Dallas Dude,
Nice post. I take back everything bad I ever said about people from Dallas. You do bring up some good points. But, the LGA anology only goes so far. Tell me an American passenger airline that CAN'T fly into LGA. (Obviously INTL airlines do not count because LGA's runways cannot handle or are not long enough for 777's or 744's with full fuel loads....) Vangaurd, Midex, Amwest, Colgan, Shuttle America, the ubiquitous
AA Eagle E135, all fly to LGA------it's just that the smaller airlines do NOT have a large presence---but do have a presence. Heathrow is building a new terminal---and it does have parallel runways
unlike LGA. With BA's large withdrawl from European routes from LHR---why give the slots to
Easyjet or some other low fare airline? Heathrow is the largest INTL airport in the world. There aren't 66 or so slots available throughout the morning and early afternoon available for DL, NW, CO, and US? Give me a break. And I am sure Delta could buy the slots with no problem---they have more cash available than AA or BA. If they want 11 roundtrips a day---they obviously want to make a big commitment with LHR. My point is that Delta wouldn't mind starting with a few slots at LHR (Hence my anology with Vanguard or Midex at LGA) and start from there. Eventually more slots would be aquired---thru Airfrance or other SKYTEAM partners. But AA and BA will not give up any---which is the problem. Easyjet might be starting Inverness to LHR service 5 times a day.
Does that sound more important than a DL service to ATL and JFK? Come on!
And as for the LGA cab ride vs the JFK cab ride----you know that that van ride from JFK to Manhattan is a lot worse than LGA to Manhattan.
On Sat nights at 11pm---it still takes 1 1/2 hours to go into town vs 45 mins from LGA. The same is probably true from LHR to the financial
district in London. And, you have to admit it, but there are probably more business people flying into LHR that can afford the $100 cab ride than those flying into LGW-----and that is why DL wants to fly there---more business pax. Thanks.
Donkey Duke <img src="cool.gif" border="0"> <img src="cool.gif" border="0">