Need to fly somewhere? You might have to connect flights
ATLANTA — Some travelers have begun flying again, but in the pandemic era they’re more likely to have to take a connecting flight to get to destinations.
That’s because as airlines gradually add back flights that were cut during the pandemic, they are concentrating on operating flights to their hubs and connecting passengers through those hubs instead of operating point-to-point nonstop flights between other cities.
As a condition of accepting federal CARES Act funding, airlines were required to continue operating flights to cities they previously served. But air travel is still down about 70%.
“What the airlines did is they said, OK, we’re going to retain service to all these cities but we’re going to start off by connecting them to their nearest hub,” said Brett Snyder, a former airline manager and author of a blog at crankyflier.com. “A lot of the point-to-point markets, those are going to be some of the last ones to end up getting service restored.”
Over the past couple of months, Delta Air Lines added back hundreds of flights to its schedule, but it is focusing on flights through its hubs in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.
Delta’s multi-hub system also means there are some routes previously served by nonstop flights that may now require connecting through a hub such as Salt Lake City, particularly for cross-country flights to smaller cities.
In some cases, passengers may need to go through two stopovers to get to a destination.
Snyder said the longest lasting impact may be on international travel, with airlines operating flights to only select global hubs and connecting passengers through there to other destinations around the world.