Whatever happened to nonstop L.A. flights?

For Gil Hanna, an Upper St. Clair business traveler who takes an average of three trips a month to Los Angeles, time makes all the difference.

	How long to L.A.? How many extra hours does a connection involve on a US Airways flight to Los Angeles? According to schedules on the airline's Web site, its nonstop flights from PIT are scheduled into LAX at a few minutes over five hours. On the quickest connecting itineraries (through Phoenix or Las Vegas), total travel time averages at least two hours longer. Making connections in Charlotte adds about three hours to the trip; in Philadelphia, four hours.

He's director of engineering for GlobeCast America, a communications company, and he spends a lot of time away from home. Mr. Hanna is among many local travelers who are questioning why US Airways stopped offering its daily 8:40 a.m. nonstop to LAX -- leaving only one daily direct flight between the two cities.

Apart from the inconvenience, he says, how could the airline cancel a flight that in his estimation "was nearly always at capacity"?

The answer is simple, according to US Airways. Flight 1401 wasn't canceled, only "seasonally adjusted." An airline spokesman explained that the aircraft would temporarily be reassigned to other markets "to increase profitability." Flight 1410, which vanished on Jan. 6, is scheduled to resume on May 7.

The same change was made to Flight 1573, one of US Airway's two daily nonstops to San Francisco. Previously, the carrier had eliminated all of its nonstop service from Pittsburgh to San Diego and Seattle. No other airlines offer any direct flights between Pittsburgh and West Coast markets.

This means that at least until early May, local travelers heading to the West Coast have access to only two daily, round-trip, nonstops, a 6:10 p.m. departure to Los Angeles (Flight 1445) and a 6:15 p.m. departure to San Francisco.

Both nonstop return trips -- Flight 1454 from Los Angeles and Flight 1485 from San Francisco -- are red-eyes, which depart late in the evening and arrive here about 6 a.m.

Every other flight option for the next five months will involve making at least one connection, which adds between two to more than four hours to any traveler's day, depending on where planes are changed.

"It becomes a huge problem for me," Mr. Hanna said. "Every extra hour I spend traveling is taken from either my business time or family time. Having to make a connection changes everything."

On average, making a connection adds two to four hours to a one-way trip from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles. In addition to the extra time, connecting flights greatly increase the odds of misdirected checked luggage and mid-trip delays. They make quick weekend getaways more problematic and any journey across the Pacific journey that requires a connection in San Francisco or Los Angeles more arduous. Ditto for trips to and from West Coast cruise embarkation ports.

Even more alarming is the perception that, coupled with the loss of virtually all nonstop international service from Pittsburgh, these seasonal adjustments make southwestern Pennsylvania considerably less convenient for business travelers and their employers.

And it's not an unprecedented situation. According to Ken Zapinski, Allegheny Conference senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure, "US Airways made the same seasonal changes last winter. In fact, last winter's change was even worse, taking San Francisco flights from twice daily to as low as four times a week in March. So, while we're not happy with the development, it's nothing new. "

Undoubtedly, travelers have adjusted to the new realities of commercial aviation, the necessity of making connections and security hassles.

Or maybe they haven't.

"I told US Airways I had worked to maintain my Platinum status," Mr. Hanna explained. "Only to be surprised to discover my favorite flight was being discontinued. They didn't seem to care. If I have to make a connection to get to Los Angeles anyway, Southwest becomes an attractive option."

The good news is that for now, nonstop possibilities from Pittsburgh to other destinations remain fairly stable.

As of October 2006 (the most recent month for which statistics are available), we can still fly nonstop from Pittsburgh International to airports in the United States as well as to Toronto, Cancun and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (thus the International part of its name).

Over the past 18 months, Pittsburgh has lost direct service to Altoona, Blair County; Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg, W.Va.; and Knoxville, Tenn., along with Seattle and San Diego. On the flip side, the city has gained nonstop flights to Hagerstown, Md., and Kansas City, Mo.

And as Mr. Zapinski noted, " Maintaining robust, nonstop service to the West Coast remains a key priority of the Regional Air Service Partnership."

Also, average air fares to many destinations have dropped, especially in those markets where there is competition among carriers offering direct service -- New York, Philadelphia, Orlando, Chicago and Atlanta.

And Los Angeles?

Even though there is no other nonstop service to the West Coast, US Airways is offering seven-day advance purchase, economy-class rates for as low as $119 each way, plus taxes and fees (which incidentally are lower on nonstop itineraries than those with connections).

Even more curious, the lowest fares offered are those associated with the nonstop, evening rush-hour departures, while connecting flights that can take almost twice as long round trip run as high as $169 for a connection in Philadelphia!

Can US Airways be charging us both by the minute and the mile, as if we wanted to spend more of both with them?

Go figure.