(11-19-2014 11:30 PM)Waterloo Wrote:  I know like flying out of Midway if at all possible. I live in the western suburbs and about equal distance from ORD and Midway, but prefer Midway far and away.

Peotone ever getting done? I'm not so sure, but man would those folks on the south side and NW Indiana would love that location.

I'm in Naperville and also vastly prefer Midway. It's so much easier to get in and out of (and if you're stuck there on a delay, it actually has way better food options than O'Hare).

I don't think Peotone is ever getting done. The center of gravity for businesses and affluent workers/travelers has shifted so much more to the city and the North and West Suburbs over the past couple of decades at the expense of the South Suburbs that it doesn't make economic sense to have an airport there at all (which pains me to say as a native of the South Suburbs).

nfm

(11-19-2014 01:14 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(11-19-2014 01:03 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Dekalb is in the Chicago Media Market (#3 y'all). Have fun with another "Texas" school when the conference is already solid in that state.

Isn't Deklab about an hour plus away from Chicago? That sounds like a case of Deklab being covered by the Chicago TV market because Chicago stations cover the area (every city is covered by a TV market), then a case of the Chicago TV market being a part of the NIU territory.

To use an example, Western Kentucky (Bowling Green) is in the Nashville TV market, as Nashville TV stations are available in Bowling Green. However, Nashville is not what we would say is part of Western Kentucky's territory.

While NIU is not in Chicago proper, NIU does have a number of graduate school campuses outside the city. I live near the Hoffman Estates campus (near Sears HQ) and took a class at the Naperville campus.

(11-19-2014 05:14 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(11-19-2014 05:03 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(11-19-2014 03:11 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  It sounds to me the DeKalb airport could be angling to be used by ultra discount (Allegiant/Spirit) airlines and other vacation charter outfits as a way to get access to the wealthy western suburbs without the hassle of using O'Hare.

If that happened, I think Southwest would be all over that as well similar to how they are set up in NYC.

Midway Airport is actually already Southwest's largest hub in the country. This is generally a great thing for Chicago travelers (as we have some of the most competitive airline ticket prices in the country since we have Southwest's top hub plus O'Hare has United's largest hub and American's 3rd largest hub), but it has also firmly entrenched O'Hare and Midway as the region's airline options. State and local officials have set aside land in the far south suburbs for a new airport for decades (look up "Peotone Airport" online) and the airline industry simply refuses to support it. I haven't ever heard any talk about DeKalb Airport expanding or attempting to get any commercial carriers - it's *really* tiny compared to even the Gary Airport (much less O'Hare and Midway).

Chicago was United's largest hub prior to the Continental - United merger.

Houston is now the largest United hub, Chicago the HQ while the CEO continues to live in Houston.

Southwest is spending $100M of its own money to build a 5 gate international terminal at Hobby Airport (the smaller airport) in Houston even though United lobbied the city of Houston to prevent this from happening in an attempt to get Southwest to fly into IAH.

Immediately following the Houston city council's decision to let Southwest proceed, United laid off 3,000 in Houston and suddenly discovered unprofitable routes that Continental had flown for decades to cut.

Former Continental pilots when asked who they fly for still say Continental instead of United. There's not much harmony.

After the merger, I've only flown United when there wasn't an alternative on Southwest.