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STLflyer wrote:

Look at what just showed up on FlightAware!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW167
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW168

Cool!!! I had been waiting all day to see this!


Sidebar question. When I was leaving work today I saw a delta plane that looked like it had just took off but I knew it was in a weird position and didn't think it could have taken off that fast. It apparently did a go around. It was good weather so what would make this happen? Something on the runway? How common is it in good weather?

I want to listen back to atc but haven't had a chance.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KMSP/KSTL

Jshank83 wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

Look at what just showed up on FlightAware!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW167
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW168

Cool!!! I had been waiting all day to see this!


Sidebar question. When I was leaving work today I saw a delta plane that looked like it had just took off but I knew it was in a weird position and didn't think it could have taken off that fast. It apparently did a go around. It was good weather so what would make this happen? Something on the runway? How common is it in good weather?

I want to listen back to atc but haven't had a chance.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KMSP/KSTL

Something on the runway. Other plane didn't exit the runway in time. Pilot was too far down, or too far off-center. Gear or flaps issue. Co-pilot expressed his need to urgently use the bathroom once they got on the ground so the pilot thought it would be funny to do a go-around. Any number of reasons, really. Go arounds are probably more common in bad weather, but definitely not unheard of in good weather.

Looks like that plane initiated the GA practically right over my office's parking lot, I missed it by less than an hour, oh well.

TWA302 wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

WOW is flying to India and St. Louis will be one of the US cities it will be offered from (With a stop in Iceland, obviously). Long flight but $199 each way promotion.

https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/ ... ia-iceland


They also extended their schedule looks like it runs 3x over winter to Iceland. It also looks like they are changing the departure time to 4:10 pm which puts in you Iceland at 4:30 am.

Outbound M/W/F
Inbound Sun/Tues/Thurs

They must be overnighting the plane here during winter so they can use the same crew both ways.

Looks like a 7 hr 15 min layover in KEF and then on to DEL. Almost 24 hours total travel.
The return has 3 hr 25 min layover in KEF.

7 hours in KEF sounds painful at first, but maybe not so bad when you consider you'd spend a few hours at another US airport, then a few hours at a European or ME3 hub. You'd potentially avoid another security screening, and since every connection is a chance to miss a flight due to delays or a place for your bag to get lost, you're decreasing the chance that something goes wrong. The 3h25m layover on the way back is money though. If I had any reason to go to India, I might consider that just to get home sooner after a long trip.

^and, with 7 hours, you have the time to slip out for a bit and do a city tour or if you are just wanting to stay nearby you can go to the Viking measure, explore the small town of Keflavik, or hit the blue lagoon.

stl07 wrote:

^and, with 7 hours, you have the time to slip out for a bit and do a city tour or if you are just wanting to stay nearby you can go to the Viking measure, explore the small town of Keflavik, or hit the blue lagoon.

Hardly enough time to do any of that.

stlgph wrote:

stl07 wrote:

^and, with 7 hours, you have the time to slip out for a bit and do a city tour or if you are just wanting to stay nearby you can go to the Viking measure, explore the small town of Keflavik, or hit the blue lagoon.

Hardly enough time to do any of that.

eh-most of the "layover" stuff is only like 10 min away, but yea some of it like a city tour would be a stretch.

stl07 wrote:

stlgph wrote:

stl07 wrote:

^and, with 7 hours, you have the time to slip out for a bit and do a city tour or if you are just wanting to stay nearby you can go to the Viking measure, explore the small town of Keflavik, or hit the blue lagoon.

Hardly enough time to do any of that.

eh-most of the "layover" stuff is only like 10 min away, but yea some of it like a city tour would be a stretch.

The flight gets in at 430 in the morning.

Nothing is open. For hours.

Counter is ready!


From Lambert Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/flystl/photos/a.980456771981514.1073741857.208838732476659/2181977775162735/?type=3

TWA302 wrote:

Counter is ready!


From Lambert Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/flystl/photos/a.980456771981514.1073741857.208838732476659/2181977775162735/?type=3

It looks great!

TWA302 wrote:

Counter is ready!


From Lambert Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/flystl/photos/a.980456771981514.1073741857.208838732476659/2181977775162735/?type=3

Is that the first STL check in with a TV?

TWA302 wrote:

Counter is ready!


From Lambert Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/flystl/photos/a.980456771981514.1073741857.208838732476659/2181977775162735/?type=3

They got the airport code wrong on their Facebook post, they used the hashtag #STLtoRKV, but RKV is the small domestic airport in Reykjavic. Oops.

Just 4 more hours!

stl07 wrote:

Just 4 more hours!

I was looking on Flightradar24 to see if they had an assigned reg for WW167. Anyone know which 321 will be coming? Also assume that the flight here will be pretty empty, unless those in KEF want to watch the Cardinals this weekend!

This is probably it.

https://www.flightradar24.com/WOW3PF/11690dbc

It's departed. See above.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW167

Hasn't departed yet? I can't imagine WOW is going to want this delayed too much, they have to make an excellent first impression on a bunch of people who've never flown WOW before.

stlgph wrote:

This is probably it.

https://www.flightradar24.com/WOW3PF/11690dbc

I hope so, as a dog lover, I would love to fly on TF-DOG for the inaugural!

stlgph wrote:

It's departed. See above.

Huh, weird. Looks like WOW does something weird with flight numbers, and doesn't use the actual one or something. Hope that's it.

TF-DOG. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that new plane smell. Delivered last month.

TWA302 wrote:

TF-DOG. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that new plane smell. Delivered last month.

Well thank goodness I opted against Taco Bell for lunch, otherwise that plane would be landing in KEF tomorrow smelling a lot worse.

STLflyer wrote:

stlgph wrote:

It's departed. See above.

Huh, weird. Looks like WOW does something weird with flight numbers, and doesn't use the actual one or something. Hope that's it.

Wonder if the "PF" at the end means positioning flight? Probably will switch to the regular flight number once the return segment starts with PAX

TWA302 wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

stlgph wrote:

It's departed. See above.

Huh, weird. Looks like WOW does something weird with flight numbers, and doesn't use the actual one or something. Hope that's it.

Wonder if the "PF" at the end means positioning flight? Probably will switch to the regular flight number once the return segment starts with PAX

I don't think so, because 167 is a revenue flight with paying pax aboard (albeit not many I assume). They do the same alphanumeric flight number for others:

https://flightaware.com/live/findflight ... ation=KBWI
https://flightaware.com/live/findflight ... ation=KJFK
https://flightaware.com/live/findflight ... ation=KDTW

...etc...

They have landed!

That's it! The biggest goal of the airport for more than a decade has been achieved.

https://twitter.com/unaccompflyer?lang=en
This guy has some pics

Anyone here going have any

Not a fan of this live music at the gate, but at least it's not Bjork.

STLflyer wrote:

Not a fan of this live music at the gate, but at least it's not Bjork.

is it Sigur Ros?

stlgph wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

Not a fan of this live music at the gate, but at least it's not Bjork.

is it Sigur Ros?

Haha no, was some local school kids or something. Should't be complaining, I got free cake, cookies and Ted Drewes. The only time anyone flying WOW has received free food

STLflyer wrote:

Haha no, was some local school kids or something. Should't be complaining, I got free cake, cookies and Ted Drewes. The only time anyone flying WOW has received free food

Let me guess, gooey butter cake? Just in case they didn't already think we're just a backwoods US city, we'll go ahead and drive home the point.

Did anyone find a trip report (Or can anyone make one )?

777PHX wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

Haha no, was some local school kids or something. Should't be complaining, I got free cake, cookies and Ted Drewes. The only time anyone flying WOW has received free food

Let me guess, gooey butter cake? Just in case they didn't already think we're just a backwoods US city, we'll go ahead and drive home the point.

Nope, just regular cake. Good cake too, although not sure why gooey butter cake makes us a backwoods US city.

stl07 wrote:

Did anyone find a trip report (Or can anyone make one )?

Here you go:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1394631

STLflyer wrote:

777PHX wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

Haha no, was some local school kids or something. Should't be complaining, I got free cake, cookies and Ted Drewes. The only time anyone flying WOW has received free food

Let me guess, gooey butter cake? Just in case they didn't already think we're just a backwoods US city, we'll go ahead and drive home the point.

Nope, just regular cake. Good cake too, although not sure why gooey butter cake makes us a backwoods US city.

stl07 wrote:

Did anyone find a trip report (Or can anyone make one )?

Here you go:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1394631

Pretty cool to see an arrivals board with Ord and Lax/JFK on the back one and then St. Louis with them. Once again part of the big dogs, a least for one route!

STLflyer,
Did you get a gate in KEF or was it a remote stand

stl07 wrote:

STLflyer,
Did you get a gate in KEF or was it a remote stand

We got a gate

No gate on WW167 to STL this morning, took a bus to a remote stand.

There were only about 50 people on the flight, so everyone had a row to themselves. I assume the load was low because people flew out on last week to Europe and haven't yet made their way back to the states, hopefully those numbers increase over the coming weeks.

Interestingly, I did see several people with red (European) passports in the boarding line, so that must mean folks are flying WOW to STL either for business or tourism purposes, so I hope that is good news for the region. I just hope this flight proves to be successful, if WOW pulls out of STL, then we aren't ever getting that BA or LH flight. If WOW is consistently sending out full A321s, then there's hope.

STLflyer wrote:

No gate on WW167 to STL this morning, took a bus to a remote stand.

There were only about 50 people on the flight, so everyone had a row to themselves. I assume the load was low because people flew out on last week to Europe and haven't yet made their way back to the states, hopefully those numbers increase over the coming weeks.

Interestingly, I did see several people with red (European) passports in the boarding line, so that must mean folks are flying WOW to STL either for business or tourism purposes, so I hope that is good news for the region. I just hope this flight proves to be successful, if WOW pulls out of STL, then we aren't ever getting that BA or LH flight. If WOW is consistently sending out full A321s, then there's hope.

STL has the strongest booking of CLE/CVG/DTW (I think those were the other 3 announced at the same time). They added a 5th flight. I am pretty sure it is doing well because of those reasons.

April numbers are out.

Up 5.5% for the month. 4.6% for the year.

https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... PubRel.pdf

Also, Southwest currently has 80 employees in town from their revenue management and network planning team, touring the area. They are visiting each of their Top 10 cities.

Jshank83 wrote:

April numbers are out.

Up 5.5% for the month. 4.6% for the year.

https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... PubRel.pdf

Also, Southwest currently has 80 employees in town from their revenue management and network planning team, touring the area. They are visiting each of their Top 10 cities.

I'd love to know their itinerary. Bet it's the same ole tired STL pamphlet crap that's been used for 20 years.

ruskistl wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

April numbers are out.

Up 5.5% for the month. 4.6% for the year.

https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... PubRel.pdf

Also, Southwest currently has 80 employees in town from their revenue management and network planning team, touring the area. They are visiting each of their Top 10 cities.

I'd love to know their itinerary. Bet it's the same ole tired STL pamphlet crap that's been used for 20 years.

....and coming up on the right, Waffle House....

stlgph wrote:

ruskistl wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

April numbers are out.

Up 5.5% for the month. 4.6% for the year.

https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... PubRel.pdf

Also, Southwest currently has 80 employees in town from their revenue management and network planning team, touring the area. They are visiting each of their Top 10 cities.

I'd love to know their itinerary. Bet it's the same ole tired STL pamphlet crap that's been used for 20 years.

....and coming up on the right, Waffle House....

...make sure you check out St. Louis's world famous provel pizza!

I’m skeptical many business travelers are going to want to use this flight. Connecting in the middle of the hop across the ocean seems like a pain in the ass. Not a big deal for leisure travelers, but not something a business traveler is going to want to put up with. Especially if their corporate travel policy permits purchase of business class on long haul flights, which many do.

I’m still hoping for BA. I don’t see LH happening anytime soon, there’s plenty of more deserving cities in the US that don’t have LH service, STL would be pretty far down the list.

777PHX wrote:

stlgph wrote:

ruskistl wrote:

I'd love to know their itinerary. Bet it's the same ole tired STL pamphlet crap that's been used for 20 years.

....and coming up on the right, Waffle House....

...make sure you check out St. Louis's world famous provel pizza!

I’m skeptical many business travelers are going to want to use this flight. Connecting in the middle of the hop across the ocean seems like a pain in the ass. Not a big deal for leisure travelers, but not something a business traveler is going to want to put up with. Especially if their corporate travel policy permits purchase of business class on long haul flights, which many do.

I’m still hoping for BA. I don’t see LH happening anytime soon, there’s plenty of more deserving cities in the US that don’t have LH service, STL would be pretty far down the list.

Well, if you think about it, the timing from Europe to US isn't all that different than what we experience going to Europe. Someone traveling London-KEF-STL will have about a 2 and a half hour flight to KEF, then a 7 hour flight to STL. On the way back, 7 hour flight followed by the short 2 and a half hour hop. If I am trying to get to London from STL and change planes in EWR, it's not really any different - about 2 hours and change to EWR, then another 7 to LHR.

My employer has no such policy on business class for long haul flights (not that I've ever flown long haul for them), so if WOW shows up on Concur and $200 or more less than the next option, then WOW it is. But I don't know that they show up on Concur or other OTAs.

STLflyer wrote:

Well, if you think about it, the timing from Europe to US isn't all that different than what we experience going to Europe. Someone traveling London-KEF-STL will have about a 2 and a half hour flight to KEF, then a 7 hour flight to STL. On the way back, 7 hour flight followed by the short 2 and a half hour hop. If I am trying to get to London from STL and change planes in EWR, it's not really any different - about 2 hours and change to EWR, then another 7 to LHR.

My employer has no such policy on business class for long haul flights (not that I've ever flown long haul for them), so if WOW shows up on Concur and $200 or more less than the next option, then WOW it is. But I don't know that they show up on Concur or other OTAs.

Using STL-KEF-LGW as an example on WOW, you won't land in London until almost 8PM with a five hour layover in KEF. So, you lose the entire first day which is horribly inefficient. I'd much rather connect to a 5PMish direct London flight somewhere on the east coast, be able to get 6ish hours of sleep on a widebody, and have the whole day ahead of me when I land early AM. I mean, even as a leisure traveler, I'd have a hard time sacrificing an entire day. I have money, what I don't have is an abundance of paid vacation like most Americans.

The schedule does change later in the year with WOW arriving into KEF at 430 in the morning allowing to a morning connecting bank.

Be interesting to see what schedule ultimately sticks.

stlgph wrote:

The schedule does change later in the year with WOW arriving into KEF at 430 in the morning allowing to a morning connecting bank.
Be interesting to see what schedule ultimately sticks.

I hope this time doesn't stick and it goes back to the current one. No one is sleeping now on a flight that early and getting in at 4:30, if Iceland is your final stop sound pretty horrible.

Yes. It's a horrible time frame for arrival. It's similar though, to many of the Aer Lingus flights arriving in Dublin at 5 a.m. I had gone to Germany and then come back so I was already in Dublin when my friends came in, thinking they would power through it. At that time customs was a breeze and transit into downtown Dublin was nothing, they were down in Temple Bar by 6:30 a.m.

By 10 a.m. they were begging to all go back to my hotel room and cram into my one bed. It really just screws up your first day.

Jshank83 wrote:

stlgph wrote:

The schedule does change later in the year with WOW arriving into KEF at 430 in the morning allowing to a morning connecting bank.
Be interesting to see what schedule ultimately sticks.

I hope this time doesn't stick and it goes back to the current one. No one is sleeping now on a flight that early and getting in at 4:30, if Iceland is your final stop sound pretty horrible.

Hmm yeah the 4:10 departure from STL kind of sucks. I was able to work a full day on Thursday, I actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep on the flight just because it was so late, and I was able to last the whole day in Reykjavik before going to bed around 10. With a 4:10 departure, I would have had to take a half day, I wouldn't have gotten a second of sleep on the plane, and I'd have been miserable on day 1 in Iceland and probably crashed around 5 or 6 PM.

Interestingly, with the change, KEF-STL is more or less unchanged, about an hour earlier. It looks like an aircraft is overnighting and spending the whole day in STL? Is that so they can have the same crew fly both?

STLflyer wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

stlgph wrote:

The schedule does change later in the year with WOW arriving into KEF at 430 in the morning allowing to a morning connecting bank.
Be interesting to see what schedule ultimately sticks.

I hope this time doesn't stick and it goes back to the current one. No one is sleeping now on a flight that early and getting in at 4:30, if Iceland is your final stop sound pretty horrible.

Hmm yeah the 4:10 departure from STL kind of sucks. I was able to work a full day on Thursday, I actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep on the flight just because it was so late, and I was able to last the whole day in Reykjavik before going to bed around 10. With a 4:10 departure, I would have had to take a half day, I wouldn't have gotten a second of sleep on the plane, and I'd have been miserable on day 1 in Iceland and probably crashed around 5 or 6 PM.

Interestingly, with the change, KEF-STL is more or less unchanged, about an hour earlier. It looks like an aircraft is overnighting and spending the whole day in STL? Is that so they can have the same crew fly both?

I'm guessing since it is 3x instead of 4x/5x they want to use the same crew so they aren't waiting extra days. They also might not be using their planes as much in winter so and overnight isn't as big a deal.

I've done the get in at 6 am in Dublin flight. Not fun, I think I got about 30 minutes of sleep. Did a 4 hour free walking tour to help keep us awake. We pretty much always do one the first day in Europe to keep us going til a normal bedtime. Not sure Iceland has that option though.

Jshank83 wrote:

STLflyer wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

I hope this time doesn't stick and it goes back to the current one. No one is sleeping now on a flight that early and getting in at 4:30, if Iceland is your final stop sound pretty horrible.

Hmm yeah the 4:10 departure from STL kind of sucks. I was able to work a full day on Thursday, I actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep on the flight just because it was so late, and I was able to last the whole day in Reykjavik before going to bed around 10. With a 4:10 departure, I would have had to take a half day, I wouldn't have gotten a second of sleep on the plane, and I'd have been miserable on day 1 in Iceland and probably crashed around 5 or 6 PM.

Interestingly, with the change, KEF-STL is more or less unchanged, about an hour earlier. It looks like an aircraft is overnighting and spending the whole day in STL? Is that so they can have the same crew fly both?

I'm guessing since it is 3x instead of 4x/5x they want to use the same crew so they aren't waiting extra days. They also might not be using their planes as much in winter so and overnight isn't as big a deal.

I've done the get in at 6 am in Dublin flight. Not fun, I think I got about 30 minutes of sleep. Did a 4 hour free walking tour to help keep us awake. We pretty much always do one the first day in Europe to keep us going til a normal bedtime. Not sure Iceland has that option though.

What I noticed is that many of the flights that arrived around when our flight will arrive before the change will also change to a 4 am arrival, so I feel they are removing the 2nd bank for the winter since some US destinations are seasonal and some (like ours) have reduced service, so the connections to Europe won't be filled in this bank and they are consolidating into the main bank.

Well, from my experiences in Iceland, if you get in at 4:30 in the morning and really hurry it out the airport, depending on what day you come in you can make it to a bar for last call!

I've done the Dublin thing a couple times. It particularly sucks because the flight usually leaves at 7PMish and it's barely six hours long which doesn't give you much time for meaningful sleep. Then you're landing at 1 or 2AM on your body clock and you're a zombie for the first day.

Any ideas if STL will get any new routes on WN’s schedule release on May 31?