By KAREN VELIE
The San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport has brought back direct flights to and from Las Vegas.
The direct flights provide quick transportation for San Luis Obispo County residents wanting to spend time in Las Vegas. During the summer, Central Coast beaches are a popular destination for those wanting to escape the heat in Las Vegas.
Alaska Airlines is offering direct one-way flights starting at $89.
Vegas is dying… the strip is empty… no one wants to go…. everything costs too much and the casinos are rigged… and the buffets are gone…
Went to Vegas in 2000. Had an outstanding bacon cheeseburger, fries, and drink for $1.80 at the Palace Station on the way OOT. We had to tip the waitress more than the bill to not feel cheap. The brunch buffet at the Mirage was around $25 but still worth it.
Those days are over… that was nearly 6 years ago….
I’m confused. I tried to book a one-way flight from SLO to Vegas, on Alaska, for Thursday, leaving at 2:14pm. The Alaska website calculator and booking, quotes $314 for the cheap seats, $394 for 1st class.
Or, I could leave at 6:00am, and transfer planes in San Diego, for $349, while sitting in the cargo hold. Apparently, the “saver” package is worse than the cheap seats, but $564 will get me a steak dinner, a nice Merlot, recliner seat, hot towels, separate lavatory, and dancing girls.
Who am I kidding! They don’t serve steak on short flights anymore! And, most certainly not for an $89 flight!
So, yeah. This will end like every other attempt by SBP to have regular flights to Vegas.
$242 RT was the cheapest I saw for dates at the end of the month. Not terrible, but still about $100 more than Allegiant out of Santa Maria. And SMX has free parking.
Drive to the Santa Maria. Flights on Allegiant start at $44 and parking is free. https://www.allegiantair.com
New York Times: “Decreased consumer confidence, a Canadian travel boycott and the fallout from tariffs have contributed to declines in tourism to Vegas” Aka; the maga effect. I heard it’s a ghost town.
Or, they priced themselves out of consideration. The “good old days” of Vegas, got you a $5 all-you-can-eat buffet, $25 weekend rooms, free parking anywhere, and well known people for extravagant stage shows.
Now? No buffet without a MC “Black” card, cheap rooms in the hundreds, parking is added to your bill, along with numerous other “gratuities”. The downtown is more a circus than Circus Circus. And, the strip is now roughly 10 miles long…not so much fun to walk that. No more of the staple of stage shows, recording artist powerhouses, but ventriloquists and lounge acts. The most entertainment you will get, are the Bellagio fountains. The current greatest thing, is a massive video show. I’m not going to Vegas to watch a computer screen.
Yeah, the bloom is off Vegas. It’s tired, and long past it’s prime.
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