Travelers at Cleveland Hopkins Airport brace for cuts by United Airlines (60%+ of flights to be cut)

cleveland.com ^ | February 01, 2014 | Stephanie Kuzydym

[Las Vegas Dave]

CLEVELAND, Ohio – United Airlines confirmed Saturday that departures from Cleveland will be cut by about 60 percent due to unprofitable operations in the city.

Northeast Ohio Media Group spoke with several travelers to get their feelings on what the cutbacks will mean. Here’s what they had to say:

Omar Garcia of Cleveland uses United to fly to Puerto Rico. It’s what he’s flown since he came to America five years ago from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. It’s the same airline his mother, brothers, sisters and their families used to move to America.

He was at the airport Saturday to pick up another sister who was flying direct from the island.

“I fly United because it’s the cheapest flight I can find,” he said. < snip >

[Las Vegas Dave]

Continental/United has the frequent flyer points, and we stayed with them early on and just continued. Flying SW airlines was like herding cattle to us, but to each their own.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Continental/United has the frequent flyer points, and we stayed with them early on and just continued. Flying SW airlines was like herding cattle to us, but to each their own.”

I liked Southwest because they know how to get us to destination on time and don't nickel and dime with added fees.(they did ad a boarding first fee though)
They are efficient.

United is cheaper than Southwest but takes inches off their seat room but offers comfy seats for $30 to $60 a leg.
I notice many of their flights are late too causing a connecting crunch or added wait at airports.

[grania]

Actually, the cause was one man...Kucinich

I haven't lived in this area all that long, so I see things from a different perspective. Kucinich represented the west side well, and did a lot keeping NASA, federal jobs, the airport and manufacturing here as much as possible. If he were still congressman, I wonder if this would've happened. Everybody in power seemed surprised, and I don't see those two hideous crones (HOR reps) trying to help solve this.

He tried to stop the electric company from losing its independence. He was instrumental in getting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here. Now, with Cleveland gerrymandered out of existance in the HOR, the city is split between a representative in Toledo for the west (doesn't even look legal) and a woman who only cares about stuff like running gang summits on the east.

People I respect for being thoughtful have put a lot of the blame on busing, bringing the chaos that enveloped parts of the east side outside of its neighborhoods.

[grania]

The thing about this is that it doesn't make any sense. There are a lot of times when Cleveland can fly in bad weather when Chicago, Detroit and some other bad weather cities cannot.

The news reports say that a billion dollars has been spent on airport upgrades. It's amazing they did that without better assurances from United. I'm wondering if the city leadership doesn't already have some options that might fill the gap. (I'm one of those people who think that Frank Jackson has done as well as anyone could as mayor, and won't leave this alone)

[peteyd]

My sis went to a pig roast in the “70’s” and little Dennis was there.She said he was “small, quiet and sucked on a joint”.
Yes,Dennis Kucinich the liberal “Dum”.who bankrupted Cleveland,Presidential candidate and loved by the lefties.
I laughed like crazy when I’d see a Dennis Kucinich for Prez bumper sticker out here in the Bay Area.
What morons.

[ThanhPhero]

Only a fool would fly on UAL, at least in Economy class. UAL doesn't even load a percentage of luggage for economy class. It is sent straight to Chicago where it goes into their annual auction sale. Then when you inquire about your "lost" luggage you get a bunch of paper work to fill out then you have to do it again then they tell you that UAL has determined that UAL is not liable and they will not send your luggage back to you or pay for it either. I located my bag in Chicago when I managed to talk to a clerk there. He recognized the bag I was talking about because my stow bag is always very distinctive and he had seen it. He said yes we have it but UAL probably won't send it back. And in fact UAL did not and were snotty as hell about it on the phone. The refusal letter was boilerplate lawyer talk but it too suggested that I had no business even inquiring. I guess they judge economy class travelers as being unable to turn things over to an attorney.UAL flight crews resent the passengers and consider them to be the burden they must bear in order to wear snazzy uniforms and go to exotic places. They stay POed because they are not permitted to load the passengers with forklifts.

[Las Vegas Dave]

Sorry to read of your luggage lost.

In our approximately 26 +/- vacations to Vegas and Florida on UAL/Continental and a few Southwest, we never had a problem with losing any of our belongings. We always had our ID tags firmly attached to all luggage, including our carry-ons. And I believe Mrs. LVD had sticker tags inside our suitcases as well-just in case.

When my younger son was in collage he went to China twice and he never lost any luggage (I do not remember which airlines he flew).