Pat
2007-06-21 14:32:02 UTC
Read this article from the Buffalo News. I will rant at the bottom of
the article.
http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/102698.html
=================
Buffalo losing nonstop flights to Albany
Buffalo travelers heading to Albany will lose nonstop flights early
next month.
Continental Airlines confirmed Tuesday its subsidiary, Continental
Connections, will eliminate the two daily flights July 7.
"This is the first in our memory that there won't be nonstop service
from Buffalo to Albany," said Lawrence Meckler, executive director of
the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which operates the
Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga.
Meckler said his staff has set up meetings with other airlines to
gauge interest in adding the route.
"We're not going to let this rest. We should have direct service
between Buffalo and the state capital," Meckler added.
In a study tied to construction of the new airport terminal in 1995,
the business community cited New York City and Albany as the top two
destinations needing increased service.
Continental, which has offered the nonstop flights between Buffalo and
Albany since 1994, said current demand is not strong enough.
"Those flights are operated by Commute Air, our Continental
Connections partners on that route. It was a business decision on
their part," said Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark.
Albany-based Commute Air did not return phone calls about the
decision. The small airline has been using 19-seat Beechcraft 1900s on
the flights, which depart at 8:10 a.m. and 5:55 p.m. daily.
This is not the first time airline connections between Buffalo and
Albany have hit turbulence. US Airways ended its four daily direct
flights in April 2005. Over the past two decades, now-defunct regional
flyers Mall Airlines, Shuttle America and Mohawk Airlines all made
short-lived attempts at nonstop Buffalo-Albany flights.
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, DBuffalo, for whom Buffalo-Albany trips are a
way of life, described the end of the flights as "disappointing," but
said he doesn't blame the airline.
"I'd say it's a market-driven decision," Hoyt said. "If the demand was
there and there was money to be made, other airlines would be jumping
in."
Hoyt, who occasionally flies or takes Amtrak to get back and forth to
Albany, said he prefers driving the Thruway.
"After you get to the airport an hour early, take the flight and then
drive from the airport to downtown Albany, you've put in over three
hours," the lawmaker said. "I can do the drive in under 4 1/2 and use
my cell phone to get a lot of work done."
He also noted that the drive, even with increasing gas prices, costs
substantially less than the $390 that Continental currently charges
for a round-trip.
While nonstop service soon will be history, Albany-bound passenger
will continue to have several choices via Continental, Delta and
United airlines, as well as USAirways.
The flights, which connect through Philadelphia, New York City and
Washington, D.C., range in price from $248 to $573, and take 3z to
seven hours.
Continental initially introduced the nonstop flights as part of its
early 1990s "Peanuts Fares" promotion, enticing flyers with $99 fares.
=======================
Freeking politicans get freeking special treatment and freeking
"Member of Assembly" license plates that mean you couldn't get a
freeking traffic ticket if you drove the wrong way on the Thruway, in
the wrong lane, it reverse while drunk and making out with your
mistress.
But they pass laws where you and me would get freeking tickets for
doing the same think they don't worry about because they are freeking
"special". Them and troopers. Grrrrrrrrr. Those people who are
"above the law". It's best reason for term limits I can think of.
So here we are, in a newspaper article, where a freeking state
legislator, who passes the freeking laws that control your and me (but
obviously not him) talks about driving to Albany so he can use his
cell phone en route. Guess what, people, NYS has a freeking cell
phone law that says that it is illegal for him to talk on a phone
without a headset or a speaker phone.
Okay, you say, calm down and take your meds. But I want to make two
points. First, have you EVER seen a politicans with an ear piece or
using a speaker phone in a car. No. Never. Just like the Gov of NJ
wasn't wearing a seatbelt when he had his accident WHEN A TROOPER WAS
IN THE CAR. Second, if talking on the phone is distracting, using a
headset doesn't make it much less distracting -- it is supposidly the
talking that was the problem, not the hold the phone -- so should the
illustrious legislator be tearing down the Thruway -- probably
speeding -- and yanking on the phone the whole time????????/
Grrrrrrr.
It's bad enough he does it. He doesn't have to brag about it in the
paper.
"I can do the drive in under 4 1/2 and use my cell phone to get a lot
of work done."
================
P.S. Rico. Been trying Nifong as a new word. I don't think it works
for me.
the article.
http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/102698.html
=================
Buffalo losing nonstop flights to Albany
Buffalo travelers heading to Albany will lose nonstop flights early
next month.
Continental Airlines confirmed Tuesday its subsidiary, Continental
Connections, will eliminate the two daily flights July 7.
"This is the first in our memory that there won't be nonstop service
from Buffalo to Albany," said Lawrence Meckler, executive director of
the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which operates the
Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga.
Meckler said his staff has set up meetings with other airlines to
gauge interest in adding the route.
"We're not going to let this rest. We should have direct service
between Buffalo and the state capital," Meckler added.
In a study tied to construction of the new airport terminal in 1995,
the business community cited New York City and Albany as the top two
destinations needing increased service.
Continental, which has offered the nonstop flights between Buffalo and
Albany since 1994, said current demand is not strong enough.
"Those flights are operated by Commute Air, our Continental
Connections partners on that route. It was a business decision on
their part," said Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark.
Albany-based Commute Air did not return phone calls about the
decision. The small airline has been using 19-seat Beechcraft 1900s on
the flights, which depart at 8:10 a.m. and 5:55 p.m. daily.
This is not the first time airline connections between Buffalo and
Albany have hit turbulence. US Airways ended its four daily direct
flights in April 2005. Over the past two decades, now-defunct regional
flyers Mall Airlines, Shuttle America and Mohawk Airlines all made
short-lived attempts at nonstop Buffalo-Albany flights.
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, DBuffalo, for whom Buffalo-Albany trips are a
way of life, described the end of the flights as "disappointing," but
said he doesn't blame the airline.
"I'd say it's a market-driven decision," Hoyt said. "If the demand was
there and there was money to be made, other airlines would be jumping
in."
Hoyt, who occasionally flies or takes Amtrak to get back and forth to
Albany, said he prefers driving the Thruway.
"After you get to the airport an hour early, take the flight and then
drive from the airport to downtown Albany, you've put in over three
hours," the lawmaker said. "I can do the drive in under 4 1/2 and use
my cell phone to get a lot of work done."
He also noted that the drive, even with increasing gas prices, costs
substantially less than the $390 that Continental currently charges
for a round-trip.
While nonstop service soon will be history, Albany-bound passenger
will continue to have several choices via Continental, Delta and
United airlines, as well as USAirways.
The flights, which connect through Philadelphia, New York City and
Washington, D.C., range in price from $248 to $573, and take 3z to
seven hours.
Continental initially introduced the nonstop flights as part of its
early 1990s "Peanuts Fares" promotion, enticing flyers with $99 fares.
=======================
Freeking politicans get freeking special treatment and freeking
"Member of Assembly" license plates that mean you couldn't get a
freeking traffic ticket if you drove the wrong way on the Thruway, in
the wrong lane, it reverse while drunk and making out with your
mistress.
But they pass laws where you and me would get freeking tickets for
doing the same think they don't worry about because they are freeking
"special". Them and troopers. Grrrrrrrrr. Those people who are
"above the law". It's best reason for term limits I can think of.
So here we are, in a newspaper article, where a freeking state
legislator, who passes the freeking laws that control your and me (but
obviously not him) talks about driving to Albany so he can use his
cell phone en route. Guess what, people, NYS has a freeking cell
phone law that says that it is illegal for him to talk on a phone
without a headset or a speaker phone.
Okay, you say, calm down and take your meds. But I want to make two
points. First, have you EVER seen a politicans with an ear piece or
using a speaker phone in a car. No. Never. Just like the Gov of NJ
wasn't wearing a seatbelt when he had his accident WHEN A TROOPER WAS
IN THE CAR. Second, if talking on the phone is distracting, using a
headset doesn't make it much less distracting -- it is supposidly the
talking that was the problem, not the hold the phone -- so should the
illustrious legislator be tearing down the Thruway -- probably
speeding -- and yanking on the phone the whole time????????/
Grrrrrrr.
It's bad enough he does it. He doesn't have to brag about it in the
paper.
"I can do the drive in under 4 1/2 and use my cell phone to get a lot
of work done."
================
P.S. Rico. Been trying Nifong as a new word. I don't think it works
for me.