A New Frontier Airlines Route Is One More Reason to Visit Cleveland
Cleveland does, indeed, rock.
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Currently, it is neither inexpensive nor convenient to travel from Houston to Cleveland.
A non-stop flight on United costs around $400. A Southwest flight is a little cheaper, by a few bucks, but requires you to make a very inconvenient stop in Baltimore. The least expensive, Delta, at around $300, requires a layover in the horrorshow that is the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As such, most Houstonians lack an affordable and accessible means of visiting the city that Drew Carey has assured us, on no less than 233 occasions, "rocks."
This changes on May 22, when Frontier Airlines introduces a new non-stop route from Houston to Cleveland. The flight departs at 9:05 a.m. from Houston and arrives in Cleveland at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Return flights take place on those same days, leaving Cleveland at 6 a.m. and arriving in Houston just past 8 a.m.
The Cleveland Museum of Art was established "for the benefit of all the people forever," meaning it's totally free.
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Frontier is offering an introductory fare of $49 each way for the flight, as long as you book your tickets between April 21 and June 6, for a total round-trip cost of around $100. Even factoring in Frontier's notoriously stingy baggage policy—which charges customers between $30 and $60 for carry-on luggage, and the same for your first checked bag—that's still cheaper than any other airline. And if you're worried about cramped seating on the Frontier flight (another valid concern), look at it this way: You're only on the plane for three hours. You can do this.
Because once you're in Cleveland, you've got a lot to do: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, quite obviously, which just finally inducted both Pearl Jam and the Jeff Lynne-led group ELO this year; West Side Market, the 105-year-old foodie wonderland housed in an enormous Neo-Classical/Byzantine building with room for 100 stalls inside and another 85 outside; the Cleveland Museum of Art, which houses an extensive international collection and, thanks to free admission, remains one of the most-visited art museums in the world; and the iconic Great Lakes Brewing Company, which became Ohio's first microbrewery upon opening in 1988.
You can find any ingredient imaginable at the West Side Market.
You can also visit the house from A Christmas Story, gorge on real-deal old-school Italian in Cleveland's historic Little Italy or catch a performance by one of the Big Five orchestras in one of the world's most gorgeous symphony halls. And as of May 22, you can do it all without having to visit Baltimore or Atlanta first.
