HSV airport vrs. ATL, BNA, BHM, etc (Birmingham, Huntsville: rent, credit)

[FriscoEGS]

I've seen a lot of talk about the differences (or pros and cons) between flying out of Huntsville and Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham in the development thread and feel their is enough talk for it to warrant its own thread. So here you can discuss anything related to Huntsville International airport and its nearby counterparts.




Now for my two cents:
Huntsville Int. has expensive prices b/c there is no competition. There is no competition b/c not enough people fly out of HSV.


That said, if more people choose to fly out of HSV, it will show competition, airlines will take notice. When there is competition, prices drop. When more people fly out of HSV, airlines will add more routes, which will add to demand, which causes eventual stability of lower prices at the airport.


You could call this cyclical growth.









(full disclosure: I have only flown out of Atlanta for convenience as I split time between Atlanta and Huntsville)

[David1502]

I can give you a quick example. recently, I booked a ticket and did the comparison between flying Delta from HSV verses Southwest from BNA (Nashville) and decided on Southwest for several reasons. First, while the fare on Delta (making a connection through ATL) was almost the same as Southwest, there were other factors to consider:

1. Baggage Fees: Because I am doing a work trip, I will be checking 2 large bags, so on Delta, I will be paying $70 each way for bags verses Two Free Bags on Southwest.

2. A short connection time at ATL of only 51 minutes is too stressful. When you consider the time that you wait in departing the plane, perhaps time for a rest stop, and time to get something to eat for the 5 hour flight to the west coast, as well as the big factor that you can arrive on Concourse F and your connecting flight could be on Concourse A and you have all of that time on the train to get there and then race down the Concourse to your gate, I decided that was too much stress with very little margin if the HSV to ATL flight was running late.

3. I was going to pay the $79 preferred seat fare on my return flight to ATL because of the short 51 minute connection time to my flight to HSV.

3. At my destination, Southwest is directly across the street from the Rent a Car facility, so I can just walk and not get on a bus. If I fly Delta, I will have to lug my bags onto a bus on both ends of my trip.

4. If I booked a ticket on Delta with a greater amount of time to make my connection in ATL, I would pay $200 more.

5. In order to get this low fare, I would arrive at 9:30 Pacific Time, which is not enticing to me.

So, while it looks enticing when you see reasonable fares out of HSV, there are other factors to consider. I could not have had a better experience flying out of HSV to Chicago and Charlotte on leisure trips - You go through Security and the flight is the first gate. However, if your flight itinerary requires you to make a connection at ATL, the connection time becomes critical because of the size of ATL (6 Concourses). If you are flying United and making a connection at Denver, that's not so bad because all of the connecting flights are on one concourse and there is a moving sidewalk. For my destination, United was a lot more expensive than Delta.

Some travelers don't mind tight connections, I prefer to have more time to get something to eat and airport restaurants are very crowded these days.

You have to give credit to the management at HSV In that there are lower fares available, however, there are other costs involved in flying at these lower fares.

[geoffdaddy]

On pricing I'd say, "it depends". We have found several deals, even with legacy carriers to places that were cheaper than flying out of Nashville or Atl.

and don't forget that parking prices at those airports have gotten fairly expensive.

[cooldiver]

Looks like Breeze is starting HSV-LAX in June.

[FriscoEGS]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

Looks like Breeze is starting HSV-LAX in June.

If more choose to fly out of HSV, we will get more flights. So next time you are flying choose HSV.


Could anyone see the possibility that in ten (or less) years Breeze could make HSV a hub? It is well located, and has plenty of room to expand. Think about it like success of Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and Delta.

[HSVTiger2015]

Originally Posted by FriscoEGS

If more choose to fly out of HSV, we will get more flights. So next time you are flying choose HSV.


Could anyone see the possibility that in ten (or less) years Breeze could make HSV a hub? It is well located, and has plenty of room to expand. Think about it like success of Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and Delta.

Imo something similar to Knoxville for Allegiant could be realistic.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by FriscoEGS

If more choose to fly out of HSV, we will get more flights. So next time you are flying choose HSV.


Could anyone see the possibility that in ten (or less) years Breeze could make HSV a hub? It is well located, and has plenty of room to expand. Think about it like success of Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and Delta.

Yes.

[TNRiverRat]

Doesn't appear to be that great of a deal.

Breeze is flying HSV only on Mondays and Fridays and the cheapest seat is $258.

They're wanting a minimum $24 to reserve a specific seat. Then they want $35 for the traveler to carry on a 21" rolling bag. Or, $40 to check the bag.

Spirit Airlines appears to be flying out of Nashville daily, and some round trips are so inexpensive that I couldn't believe it--$108. I can be sitting in the Nashville Airport in far less than 2 hours.

[lpc123]

It's not just an issue of price, which of course is a big factor. It is also about destinations and dates available for those destinations. This is a limiting factor, but HSV can certainly be useful when the date and destination lines up with a decent fare.


Sadly, I would have to pay more for flying out of Nashville to Las Vegas because they did not have a flight for the dates I wanted, and this was when planning for two months in advance.



Yes, "pioneers" have to be more willing to pay up or be more flexible in other ways if the goal is to bring more flight options and better pricing for all.

[TNRiverRat]

Originally Posted by lpc123

It's not just an issue of price, which of course is a big factor. It is also about destinations and dates available for those destinations. This is a limiting factor, but HSV can certainly be useful when the date and destination lines up with a decent fare.

Sadly, I would have to pay more for flying out of Nashville to Las Vegas because they did not have a flight for the dates I wanted, and this was when planning for two months in advance.

Yes, "pioneers" have to be more willing to pay up or be more flexible in other ways if the goal is to bring more flight options and better pricing for all.

Last time we flew to Las Vegas, it was $141 round trip. The flight was every day of the week and numerous flights home--including a red eye.

We no longer care about Las Vegas with inflation hitting their hotels hard. I don't care to spend $25 for a hamburger in a casino restaurant. But Vegas is the gateway to Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Zion national parks.