

TIL Why There Are No Non-Stop Flights from SFO to National Airport - kn0thing
http://blog.hipmunk.com/why-its-hard-to-get-a-convenient-flight-to-ne

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spydez
TIL == Today I Learned

Trying to sneak Reddit terminology onto HN, Alexis? :P

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kn0thing
Force of habit. Hmm, it's not long now until HN Gonewild.

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DougBTX
Any chance that there is data to show whether they were right? I mean, I
strongly suspect that there isn't. But I'd be interested if there is either
way.

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eli
Right about what? That more people fly out of Dulles because they can't get a
direct flight out of National? Seems pretty obvious.

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DougBTX
No, whether they were right that the airport would fail due to lack of custom
without intervention.

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marklabedz
There was also a perimeter rule governing flights at Dallas Love Field after
DFW was built. A compromise was reached a few years ago. Here's an article
from the Dallas Morning News summarizing the effects of the change:
[http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-l...](http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-
lovefield_30bus.ART.State.Edition2.42566ed.html)

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natrius
Dallas has the same issue with DFW and Love Field.

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kgermino
The Wright Amendment [1] is a slightly different issue. IIRC the plan was to
end all scheduled passenger service at Love Field when DFW opened. Southwest
was started after the initial agreement and fought the restriction. Since then
the Wright Amendment has been steadily relaxed, and it will be repealed
completely in 2014. Additionally Southwest is not allowed to fly from DFW
because of the agreement to end the Wright Amendment.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Amendment>

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ganley
Interesting. I always heard it was because they didn't want the really big
(loud) international planes flying in urban airspace.

Regardless, a variety of people (particularly congresscritters) have been
trying for years to get that restriction lifted.

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eli
I'm not sure about the original reasoning, but I'm sure that's why some people
still support the restriction. Or, at least, that's what they claim.

Seems like if noise is the problem, then noise is what is what you should
regulate. The exact same plane that today flies from DCA to Houston could just
as well fly to Seattle.

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sprout
Meh. Flying into Baltimore is usually cheaper anyway, and DC area public
transit is fantastic. (Well, compared to Ohio.)

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eli
Public transit from BWI means, you either have to take Amtrak, MARC (only on
weekdays), or a bus to the Metro (which can take 45-60 minutes during rush
hour).

If you're flying from Ohio, it will probably take you longer to get from BWI
to your destination in DC than from Ohio to BWI.

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kn0thing
I often train into the BWI Amtrak station, so if you happen to ever see a tall
white guy with a reddit/breadpig/YC/threadless shirt (I don't have a lot of
diversity) -- say hi!

And then we can lament the often crappy service together.

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edw519
<side note>

Kinda ironic you can't get to the Colbert rally by flying into the airport
named after the individual who fired 11,000 air traffic controllers, de-
certified their union, and banned them from their profession for life.

<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12292.html>

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eli
If it makes you feel any better the airport was named after George Washington
first and pretty much everyone who lives in DC calls it "National"

