3 ms·

If airlines could fill up the seats I’m sure they’d fly more wide bodies. Unfortunately people want direct flights between all kinds of small metro areas. As su

If airlines could fill up the seats I’m sure they’d fly more wide bodies. Unfortunately people want direct flights between all kinds of small metro areas. As such even routes like SF to DC only get widebodies at peak travel times like Thanksgiving and July 4th (at least those are the only times I’m able to book the United 777s for demostic flights).

mikeash 8y ago
Direct flights and flights more often. There’s more than enough DC-SF traffic to fill a couple of 777s a day, but people would rather have six 737s or A320s with a wider variety of departure times to choose from.
- asdfadsfgfdda 8y ago
  I would also rather board the plane in 20 minutes instead of 50+ minutes for a widebody, not to mention deplaning and waiting for checked bags.
- LeifCarrotson 8y ago
  I personally wouldn't. I need an early and a late flight. The driver for all the departure times is, again, efficiency and money. If you had 777 flights from DC to SF and SF to DC at 6:00AM and 6:00PM, I'd be content, and I think you would satisfy most needs if everyone could fit on those flights. But then you have a 777 idle for 16 hours a day. If, instead, you had CRJ200s (that can't handle the morning and evening rush) running all day as fast as you can turn them around, they're never idle. I guess the final point is that people vote with their wallets and fly on the airline with the cheaper CRJ200 tickets...but I wish it wasn't that way.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    You need an early flight and a late flight. Bob needs flights in the middle of the day. Jane prefers mid afternoon. Any given individual only needs one flight at one time, but passengers as a whole want options.
  - gok 8y ago
    United in fact does fly one 777 flight on that route each way but it goes the other way (DC->SF at night, SF->DC in the morning). Big planes rarely idle much. The domestic legs are generally tacked onto longer haul flights to/from Europe and Asia.

mikeash 8y ago

Direct flights and flights more often. There’s more than enough DC-SF traffic to fill a couple of 777s a day, but people would rather have six 737s or A320s with a wider variety of departure times to choose from.

asdfadsfgfdda 8y ago
I would also rather board the plane in 20 minutes instead of 50+ minutes for a widebody, not to mention deplaning and waiting for checked bags.
LeifCarrotson 8y ago
I personally wouldn't. I need an early and a late flight. The driver for all the departure times is, again, efficiency and money. If you had 777 flights from DC to SF and SF to DC at 6:00AM and 6:00PM, I'd be content, and I think you would satisfy most needs if everyone could fit on those flights. But then you have a 777 idle for 16 hours a day. If, instead, you had CRJ200s (that can't handle the morning and evening rush) running all day as fast as you can turn them around, they're never idle. I guess the final point is that people vote with their wallets and fly on the airline with the cheaper CRJ200 tickets...but I wish it wasn't that way.
- mikeash 8y ago
  You need an early flight and a late flight. Bob needs flights in the middle of the day. Jane prefers mid afternoon. Any given individual only needs one flight at one time, but passengers as a whole want options.
- gok 8y ago
  United in fact does fly one 777 flight on that route each way but it goes the other way (DC->SF at night, SF->DC in the morning). Big planes rarely idle much. The domestic legs are generally tacked onto longer haul flights to/from Europe and Asia.