Airport Guide
America: the land of the nearly free flight
For decades, travel in America was synonymous with epic road trips.
This is the land where the car was king and the success of stars such as James Dean, Bruce Springsteen and Jack Kerouac were fuelled by the open road.
These days, however, cars are only good for getting to the local supermarket or dropping the kids off at school and, when it comes to travelling from state to state, or across the length and width of this vast country, cheap flights reign supreme.
Indeed, inside the US, competition on major routes has led to air travel becoming affordable for a vast majority of the people, with only those who have a fear of flying, major financial worries or simply want to cut back on their carbon footprint opting to go overland.
Leading the way in the country's budget aviation market is Southwest Airlines, which has been for America what Ryanair has been for Europe.
The Las Vegas-based carrier now handles more domestic passengers per year than any other US airline and, while it was established back in 1971, it has only really taken off with the launch of the internet, with technology allowing it to cut back on its overheads while simultaneously allowing passengers the opportunity to shop around online for the best fares.
Southwest's statistics are, quite simply, breathtaking and show the extent of air travel within the US.
Each day it operates 3,500 routes on its massive fleet – which is the second-largest in the world.
Among the airports with a large Southwest presence are the Sin City's own McCarran International Airport, Chicago Midway, Baltimore-Washington, Orlando International, Tampa International and Phoenix Sky Harbour, while point-to-point services are also available to dozens more destinations, including Dallas, Oakland, New York, Denver, Houston Memphis, Minneapolis and St Paul.
Meanwhile, rival low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways flies to 52 destinations, mainly within the US but also in neighbouring countries such Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Mexico.
Among the cities served by cheap flights operated by JetBlue are New York, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville and Columbus.
Likewise, AirTran Airways operates 750 cheap internal flights every day, while operators such as Spirit Airlines, Frontier and JetBlue also ensure that competition remains strong and prices low.
Travellers heading over to the states from Europe and then opting to take cheap internal flights will be all too familiar with the operating model.
Not only Southwest, but all cheap airlines offer their best fares over the internet, while a significant proportion of services fly in and out of secondary hubs – for example Albany Airport for New York and Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami International – meaning that passengers are then required to take a bus service or taxi, which can often cost as much as the air fare itself.
However, it would appear that, unlike its European counterpart, the US cheap flights industry is steadily improving conditions for passengers and offering 'more for less' as they look to attract custom.
Notably, a number of JetBlue aircraft have now been fitted with live in-flight televisions, while Frontier and AirTran have both stuck with the system of assigned seating, despite some rivals having deemed this too inefficient.
Most tellingly, SouthWest recently announced that it would not be offering in-flight mobile phone services as a majority of passengers would object to the noise, thereby putting comfort before profit, unlike some European carriers.
This is the land where the car was king and the success of stars such as James Dean, Bruce Springsteen and Jack Kerouac were fuelled by the open road.
These days, however, cars are only good for getting to the local supermarket or dropping the kids off at school and, when it comes to travelling from state to state, or across the length and width of this vast country, cheap flights reign supreme.
Indeed, inside the US, competition on major routes has led to air travel becoming affordable for a vast majority of the people, with only those who have a fear of flying, major financial worries or simply want to cut back on their carbon footprint opting to go overland.
Leading the way in the country's budget aviation market is Southwest Airlines, which has been for America what Ryanair has been for Europe.
The Las Vegas-based carrier now handles more domestic passengers per year than any other US airline and, while it was established back in 1971, it has only really taken off with the launch of the internet, with technology allowing it to cut back on its overheads while simultaneously allowing passengers the opportunity to shop around online for the best fares.
Southwest's statistics are, quite simply, breathtaking and show the extent of air travel within the US.
Each day it operates 3,500 routes on its massive fleet – which is the second-largest in the world.
Among the airports with a large Southwest presence are the Sin City's own McCarran International Airport, Chicago Midway, Baltimore-Washington, Orlando International, Tampa International and Phoenix Sky Harbour, while point-to-point services are also available to dozens more destinations, including Dallas, Oakland, New York, Denver, Houston Memphis, Minneapolis and St Paul.
Meanwhile, rival low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways flies to 52 destinations, mainly within the US but also in neighbouring countries such Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Mexico.
Among the cities served by cheap flights operated by JetBlue are New York, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville and Columbus.
Likewise, AirTran Airways operates 750 cheap internal flights every day, while operators such as Spirit Airlines, Frontier and JetBlue also ensure that competition remains strong and prices low.
Travellers heading over to the states from Europe and then opting to take cheap internal flights will be all too familiar with the operating model.
Not only Southwest, but all cheap airlines offer their best fares over the internet, while a significant proportion of services fly in and out of secondary hubs – for example Albany Airport for New York and Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami International – meaning that passengers are then required to take a bus service or taxi, which can often cost as much as the air fare itself.
However, it would appear that, unlike its European counterpart, the US cheap flights industry is steadily improving conditions for passengers and offering 'more for less' as they look to attract custom.
Notably, a number of JetBlue aircraft have now been fitted with live in-flight televisions, while Frontier and AirTran have both stuck with the system of assigned seating, despite some rivals having deemed this too inefficient.
Most tellingly, SouthWest recently announced that it would not be offering in-flight mobile phone services as a majority of passengers would object to the noise, thereby putting comfort before profit, unlike some European carriers.
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