Dumb question from a dumb guy.
 

I wasn't around long enough before the furlough to get everything really figured out so sorry if this sounds like a stupid question. Does every airfare involve at least one segment on the mainline? For instance, if I am going from A to B to C, am I guarenteed at least one mainline leg? Would it be possible to buy a ticket on AA, CAL, DAL, or UAL and fly A to B to C on nothing but regionals?

Of Course. I will take it a point further. Yo can fly from country-country-country and fly only on regionals.

Toronto, Canada- Houston, US- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

All on a 50 seat RJ

Welcome to the future

How would you know? You're in jail.

Absolutely it’s possible. In fact many people encounter this regularly. You could be flying on CAL from ORD to Nassau Bahamas and fly ORD-CLE then CLE-NAS all on ExpressJet, or ORD-CLE on CHQ, then CLE-NAS on XJT. Or you could be going from Flint, MI to Miami and take Commutair from FNT-CLE then ExpressJet from CLE-MIA. The possibilities are endless.

I know with Midwest in the end most of the flying was/is regional’s so it was very common for customers to only fly on SkyWest or CHQ. You could travel on United or Delta and see every one of their regional’s on a trip across the country without ever touching mainline. Its kind of a shame what the industry has become.

Sadly, with the advent of the 70+ "Regional Jets," more and more people are doing thier travels entirely on regional carriers. You can fly A to B to C and never actually fly on the real carrier.

Thanks guys. Makes sense. Like I said, I wasn't on the line long enough to ever think about that. It had never crossed my mind until my much more intelligent girlfriend asked me that and I didn't have an answer. That's nothing new.

The problem is not the 70 seat RJ's...they do make economic sense for small markets and to add frequency (pax convenience) to larger markets. Some places you can get a flight every hour or two, all day long.

The problem is the scope that allows them to be outsourced.

Yes, it can happen. To get it to do it, you need to have very specific travel dates and times, so that the WOPPER has no choice but to put you on Regional-Regional. If you give it enough freedom, it will find something to flow you from/to a mainline flight.

Exactly, and as more "regionals" get E190's there will be a shift as more legacy/mainline carriers pattern after Midwest and become little more than the online booking source for name/brand recognition of their subcontracted routes.

What is scary is the fact that you can go travel from a major hub-connect through major hub- to major hub all on regionals.

Recently I went CLE-ATL-IAH: All on CRJ's. Shuttle doing IAH-ORD: I think alot of people can plan on a career at the regionals. That is the funny thing, all the young low time fo's I see out there that tell me what major they will work at in the near future. Hate to be negative nancy like everyone else on this forum, but very few of those major jobs will exist 10 years from now. CHEERS:D