What is the most obscure domestic (air) route in the US?
March 2, 2026
Bored so I felt I might as well ask this. What are some obscure domestic routes that used to exist or still exist? Would also like to hear from older people in this sub, I'm interested in aviation history in general
29 comments
Colorado Springs to Denver. Takes about an hour and 30 to drive there. 70 miles apart.
Look up the Essential Air Service. A lot of those routes are purely political and serve single digit or less passengers a day.
The flight between Parkersburg WV and Beckley WV. They both get flights to Charlotte on Contour Airlines through the Essential Air Service, so Contour chained them together to save money.
I have a good buddy in Anchorage who mentioned this supply route out of Seatak I think it is, that uses kind of large planes on short runways. Man – those Alaskan pilots remind me of MacGuyver’s good buddy Jack Dalton lol. You gotta be crazy!
Minneapolis, MN to Bemidji, MN. I have a friend who lives up there. He flies out of that airport a lot.
Between Friday Harbor and Boeing Field, Washington state. Operated by Alaska air
Lancaster (PA) has some weird ones. There are regular commuter flights on prop planes to Dulles and Pittsburgh, which are pretty easy drives. You can book a flight on American (I think it’s American) that connects to anywhere from Lancaster, but the first leg is actually a bus that takes you from the Lancaster airport to the Philadelphia airport.
If you live in Naknek, Alaska there is a 50/50 chance you have to take a plane to school instead of a bus.
Now I’m not saying that’s the answer necessarily, but I am saying the answer is definitely in Alaska.
Look up the essential air service. They have flights to very obscure places
The most obscure one I’ve used was Bentonville, AR to Gulfport, MS.
Mke to ORD
Is JANET still around?
(Just Another Non-existent Terminal)
I once flew from Detroit to Elmira NY. Weirdest one I’ve done.
According to 30 Rock, black Bachelorette parties fly from Newark to Atlantic City.
I used to take a flight from Albuquerque to Silver City, NM on a semi-regular basis. I was the only person on it a handful of times
I just enjoy thinking about the Seattle-Anchorage route. If you check out that domestic air route, there’s almost a flight every hour, 24 hours a day, doing that route. Since it really is the bus that connects Alaska with the lower 48 if you’re not driving or taking the ferry with your car. You step into the Anchorage airport and 80% of the gates are all just to Seattle at different departure times. You walk into certain terminals of SEA, and its all Anchorage flights.
Honolulu to Anchorage
Fayetteville, NC to Raleigh-Durham. 60 miles, 80 miles by car and the military would rather fly us out of there than load up the vans or busses that we already had and drive us there.
Charlevoix to Beaver Island Michigan, actually flown by two different airlines to two separate airports on Beaver Island! [Here’s a YouTube review. ](https://youtu.be/cz0Mi7857QY?si=r00t3LhOQktMarBL)
Avelo offers service between Wilmington, North Carolina and Wilmington, Delaware.
Old United route from 1972 that may interest you:
The airplane would depart SFO for SJC and then SJC to OAK picking up passengers on the way before continuing on to their destination
Only part of it is in the US proper but the Island Hopper” is famous in aviation circles but relatively unknown outside of it. It is served by United three times a week and a back-up mechanic flies with the plan. The is route from Honolulu, Hawaii, Majuro (Marshall Islands), Kwajalein Atoll US Military base (Marshall Islands and the rules about who can disembark or window shades up are strict), Kosrae (not every trip), Pohnpei, and Chuuk with those three in the Federated States of Micronesia. Lastly it ends in Guam.
The Marshall Islands and FSM are separate countries but because of the Compact of Free Association, their citizens can live and work in the US and of course Guam and Hawaii are part of the US,
I like Wilmington to Wilmington.
Offered by Avelo between Wilmington, NC (ILM) and Wilmington,DE (ILG)
Edit… maybe it’s not really obscure as it’s a fairly successful route with 737s, but it’s one that based on both endpoints having the same name is a little odd.
The most obscure routes I know of was Midland to Amarillo with a stop in Dallas.
Or Las Vegas to Midland with a stop in Dallas.
It’s not really obscure per se, but BOS-HNL stands out as one of the world’s longest domestic routes.
The “flight” between Houston Intercontinental (IAH) and Beaumont is actually a bus.
29 comments
Colorado Springs to Denver. Takes about an hour and 30 to drive there. 70 miles apart.
there’s the [Alaska Milk Run](https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/the-milk-run-flight/) which connects small cities in Alaska that don’t have roads
Look up the Essential Air Service. A lot of those routes are purely political and serve single digit or less passengers a day.
The flight between Parkersburg WV and Beckley WV. They both get flights to Charlotte on Contour Airlines through the Essential Air Service, so Contour chained them together to save money.
I have a good buddy in Anchorage who mentioned this supply route out of Seatak I think it is, that uses kind of large planes on short runways. Man – those Alaskan pilots remind me of MacGuyver’s good buddy Jack Dalton lol. You gotta be crazy!
Minneapolis, MN to Bemidji, MN. I have a friend who lives up there. He flies out of that airport a lot.
Between Friday Harbor and Boeing Field, Washington state. Operated by Alaska air
Lancaster (PA) has some weird ones. There are regular commuter flights on prop planes to Dulles and Pittsburgh, which are pretty easy drives. You can book a flight on American (I think it’s American) that connects to anywhere from Lancaster, but the first leg is actually a bus that takes you from the Lancaster airport to the Philadelphia airport.
If you live in Naknek, Alaska there is a 50/50 chance you have to take a plane to school instead of a bus.
Now I’m not saying that’s the answer necessarily, but I am saying the answer is definitely in Alaska.
Look up the essential air service. They have flights to very obscure places
The most obscure one I’ve used was Bentonville, AR to Gulfport, MS.
Mke to ORD
Is JANET still around?
(Just Another Non-existent Terminal)
I once flew from Detroit to Elmira NY. Weirdest one I’ve done.
According to 30 Rock, black Bachelorette parties fly from Newark to Atlantic City.
I used to take a flight from Albuquerque to Silver City, NM on a semi-regular basis. I was the only person on it a handful of times
There’s the Kenmore Air floatplane scheduled flights to the San Juan islands that are only reachable via ferry or plane. https://kenmoreair.com/scheduled-flights/
I just enjoy thinking about the Seattle-Anchorage route. If you check out that domestic air route, there’s almost a flight every hour, 24 hours a day, doing that route. Since it really is the bus that connects Alaska with the lower 48 if you’re not driving or taking the ferry with your car. You step into the Anchorage airport and 80% of the gates are all just to Seattle at different departure times. You walk into certain terminals of SEA, and its all Anchorage flights.
Honolulu to Anchorage
Fayetteville, NC to Raleigh-Durham. 60 miles, 80 miles by car and the military would rather fly us out of there than load up the vans or busses that we already had and drive us there.
Charlevoix to Beaver Island Michigan, actually flown by two different airlines to two separate airports on Beaver Island! [Here’s a YouTube review. ](https://youtu.be/cz0Mi7857QY?si=r00t3LhOQktMarBL)
Avelo offers service between Wilmington, North Carolina and Wilmington, Delaware.
Old United route from 1972 that may interest you:
The airplane would depart SFO for SJC and then SJC to OAK picking up passengers on the way before continuing on to their destination
[United SFO/SJC/OAK Timetable 1972](https://www.departedflights.com/UA060172p38.html)
[Entire United Time Table from 1972](https://www.departedflights.com/UA060172intro.html)
Only part of it is in the US proper but the Island Hopper” is famous in aviation circles but relatively unknown outside of it. It is served by United three times a week and a back-up mechanic flies with the plan. The is route from Honolulu, Hawaii, Majuro (Marshall Islands), Kwajalein Atoll US Military base (Marshall Islands and the rules about who can disembark or window shades up are strict), Kosrae (not every trip), Pohnpei, and Chuuk with those three in the Federated States of Micronesia. Lastly it ends in Guam.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Hopper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Hopper)
The Marshall Islands and FSM are separate countries but because of the Compact of Free Association, their citizens can live and work in the US and of course Guam and Hawaii are part of the US,
I like Wilmington to Wilmington.
Offered by Avelo between Wilmington, NC (ILM) and Wilmington,DE (ILG)
Edit… maybe it’s not really obscure as it’s a fairly successful route with 737s, but it’s one that based on both endpoints having the same name is a little odd.
The most obscure routes I know of was Midland to Amarillo with a stop in Dallas.
Or Las Vegas to Midland with a stop in Dallas.
It’s not really obscure per se, but BOS-HNL stands out as one of the world’s longest domestic routes.
The “flight” between Houston Intercontinental (IAH) and Beaumont is actually a bus.
Fort Collins, CO non-stop to Rockford, IL.
Unsurprisingly, it no longer exists.