One of the beloved features of award tickets using British Airways’ Avios is the Short Haul award flight. Specifically, we love the flights for 4,500 Avios or 7,500 Avios on short distance non-stop routes on American Airlines. Today, American announced various route changes in a press release entitled: American Airlines To Implement Network Changes As A Result Of DOJ-Mandated Slot Divestitures. These route changes include the removal of numerous non-stop routes, which obviously spells the end of cheap Avios flights between these routes.
For DCA, the changes are devastating. As a result of the 52 slot pair divestitures at DCA required by the DOJ, American will no longer operate year-round, daily nonstop service to 17 destinations from that airport, including year-round daily service to:
| Augusta, Ga. | Little Rock, Ark. | Pensacola, Fla. |
| Detroit, Mich. | Minneapolis, Minn. | San Diego, Calif. |
| Fayetteville, N.C. | Montreal | Savannah, Ga. |
| Fort Walton Beach, Fla. | Myrtle Beach, S.C. | Tallahassee, Fla. |
| Islip, N.Y. | Nassau, Bahamas | Wilmington, N.C. |
| Jacksonville, N.C. | Omaha, Neb. |
The press release did not state a definitive date for the removal of these routes.
For the LGA people here (ME!!), as a result of the DOJ-required 17 slot pair divestitures at LGA, there is good and bad news. On the bad side, AA will no longer operate nonstop service to Atlanta, Cleveland and Minneapolis. (hmmmm, I was thinking of running a marathon in Cleveland on May 19th and was looking at those 4,500 Avios tickets just the other day). American did report some positive developments for LGA – the addition of certain routes made possible by the combined network of American and US Airways will provide opportunities for new service to 10 communities. New service from LGA includes:
| Charlottesville, Va. | Little Rock, Ark. | Roanoke, Va. |
| Dayton, Ohio | Louisville, Ky. | Wilmington, N.C. |
| Greensboro, N.C. | Norfolk, Va. | |
| Knoxville, Tenn. | Richmond, Va. |
The announcement stated that customers can begin booking tickets for these new routes Sunday, Jan. 26 for travel beginning April 1, 2014 (April Fools Day and Won’t Run’s Birthday!). (Maybe I’ll finally run the Richmond Marathon, especially since it’s not on the same day as the New York City Marathon this year?)
For further details take a look at the press release.
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A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I am so thankful that our benevolent government enabled American to help Delta maintain its monopoly in MSP. Well done, DOJ!
Hope you get a chance to do the Richmond marathon someday – it’s a fun one!
On the flip side, as a CVG/DAY traveler, I’m excited for a DAY-LGA route, plus the addition of the former US airways routes from CVG/DAY to CLT, PHL and DCA to now be bookable with Avios
I agree that, assuming avios short haul flights are still available, some of the new routes will be great. I like to run races in smaller cities, and US Air has a lot of those routes.