'twas Breeze flying to Westchester from Vero Beach, but airports face growing pains

If I hadn’t checked a bag and rented a car, I could have gone from breakfast at home to lunch at my former hometown pizza parlor in about four hours.

It would have been a breeze.

No taking 90 minutes to 2 hours to get to one of south or central Florida’s larger airports, where I'd wait an additional 2 hours, just in case.

No chance I’d miss a connecting flight in Atlanta or Charlotte.

No spending more than $100 in gasoline and wear and tear driving to and from an airport ― and no parking fees for the nearly 11 days I was gone.

The $369 I spent on a round-trip ticket from Vero Beach to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, was well worth it. I could have flown for $228, but Breeze Airways offered me a bundle, including checked and carry-on bags, early boarding and a better seat.

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Heading north in mid-November means carrying multiple layers of clothing, so I bit.

Having lived here almost 39 years ― and having seen airline carriers come and go, mostly on small planes to places like Orlando and Miami ― I never would have expected a trip like the one I had.

In early 2015, I initially thought Eric Menger, then the city’s airport director, and Remy Lucette, a Miami-based consultant working on an airport plan, were unrealistic in projecting Vero Beach could attract an airline.

At the time, Melbourne International Airport had only six daily departures, on Delta and American. Vero Beach hadn’t had commercial airline service since February 1996, when American Eagle ended three daily flights to Miami.

The only hope I saw was a strategy the rapidly growing Allegiant Air had pioneered, flying 166-seat planes between underserved airports and offering low fares with upgrade charges. I’d taken trips between airports in Sanford and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Knoxville, Tennessee — so the strategy made lots of sense.

At the time, I cited a 1998 master plan projecting the number of airline passengers flying through the city increasing to 8,400 in 2000 and 24,600 by 2020.

Is there really demand in Vero Beach area for commercial service?

“They (passenger projections) were nowhere close,” I wrote, as that 2000 number was zero. “In 1998 and 2005, Menger was quoted in this newspaper as saying passenger service on the Treasure Coast was very unlikely anytime soon.”

Last month, however, Todd Scher, Menger’s successor, announced Breeze, which began service into Vero Beach in February, averaged about 5,200 passengers a month through September and planned to increase flights from 42 in September to 85 or more by the end of the year.

I can understand why.

For any of the estimated 1.3 million people living within 50 miles of Vero Beach hoping to fly from a tiny airport into secondary airports in Westchester, Hartford, Connecticut; Islip, New York, or Providence, Rhode Island, the proposition is attractive.

(I hestitate letting the secret out, because Vero Beach’s waiting and baggage claim areas, slated to be increased, are not big enough to handle one full Breeze flight comfortably. Westchester, with only five gates, can be uncomfortably crowded when flights are backed up.)

Breeze's online reservation and free flight change processes were as easy as I’ve seen ― and I had been a big Southwest fan.

Text or email messages ― even the one telling me I should arrive at least two hours early to the airport (Was there massive construction in Vero Beach I didn’t know about?) — were helpful. It was a snap for me to get my electronic boarding pass into my Apple wallet.

It didn’t matter I left my house a few minutes late and the standard 4-mile, 7-minute trip took 17 minutes because of morning commuter traffic on 27th Avenue. It took five minutes to check my bag and get through security an hour before flight time.

Passengers cite pros, cons of flying VRB

Then I found almost every seat taken, with folks standing against walls and seated on some out-of-the-way floors.

Like John and Liza Zegarelli, newer Vero Beach residents headed to Putnam Valley on their sixth Breeze flight who had a spot on the floor by the restrooms with a Jack Russell terrier service dog.

"It's convenient, but they need to do something with the airport," said John Zegarelli, an Operation Desert Storm veteran and New York Police Department retiree. "They need more seating."

Ronnie Vitti, a resident of Ocean Breeze near Jensen Beach, had a seat, waiting for his 20th Breeze flight. He raved about the airport and service, which he uses to commute for business, having moved to Florida in part because of unaffordable taxes in New York.

"This airport is the best," he said, adding he has paid less than $150 round trip. "It's the smallest. It's the nicest. Breeze is great. ... (but) it's going to get crowded. ... They're going to have to have more planes coming.

"There's nothing like it," he said of his easy 45-minute drive to the airport, free parking and no long walk from the garage to the gate. "There's no waiting. But you know it's going to change when people find out about it."

Luckly, it was a nice day and we headed outside and onto the tarmac and up a covered ramp and into the plane, which was about three-quarters full.

I easily stowed my luggage in the overhead compartment of the new Airbus A220, then was blown away when I sat in the emergency aisle seat I'd selected online. It seemed wider than any seat I've ever had, even the one time when I got bumped to first class. And leg room? Fully stretched out, I could not reach the seat in front of me.

I was alone in a row of three seats, and started chatting with an older couple who had the two seats to my left. He used a holder on the tray table to keep his larger iPad upright so he could read the newspaper.

Ease of flying between two smaller airports

(They were snowbirds to Vero Beach who live in Manhattan. They find it convenient to take an Uber from the Westchester airport to the White Plains train station, which takes them to New York City.)

Having never flown out of Vero Beach on a commercial airline, on takeoff I enjoyed trying to find locations on the ground. Landing in Westchester is neat, too, coming over water, then seeing estates, mansions and golf courses to the left and right.

It was crowded in Westchester, 33 miles from Times Square, and it took a little longer than expected to get my car rental.

On the way back, returning the car was easy. The line to drop off my bag was short. Breeze then had me deliver it to a waiting area, where shorthanded airport workers organized bags to run through Transportation Security Administration screening.

Around the corner, I was third in the TSA pre-check line. Once past security, it was even more crowded than in Vero Beach, as a few flights (not ours) had been delayed.

The flight home was almost full, but just as comfortable.

Weather cooperated for outdoor baggage claim

It was a nice day when we arrived, but I can only imagine what might happen in inclement weather. You head from the tarmac inside the hallway toward C.J. Cannon's restaurant, then take a right through the restaurant's two former banquet rooms and out to the front of the terminal.

But if you have a checked bag, you are shepherded to a waiting area to the north and east of the restaurant and must wait until bags are put on carts and unloaded onto a cement area just south of the tarmac fence opposite the walkway to the terminal and Cannon's.

Passengers were patient and orderly as we lined up to get them, but it was a little clunky in good weather.

Breeze makes it easy to forget about Elite Airways, which served the city for several years starting in 2015. Elite operated smaller planes, such as 50- to 80-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets they flew to Newark Liberty International Airport, a massive airport a short bus ride from Manhattan.

You can't even compare Elite's CRJs to Breeze's new A-220s.

I like Breeze's Allegiant-like strategy of using smaller, underserved airports ― even with limited flights — but using new planes. I'd hoped Breeze would fly from Vero Beach to Evansville, Indiana, which has a beautiful, small airport within three hours of several major cities. Instead, it will start flying there from Orlando in February.

Saving the expense and time of driving and waiting for three or four hours before a flight is huge. We don't need too many more flights from Vero Beach, even Melbourne (and in the future Treasure Coast International Airport in Fort Pierce), but they certainly are convenient.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.

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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Breeze Airways Vero Beach to White Plains route convenient, comfortable