Grand Rapids Airport (GRR) News and Developments

[GRDadof3]

I'm pretty impressed with GRR after being at St Petersburg Clearwater Airport (PIE) this week. For 2.5 million passengers a year, I didn't expect to have to use the tarmac. There were some elevated gates but most passengers boarded and exited this way.  And the terminal itself was pretty dumpy. 

Two thumbs up to Allegiant though. On time for both flights (early actually) and very efficient. 

[Pattmost20]

17 hours ago, tSlater said:

I just always think "why not Texas, though?" I really don't like Florida. Except for Cape Canaveral. That place is pretty nifty. And after Pence's announcement last week, it sounds like I'll need to make a trip there in 5 years.

For me I just have too few vacation days to waste them on Florida. Of course I say this as someone who doesn’t have a family, I’m sure if I added a few kids into the mix the savings might be worth it.

[GRLaker]

I wouldn’t live in Florida but I love to vacation there to escape the nineth circle of hell in February when the winter starts weighing on you. It’s cheap, guaranteed to be warm if you go to the southern end, has beautiful beaches (on the gulf), and is relaxing if you don’t go during spring break. 

[GRDadof3]

47 minutes ago, GRLaker said:

I wouldn’t live in Florida but I love to vacation there to escape the nineth circle of hell in February when the winter starts weighing on you. It’s cheap, guaranteed to be warm if you go to the southern end, has beautiful beaches (on the gulf), and is relaxing if you don’t go during spring break. 

I think that's the draw. It's usually a lot warmer than Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, etc.. in February/March/April, and there are a million seaside resort areas in Florida. If you don't like the crowds and the massive resort strips: Anna Maria Island or Sanibel Island. If you love crowds and a California feel: there are a ton of destinations. And flights there are cheap because so many people go there. 

[MJLO]

I’m hoping allegiant opens a route to Jacksonville.  You can get to several gulf destinations, but not a lot on the Atlantic side.  Savannah seemed a bit of an obscure destination to me.

[arcturus]

I believe Allegiant has retired its remaining MD-80's.  About time.

[GR8scott]

2 hours ago, arcturus said:

I believe Allegiant has retired its remaining MD-80's.  About time.

The only nice thing about those are seat co figurations and that your half as likely to get a middle seat. 

 

Savannah is a growing destination itself and also serves  the local islands like st simon, tybee and Hilton Head sc

[arcturus]

3 hours ago, GR8scott said:

The only nice thing about those are seat co figurations and that your half as likely to get a middle seat.

Plus they frequently opened the back hatch to avoid the wait of everyone in front of you exiting.

[GRLaker]

On 4/7/2019 at 8:32 AM, GRDadof3 said:

I think that's the draw. It's usually a lot warmer than Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, etc.. in February/March/April, and there are a million seaside resort areas in Florida. If you don't like the crowds and the massive resort strips: Anna Maria Island or Sanibel Island. If you love crowds and a California feel: there are a ton of destinations. And flights there are cheap because so many people go there. 

Coincidentally, AMI and Sanibel are two of my favorite places to go. No large resorts - just beach house and cottage rentals with the occasional 2-3 story hotel. If you want big city amenities, Bradenton and Fort Myers are close by. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by GRLaker

[GRDadof3]

18 hours ago, arcturus said:

I believe Allegiant has retired its remaining MD-80's.  About time.

I would give two thumbs up to Allegiant on this last trip. We flew big A-320's both there and back, but I didn't feel the claustrophobia I feel on other airlines in big planes. One thing that helps is the seats are totally stripped down, almost like bus seats, which gives you the feeling of more room. We also paid a bit extra for MORE legroom and it was heaven, almost 1st class feeling. Who cares if you have to pay for your drink and snack, it was only a 2 hour and 15 minute flight to Florida. We left the gate right on time, and arrived early for both flights. I cannot say the same about Delta and United that I've flown in the last year. 

We're flying United to Colorado from GRR in July I'll see how they compare.

[walker]

42 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

I would give two thumbs up to Allegiant on this last trip. We flew big A-320's both there and back, but I didn't feel the claustrophobia I feel on other airlines in big planes. One thing that helps is the seats are totally stripped down, almost like bus seats, which gives you the feeling of more room. We also paid a bit extra for MORE legroom and it was heaven, almost 1st class feeling. Who cares if you have to pay for your drink and snack, it was only a 2 hour and 15 minute flight to Florida. We left the gate right on time, and arrived early for both flights. I cannot say the same about Delta and United that I've flown in the last year. 

We're flying United to Colorado from GRR in July I'll see how they compare.

The new airline ratings are in:

USATODAY: delta-top-airline-frontier-worst-new-study (allegiant not much better)

I’ve never flown Allegiant or Frontier and while I’ll never say never, I likely never will.  While Allegiant’s new planes undoubtedly make them more reliable than in the past, the problem I have with them is that they have very limited schedules, only flying to most destinations only once a day and only two or three times a week and they have no interline agreements with other airlines.  Thus, if your flight is canceled or delayed substantially, there is no way to re-book on Allegiant a flight the same day or even possibly the next day or the day after that and with no interline agreements your Allegiant ticket will not be honored on another airline.  Your experience may differ but I’ve always been able to find competitive fares on legacy carriers (after you calculate in all the extra incidental Allegiant charges.)  I’m even a little hesitant with Southwest because of their lack of interline agreements.

Back when I traveled extensively, as many as forty trips a year, airlines with robust schedules and interline agreements saved my butt several times
 

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, walker said:

The new airline ratings are in:

USATODAY: delta-top-airline-frontier-worst-new-study (allegiant not much better)

I’ve never flown Allegiant or Frontier and while I’ll never say never, I likely never will.  While Allegiant’s new planes undoubtedly make them more reliable than in the past, the problem I have with them is that they have very limited schedules, only flying to most destinations only once a day and only two or three times a week and they have no interline agreements with other airlines.  Thus, if your flight is canceled or delayed substantially, there is no way to re-book on Allegiant a flight the same day or even possibly the next day or the day after that and with no interline agreements your Allegiant ticket will not be honored on another airline.  Your experience may differ but I’ve always been able to find competitive fares on legacy carriers (after you calculate in all the extra incidental Allegiant charges.)  I’m even a little hesitant with Southwest because of their lack of interline agreements.

Back when I traveled extensively, as many as forty trips a year, airlines with robust schedules and interline agreements saved my butt several times
 

Everyone has differing travel needs. I would say if you're traveling South and want an inexpensive direct flight out of GRR with good service, give Allegiant a shot. (I even went straight to Allegiant's site for booking spring break). If you travel a lot for work, then that's a different story. 

[Sparty97]

13 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Everyone has differing travel needs. I would say if you're traveling South and want an inexpensive direct flight out of GRR with good service, give Allegiant a shot. (I even went straight to Allegiant's site for booking spring break). If you travel a lot for work, then that's a different story. 

We have flown Allegiant and Frontier several times directly to Florida.  The last time, we had a tight window in order to catch a cruise.  Of course, we had to pick the same days as the Polar Vortex and there were threats of canceling flights.  This is where I started to second guess the discount flights... luckily, our plane was only delayed and we got there in plenty of time.  Otherwise, we were looking at paying 5x as much for a last minute flight to replace it.

[GRDadof3]

Another record Spring Break for GRR passenger traffic. 

https://fox17online.com/2019/04/16/spring-break-was-ford-airports-busiest-month-in-history/

 

[MJLO]

Another double digit increase after last years double digit increase.  I think that's a great indication of how underutilized GRR has been by the general public. 

[arcturus]

Funny how competitive airfare, more choices, and a booming economy helps.

[GRDadof3]

4 hours ago, arcturus said:

Funny how competitive airfare, more choices, and a booming economy helps.

 Yeah, duh. 

[walker]

Flint based reporter wrote this article today saying that Flint and Grand Rapids have lowest average airfares in Michigan, lower than in Detroit.  Although the retort from the Detroit Metro spokesperson makes a good point the average airfare doesn't take in consideration that Detroit has a greater percentage of long distance routes that of course would bring the average up:

MLIVE: flint-grand-rapids-have-cheapest-average-airfares-in-michigan-but-there-is-some-fine-print.html  

Edited April 18, 2019 by walker

[joeDowntown]

The airport got $14M to extend the taac (in addition to the existing work). From what I read, this is the first step towards Terminal expansion. 

https://www.grbj.com/articles/93356-feds-giving-ford-airport-14m

Joe

[BLUESCRUBS]

Hopefully the first  step to making some of this a reality. 

 

[kwl]

Interesting to see BOS become an officially recognized Delta hub. I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to GRR-BOS service down the line. 

Strategically, BOS will offer some transatlantic connection options currently unavailable. It will never make economic sense for us to have a GRR-JFK direct and GRR-LGA is pretty much a dead end with the 1,500 perimeter rule (at least for going east). 

 

[walker]

46 minutes ago, kwl said:

. . . GRR-LGA is pretty much a dead end with the 1,500 perimeter rule (at least for going east). 

Huh?  We have GRR-LGA service now.  It's only about 650 miles between the two airport, well within the perimeter rule.  I've hubbed through LGA several times including to get to Boston and Portland Maine.

Boston non-stop would be nice though.  Salt Lake City is a Delta hub too.  Service to Salt Lake City would be nice, better than going through Minneapolis to get to California.     

[kwl]

On 6/6/2019 at 5:26 PM, walker said:

Huh?  We have GRR-LGA service now.  It's only about 650 miles between the two airport, well within the perimeter rule.  I've hubbed through LGA several times including to get to Boston and Portland Maine.

Boston non-stop would be nice though.  Salt Lake City is a Delta hub too.  Service to Salt Lake City would be nice, better than going through Minneapolis to get to California.     

I was more referencing transatlantic connections. I think Boston would open up some more connections for Europe (specifically Rome and Lisbon which aren't serviced by MSP or DTW). I also see DAL adding some more European routes once operations ramp up plus you have SkyTeam partnerships of VS, KLM, AF, etc. VS is probably the most interesting since they're not operating out of DTW or MSP at this time and it's a 49% owned by DAL. 

Since GRR added more LGA service within the past year, I have been seeing more and more connection options through LGA....Although I avoid them like the plague since I run 50% cancellation/hours delays on that route and it requires an extra hour of sitting in a CRJ or E-170/175 which I'd easily pass in favor of the quick jaunts to DTW or MSP. I've been avoiding ATL for the most part this year since it's primarily serviced by the archaic MD-88/90s. 

SLC is tough since it's not a major international hub. I also think the reason we don't have service is lack of equipment with it probably not being busy enough to support A320/737 metal (these are rare in GRR anyways). It's also a hell of a trip to be backed in a Connection CRJ-500/700/900. The E-170/E-75s get about the same amount of passengers, but are slightly roomier. Who knows, maybe some of the newer A-220s would work on that route. 

[MJLO]

11 hours ago, kwl said:

SLC is tough since it's not a major international hub. I also think the reason we don't have service is lack of equipment with it probably not being busy enough to support A320/737 metal (these are rare in GRR anyways). It's also a hell of a trip to be backed in a Connection CRJ-500/700/900. The E-170/E-75s get about the same amount of passengers, but are slightly roomier. Who knows, maybe some of the newer A-220s would work on that route. 

Not wanting to get too deep in the weeds on this one, but as a frequent traveler I wouldn't call A320's or 737's rare at GRR at all(the omnipresent MD88's are also the passenger equivalent).   Especially since two of the bigger airlines that service the airport ONLY use 737's. They are just as common at the airport as CRJ's  Every Delta flight I'm on is a plane at least that big, exceptions being when I connect to MSP, or if I end up on a mid-day flight.  I've even flown in on a 757 a time or two.  There isn't enough of a demand for a route to SLC since it's cheaper to run the western connections through Chicago, DTW, and MSP.  United's Denver route likely also makes it less feasible for Delta to run a competing route into SLC.   

[Raildude's dad]

Southwest only fly's 737's so I wouldn't say they are rare at GRR.