Non Stop Flights from Smaller Airports... Would this work for you?

I live two hours North of Detroit Metro, so Non Stop Flights aren't available to me at my local airport. I have suggested numerous times to Airline employees that local airports should offer Non Stop flights to Vegas on Mondays and Fridays. Do you live near a smaller airport and could you make this schedule work for you? I know I would love to leave on a Friday Non Stop and come home on a Monday Non Stop to my airport which is only 20 minutes from home. The Monday departure would work for people who want a little longer trip or you could book for a whole week.

OBVIOUSLY the airlines choose schedules and routes that they think will make them the most money. I'm sure you're polite and well-meaning, but there's undoubtedly a good, economic reason none of them are opting to fly nonstop from Saginaw to Vegas on Fridays and Mondays.

It's important to remember that airlines like their planes to be full BOTH DIRECTIONS. Probably not a lot of Michiganders looking to fly to Vegas on a Monday, let alone Nevadans looking to fly to Saginaw on a Friday.

Plus, Mondays and Fridays are already very busy days, the airlines don't have much difficulty filling their planes those days on existing routes. And they're not going to buy a new plane just to fly on Mondays and Fridays.

Allegiant does fly routes like this, but they couldn't make their one flight out of Saginaw work, the twice-weeklies to Orlando, they announced this week that they're pulling out. I'm sure their research sees even less demand for a Vegas run.

We are sympathetic-

We live in Eastern Iowa so we either do a two stop trip our of our local airport, connecting in Chicago- or drive a little over an hour to catch a direct Allegiant flight from Moline, Illinois.
That particular flight leaves Sunday morning at 6:50 am.

I do think that this is the old supply and demand dynamic at work.

On the semi-plus side, Laughlin's Riverside offers an occasional direct flight out of Dubuque to Laughlin. We spend the night in Laughlin and then drive to Vegas.

Paul and Sonya from Iowa

Yes, I absolutely wish they would come up with more non stop options. Even here in OKC, which is NOT a small city, the only non stop option is Southwest (which, believe me - I'm happy to have that option).

Yes, I absolutely wish they would come up with more non stop options. Even here in OKC, which is NOT a small city, the only non stop option is Southwest (which, believe me - I'm happy to have that option).

Not for me! Flying fom Manchester NH non stop to vegas (about 5 hrs) sucks! Would"nt do a non stop if they did have one.

The perfect flight for me is to stop in chicago (halfway point) stretch my legs for an hour then get back on and finish the trip

Does the act of sitting in a chair on an airplane doing nothing cause as much fatigue as running a marathone to anyone else?

Nope, non stops are not for me.....the flight is part of my vacation and I want the whole damned thing easy going and pain free.

(IMHO) Weggie

Weggie makes a point...depends upon how long that Non-Stop takes. 5 hours, a DVT waiting to happen. His connecting flight works well for that reason.

BTW:
- CONNECTING flight--one or more stopovers, plane change(s)involved.
- DIRECT flight--one or more stopovers but no plane change required.
- Non-Stop flight--no stopovers in between.

As Chil said, market research dictates. From our city we have a SWA non-stop (both ways), but also full planes and few bargain fairs. They flip the non-stop times around, sometimes to late afternoon. We much prefer non-stop, but do a connecting flight if it gets us to Vegas, and home, significantly earlier.

I wish Kansas City had more non-stops but Southwest has four daily and that's fine with me. There are several airlines with one stop, but I think that's a huge waste of time and I won't take them.

Lansing used to have nonstops from both Allegiant and Sun Country (not at the same time). We lost Allegiant when they decided to service Grand Rapids instead. I still don't know why we lost the Sun Country flight. Both were twice weekly and both were filled to capacity, or near it, for every run.

If I remember correctly AirTran had a flight or two out of Flint that was nonstop. I think they did away with it a few years ago.