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| CRBJ Home > August 2006 | ||||||||
Alternate airports can save time, moneyBetty Stark
"That" is the growing phenomenon of alternate airports, those facilities that have been built near major metropolitan areas to relieve traffic at congested, clogged, overcrowded megaports. The problem with the megaports - Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, JFK or La Guardia in New York City, etc. - is that they are often choked with travelers making connections to other flights. Another problem with megaports is that they are generally dominated by one or two major carriers, such as United and American at Chicago O'Hare, Delta at Atlanta, and United at Denver. Being the 800-pound gorillas on the block, the major carriers tend to keep fares higher assuming that the single-minded business traveler will pay whatever it takes to get wherever he or she needs to go. Faced with diminishing patience for the hassles of air travel and the realities of tighter corporate travel budgets, business travelers are beginning to embrace the concept of alternate airports as well as the discount carriers that serve them. Southwest Airlines is a good example of a discount airline that favors alternate airports and challenges established fare structures when it moves into the neighborhood. The airline has no official hub but makes point-to-point trips from airports such as Chicago Midway to alternate airports such as Dallas' close-in Love Field instead of in-the-middle-of-nowhere Dallas Fort Worth, Houston Hobby instead of Houston Intercontinental, and Oakland instead of San Francisco International. Mark Aubey, a business travel agent at Burkhalter Travel's Madison headquarters, agrees that alternate airports make sense for travelers looking to save both time and money. "I'll check San Jose and Oakland, California, fares and schedules if the traveler is heading to the San Francisco Bay area. And I recently recommended Sarasota, Florida, to a Tampa-bound traveler when the Tampa flights he wanted were sold out. Manchester, New Hampshire, is a good choice, too, if you're doing business north of Boston." New England provides excellent examples of how alternate airports can benefit travelers. As Aubey points out, if your final business destination is located north of Boston, flying in to Manchester, NH, about 50 miles north of Boston, is a good choice. If your business trip takes you south of Boston, Aubey suggests flying in to Providence, RI, or even Hartford, CT. As if to reinforce the growing importance of alternate airports, three in the northeast have recently enhanced their names to draw attention to their relative locations: the Manchester, NH, airport will be known as the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and the Worcester, MA, Regional Airport has been renamed Worcester-Metrowest-Boston Airport. Stewart International Airport, located in Newburgh 55 miles north of New York City, has changed its name to New York Hudson Valley International Airport. Though there is no assurance that alternate airports automatically mean lower fares, it often happens that when a lower-cost or discount carrier enters a market, the established airlines in that market, even the 800-pound gorillas, will lower their fares to match the new kid on the block. There also can be some drawbacks to using alternates. They offer fewer flights per day and fewer schedule options, especially early in the morning and late at night. If the aircraft you're about to board has a mechanical problem, replacement aircraft are not as readily available to get you on your way. On the plus side, you'll probably be waiting out the delay in more pleasant and less frantic surroundings. As Brancatelli pointed out, finding the right alternate airport is a matter of geography; get out a map and do your homework. Finding the best fares requires either an Internet booking site using a "check other airports" function or the services of a skilled travel agent. If your habit has been to always fly to and through the same megaports, on your next trip, break that habit; consider the alternatives. Betty Stark is a Madison travel industry consultant and business travel writer with 25 years' experience. travelingwriter1@aol.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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