United Airlines Adds 17 Non-Hub Florida Routes (Full Schedule)

In an unexpected move, United Airlines will add point-to-point service to several cities in Florida from non-hub airports. The move marks a practical adjustment to atrophying demand for business travel as a result of the pandemic. Here’s the full schedule of United’s new Florida routes.

United Adds New Non-Hub Routes To Florida

Starting on November 6, 2020 United will add nonstop service from Boston (BOS), Cleveland (CLE), and New York LaGuardia (LGA) to Fort Lauderdale FLL), Fort Myers (RSW), Orlando (MCO), and Tampa (TPA). The service will operate on “peak days” and run through January 10 2021.

Route	Origin	Dest	Dep	Arr	✈
Boston
BOS ⇄ FLL	BOS	FLL	8:50 AM	12:23 PM	737-800
	BOS	FLL	12:45 PM	4:18 PM	737-800
	FLL	BOS	8:30 AM	11:48 AM	737-800
	FLL	BOS	1:15 PM	4:33 PM	737-800
BOS ⇄ RSW	BOS	RSW	9:00 AM	12:37 PM	A320
BOS ⇄ RSW	RSW	BOS	12:30 PM	3:40 PM	A320
BOS ⇄ MCO	BOS	MCO	9:00 AM	12:20 PM	A320
	BOS	MCO	1:00 PM	4:20 PM	737-800
	MCO	BOS	8:15 AM	11:09 AM	737-800
	MCO	BOS	12:30 PM	3:24 PM	A320
BOS ⇄ TPA	BOS	TPA	8:30 AM	12:00 PM	737-800
BOS ⇄ TPA	TPA	BOS	12:55 PM	3:55 PM	737-800
New York/LaGuardia
LGA ⇄ FLL	LGA	FLL	9:20 AM	12:33 PM	A320
	LGA	FLL	1:05 PM	4:18 PM	A320
	FLL	LGA	1:25 PM	4:19 PM	A320
	FLL	LGA	5:10 PM	8:04 PM	A320
LGA ⇄ RSW	LGA	RSW	10:00 AM	1:15 PM	737-800
LGA ⇄ RSW	RSW	LGA	2:06 PM	4:59 PM	737-800
LGA ⇄ MCO	LGA	MCO	7:59 AM	10:55 AM	A320
	LGA	MCO	12:00 PM	2:56 PM	A320
	MCO	LGA	8:30 AM	11:03 AM	A320
	MCO	LGA	12:00 PM	2:33 PM	A320
LGA ⇄ TPA	LGA	TPA	9:29 AM	12:39 PM	737-800
LGA ⇄ TPA	TPA	LGA	1:35 PM	4:18 PM	737-800
		Cleveland
CLE ⇄ FLL	CLE	FLL	9:15 AM	12:12 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ FLL	FLL	CLE	1:05 PM	3:58 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ RSW	CLE	RSW	9:30 AM	12:13 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ RSW	RSW	CLE	1:10 PM	3:52 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ MCO	CLE	MCO	9:00 AM	11:32 AM	737-800
CLE ⇄ MCO	MCO	CLE	12:30 PM	2:58 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ TPA	CLE	TPA	8:15 AM	10:57 AM	E175
CLE ⇄ TPA	TPA	CLE	11:35 AM	2:10 PM	E175

Then on December 17, just in time for the holidays, United will add up to 28 daily nonstop flights include service to Florida from:

Columbus (CMH)
Indianapolis (IND)
Milwaukee (MKE)
Pittsburgh (PIT)

Route	Origin	Dest	Dep	Arr	✈
Boston
BOS ⇄ FLL	BOS	FLL	8:50 AM	12:23 PM	737-800
	BOS	FLL	12:45 PM	4:18 PM	737-800
	FLL	BOS	8:30 AM	11:48 AM	737-800
	FLL	BOS	1:15 PM	4:33 PM	737-800
BOS ⇄ RSW	BOS	RSW	9:00 AM	12:37 PM	A320
	BOS	RSW	1:00 PM	4:39 PM	A320
	RSW	BOS	9:00 AM	12:09 PM	A320
	RSW	BOS	12:30 PM	3:40 PM	A320
BOS ⇄ MCO	BOS	MCO	9:00 AM	12:20 PM	A320
	BOS	MCO	1:00 PM	4:20 PM	737-800
	MCO	BOS	8:15 AM	11:09 AM	737-800
	MCO	BOS	12:30 PM	3:24 PM	A320
BOS ⇄ TPA	BOS	TPA	8:30 AM	12:00 PM	737-800
	BOS	TPA	1:30 PM	5:02 PM	737-800
	TPA	BOS	9:30 AM	12:30 PM	737-800
	TPA	BOS	12:55 PM	3:55 PM	737-800
New York/LaGuardia
LGA ⇄ FLL	LGA	FLL	9:20 AM	12:33 PM	A320
	LGA	FLL	1:05 PM	4:18 PM	A320
	FLL	LGA	1:25 PM	4:19 PM	A320
	FLL	LGA	5:10 PM	8:04 PM	A320
LGA ⇄ RSW	LGA	RSW	10:00 AM	1:15 PM	737-800
	LGA	RSW	1:29 PM	4:46 PM	737-800
	RSW	LGA	9:40 AM	12:33 PM	737-800
	RSW	LGA	2:06 PM	4:59 PM	737-800
LGA ⇄ MCO	LGA	MCO	7:59 AM	10:55 AM	A320
	LGA	MCO	12:00 PM	2:56 PM	A320
	MCO	LGA	8:30 AM	11:03 AM	A320
	MCO	LGA	12:00 PM	2:33 PM	A320
LGA ⇄ TPA	LGA	TPA	9:29 AM	12:39 PM	737-800
	LGA	TPA	12:29 PM	3:40 PM	737-800
	TPA	LGA	8:40 AM	11:22 AM	737-800
	TPA	LGA	1:35 PM	4:18 PM	737-800
		Cleveland
CLE ⇄ FLL	CLE	FLL	9:15 AM	12:12 PM	737-800
	CLE	FLL	12:55 PM	3:52 PM	737-800
	FLL	CLE	9:10 AM	12:03 PM	737-800
	FLL	CLE	1:05 PM	3:58 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ RSW	CLE	RSW	9:30 AM	12:13 PM	737-800
	CLE	RSW	1:45 PM	4:27 PM	737-800
	RSW	CLE	10:00 AM	12:38 PM	737-800
	RSW	CLE	1:10 PM	3:52 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ MCO	CLE	MCO	9:00 AM	11:32 AM	737-800
	CLE	MCO	3:35 PM	6:01 PM	737-800
	MCO	CLE	8:45 AM	11:12 AM	737-800
	MCO	CLE	12:30 PM	2:58 PM	737-800
CLE ⇄ TPA	CLE	TPA	8:15 AM	10:57 AM	737-800
CLE ⇄ TPA	TPA	CLE	11:35 AM	2:10 PM	737-800
Milwaukee
MKE ⇄ TPA	MKE	TPA	9:15 AM	1:05 PM	A319
MKE ⇄ TPA	TPA	MKE	1:55 PM	3:55 PM	A319
MKE ⇄ RSW	MKE	RSW	10:25 AM	2:29 PM	A319
MKE ⇄ RSW	RSW	MKE	3:05 PM	5:15 PM	A319
Columbus
CMH ⇄ RSW	CMH	RSW	8:30 AM	11:05 AM	E175
CMH ⇄ RSW	RSW	CMH	1:30 PM	4:01 PM	E175
Indianapolis
IND ⇄ RSW	IND	RSW	9:05 AM	11:33 PM	A320
IND ⇄ RSW	RSW	IND	1:30 PM	4:01 PM	A320
Pittsburgh
PIT ⇄ RSW	PIT	RSW	10:10 AM	12:50 PM	E175
PIT ⇄ RSW	RSW	PIT	11:50 AM	2:29 PM	E175

Ankit Gupta, United’s Vice President of Domestic Network Planning, said:

“The addition of these new flights represents United’s largest expansion of point-to-point, non-hub flying and reflects our data driven approach to add capacity where customers are telling us they want to go. We look forward to offering customers in the Midwest and Northeast more options to fly nonstop to Florida this winter.”

Although United has run seasonal service between Florida and Cleveland (a former hub) for many years, the move is quite a departure from United’s hub-and-spoke model.

Tickets are available for purchase now on united.com.

CONCLUSION

You can look at this route announcement as a move of desperation or a move of innovation, but it is probably a bit of each. The new flights will likely do very well. The question, of course, is yield and what kind of fares these flights can command. But United is adding 17 new routes between Florida cities and seven non-hub airports in the Midwest and East Coast.

Surprised to see United fly between Pittsburgh and Fort Myers?

Wowser – This is back to the future for me. When I was a young pilot with United in the late 1970’s – early 1980’s nearly ALL of these Ohio-Upper NY-MKE-PA to Florida routes were in schedule and extremely popular. The airplanes were always full. The routes were served generally with B-727-100s with an occasional -200 or DC8. They were called Snowbird Service. United had a crew bases in CLE and MIA at the time (B727 and B737) and they were Gems with great flying and crew camaraderie. These are just wonderful memories of some great flying and customer service. Nearly all major Florida cities were served: MIA, FLL, PBI, TPA, MCO, etc.

In the late 1980’s the bean-counters (revenue management) said these full airplanes were not making enough revenue so all were axed and force fit into the hub-spoke model. I am both stunned and pleased at this development which reflects the reality of flexibility and market forces determining the deployment of assets, staff and schedules. I wish United great success with this.

10 Comments

Mike Reply

August 12, 2020 at 5:09 pm

Thanks Matt. As a IND flyer I can tell you there is a considerable amount of demand for RSW, I agree that flight should do well and command a premium. Appreciate the info.
Neil Reply

August 12, 2020 at 5:21 pm

Very cool move. Cleveland historically was one of the few cities in the United network with point to point flights. RSW, FLL, and TPA were seasonal; MCO up until the pandemic was year round.

We also at one point (post-hub era) had flights to LGA, MKE, BOS, DCA, CUN, CHS, and SJU.
ChuckMO Reply

August 12, 2020 at 6:17 pm

These adds are so far out of UA’s comfort zone I can’t begin analyze these moves. Seems like all the piggies are trying to survive off the same Florida trough. I can’t imagine there’s enough slop to go around.
Pete Reply

August 12, 2020 at 10:22 pm

Hopefully Florida will be off of Cuomo’s naughty list by November so I won’t have to “quarantine” upon return.
JR Reply

August 13, 2020 at 3:11 pm

I’m glad they’re thinking outside the box a little bit and adding flights to where people are flying. I could use a CMH-MCO flight from United. Maybe soon if the RSW works out.
JoEllen Reply

August 13, 2020 at 3:57 pm

I think it’s a ridiculous move — all they’re doing is jumping on the same over-crowded bandwagon as American, Delta, Jet Blue, Spirit and Southwest – talk about glut to the Florida markets. Old, dying New Yorkers (probably the largest market) are going to go to one of the worst Covid-19 states? Seriously, we had some friends invite us down there and I just laughed at my husband and said that is the very last place on earth I would go to, never mind getting on an airplane with masks and all the other associated annoyances.
Jerry Reply

August 13, 2020 at 7:41 pm

And lest we forget the population of Florida is nearly that of Australia. I would say there’s demand in both directions. RSW is clearly underserved and I’m sure Southwest Florida residents will appreciate not having to drive to Tampa or S Florida quite as much.
Henry P Reply

August 14, 2020 at 4:34 pm

Wowser – This is back to the future for me. When I was a young pilot with United in the late 1970’s – early 1980’s nearly ALL of these Ohio-Upper NY-MKE-PA to Florida routes were in schedule and extremely popular. The airplanes were always full. The routes were served generally with B-727-100s with an occasional -200 or DC8. They were called Snowbird Service. United had a crew bases in CLE and MIA at the time (B727 and B737) and they were Gems with great flying and crew camaraderie. These are just wonderful memories of some great flying and customer service. Nearly all major Florida cities were served: MIA, FLL, PBI, TPA, MCO, etc.

In the late 1980’s the bean-counters (revenue management) said these full airplanes were not making enough revenue so all were axed and force fit into the hub-spoke model. I am both stunned and pleased at this development which reflects the reality of flexibility and market forces determining the deployment of assets, staff and schedules. I wish United great success with this.
- Michael Smith Reply
  
  August 15, 2020 at 3:30 pm
  
  “Sunbird Service”!
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