Just as I was lamenting the hefty price tag on a nonstop United Airlines flight to Las Vegas, the travel gods have responded: Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is starting two new routes from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Beginning Oct. 4, Spirit will offer daily nonstop service between IAH and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and between IAH and Las Vegas.
Both routes will see a shift in operations in early November, though the Houston-Chicago route will remain nearly the same (departing early morning from Houston; departing early evening from Chicago).
But starting Nov. 8, the Houston-Vegas schedule is a bit tougher to reconcile: The Houston flight will depart at 10:35 p.m. daily and the Las Vegas flight at 1 a.m., so of course passengers will be boarding the plane foggy from exhaustion or, more likely, still intoxicated.
Talk about a red eye?
Spirit only recently announced its foray into the Houston travel scene, with twice-daily nonstop flight from IAH to DFW beginning Sept. 20, but the jury is still out on whether its "ultra low base fares" will be able to compete with the customer loyalty built by Southwest Airlines.
