United Airlines scraps plans to add a new pin to its route map
There's a regional airport that won't be happy about United's latest cut.
During the past the weekend, the Chicago-based carrier filed a sweeping schedule update that included bad news for Santa Maria, California: United is dropping its plan to serve the Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) airport, per Cirium schedules and later confirmed by the carrier.
Santa Maria would've been a new route-map pin for United, connecting the city to mainline service for the first time since October 2016, when United last served the airport.
United had originally planned to launch nonstop service from Santa Maria to three of its largest hubs — Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) — in June 2020. The carrier then delayed the start of service and adjusted schedules due to the pandemic. The latest plan was for flights to take off in October 2021.
In confirming the move to TPG, United cited the pandemic and market dynamics as the reason that SMX flights won't take off.
Throughout the pandemic, United has continued to evaluate and adapt its network to respond to the changing travel landscape. Due to the pandemic and changes in market conditions since our initial announcement, United has made the difficult decision to suspend its plan to operate nonstop service to Santa Maria, Calif. (SMX) from Denver and San Francisco. We will continue to serve the region and greater Central Coast community with service to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) and San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport (SBP).
Going forward, if residents of the Santa Maria area want to connect to mainline service, they'll need to drive nearly an hour or more to reach either Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo.
Santa Maria remains connected by just one airline, Allegiant, whose ultra-low-cost strategy might not appeal to everyone. The Summerlin, Nevada-based airline flies to three destinations from the California city, none of which are operated daily:
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Phoenix/Mesa (AZA)
- Portland (PDX)
The move to drop plans to serve Santa Maria comes just a week after United announced new service to two brand-new destinations, including Eastern Sierra Regional Airport near Bishop, California (BIH), and Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport in Lewiston, Idaho (LWS).
Related: United bets big on winter travel in 39-route boost to the mountains
Along with tweaking its regional airport strategy, United also is beefing up service in anticipation of a busy winter travel season.
The carrier recently boosted 39 routes to the mountains just in time for the ski season. Additionally, just this week, the carrier upgauged eight Hawaii routes with its top-notch Polaris and Premium Plus products, to deliver an upgraded experience for those traveling to the Aloha State.
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| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
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Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
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Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month