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Direct flight from IND to DCA

cbhoward3
Explorer C

Wondering if any of you have contacted and received answer as to why the direct flights from Indianapolis to DCA have been suspended? I called and the rep said there were no plans to do away with those direct flights - however, there are none as far out as SW is scheduling flights.

Also, I emailed and received no answer only that the direct flights are"seasonal"??- I've been traveling this route for five years and never had an issue finding a direct flight- no matter the month- 

Really disappointed and confused as the flights were generally full.

 

7 REPLIES 7

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

kimberlyjhurley
Explorer C

I was trying to book my flights for November and December and noticed that. I really hate to have to use American. Much more expensive and I am DC once per month for work.

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

bpc
Explorer C

I travel this route weekly, and when booking Dec - Jan flights saw that there are no more direct flights.  Any idea why and is there anything we can do to change it?

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

cbhoward3
Explorer C

I think the only way Southwest will bring back the direct flights from IND to DCA is if they lose business by not offering them- hoping they do!

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

PegPaulson
Explorer C

I fly this route monthly and noticed this as well starting in November. I'm going to be forced to fly American for time and cost reasons and I REALLY hate that idea!! Hoping SW will change their minds on this one.

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

FrequentTravels
Explorer C

I had booked every week Aug, Sept, and Oct and now went back to comeplete Nov and Dec and found the same.  How do you remove a direct flight that is sold out each and every week?  This is the same reason i had to switch to American years ago while traveling to BWI and now that I was on a routine and made status back going to DCA they have removed all direct options.  Who going to DC has the time to take three to four times longer now getting there with some many other airlines offering direct options.?

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

Fireballflyer
Explorer C

We've used DCA-IND for years too. Frequent trips to visit relatives and friends in IND; relatives traveling here to NOVA. Our son will be a Freshman at IU Bloomington in the Fall and we were counting on this service to get him back-forth at least 3 times during the school year. I think the DCA-Louisville flights are gone now too? Uggh...forced to use American (and pay baggage fees) as it's now the ONLY option for direct flights from/to DCA-IND.

Re: Direct flight from IND to DCA

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

Ultimately it comes down to "yield." How much is a given market like IND-DCA earning per seat and are there other markets where the aircraft used for IND-DCA could make more money.

When I worked on the ramp at (unnamed luv-less airline), we always had a full load of transfer bags for Reno. So we were amazed when our airline dropped Reno as a destination. How can we drop a city when the flights there are always full???

I asked that question to the V.P. of Finance and his explanation was, "full flights don't always mean lots of revenue." He pointed out how despite the flights being full, the fares for Reno were some of the lowest of any market.

"So why not raise the fares? The demand is obviously there since the flights are full." Wrong again. Whenever the fares to Reno were raised 10%, passenger bookings dropped by more than 10%. In other words, the majority of passengers traveling to Reno were very price sensitive and would only fly if the fare was low. It made more business sense to redeploy the aircraft to other markets which commanded higher airfares.

I suspect that's the reason that Southwest stopped direct service between DCA-IND. And, given that DCA is a slot-restricted airport, Southwest has an incentive to make sure that their limited slots are used on only the most profitable markets to/from DCA.