX flights all CRJ700's? Long flight for -8!

Cheers!

shamrock145hvy clap.gif clap.gif clap.gif

<FONT COLOR="black" SIZE="1">[ January 17, 2003 10:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by shamrock145hvy ]</font>

[Lance]

Airnerd. Yes, last minute business fares are $688. I don't have the "luxury" of 14-day advance purchase. Still my mini-van goes from Medford to Seattle on a tank of gas. Which is $25. More legroom too. Cargo shipping? Auto parts for me. Horizon can turn sheet metal into scrap metal faster than fast. They lose automotive computers and wreck those too. Living in a smaller area, I depend on shipments from larger cities for my business.... Remember commuter or local service carriers do not compete with other airlines, but with the private car. Most of Horizon's flights are within a days drive. In other words Horizon competes with AMC not AA.

[Airnerd]

Lance,
Don't get me wrong, I completely agree that $688 is a lot. But I fly Horizon often and have to say that I like the airline quite a bit. I'm just grateful that ANY airline makes the effort to fly to some of the places Horizon does. As you say, it's usually the only alternative to driving - something I like to avoid when possible.
I usually decide whether or not to fly on expensive regional flights based on what I think my time is worth. Take your example of MFR-SEA.
At $688 minus the $50 for gas you get $638 in cost (we should probably be adding a factor for the miles you're putting on the car too, but that gets more complicated) You said it's a 9 hour drive compared to a one hour flight. That's 8 hours x 2 = 16 hours. So the question I would ask myself inj this questions is, "is 16 hours of my time worth $638" In this case it works out to about $40 per hour. That's pretty steep, but then I think the rational is that the last minute traveler REALLY needs to go and that their time is particularly valuable. This would be a tough one for me, and I'd probably end up driving just like you. But with the $206 advance purchase fare I mentioned earlier my calculation of cost per hour for this trip drops to under $10/hour. Definitely worth flying! But then, that doesn't help the last-minute problem does it...
For cheap last-minute fares, I think it's going to take the arrival of SWA, and as we bantered about in a different post, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
If you really travel to Portland and Seattle often, Horizon was selling booklets of 10 tickets with no restrictions. If I remember correctly, it worked out to being more expensive than the lowest adv-purchase fares, but much cheaper than the last-minute ones.
That's enough of that. Sorry for going on and on...

[Lance]

Airnerd. I have gave up on Horizon. I will leave it at that. I will rent small airplanes and fly myself or drive.

Enough said.

Horizon Airlines:
http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/contrib/edoom/throwup.gif