They are going after the same customers. NWA style of management is to push everyone out of a hub once you go in there.

 

Well if that is the case then everything Delta management has stated about the buildup in SEA has been false. They have even placed a bunch of aircraft orders to support the false business plan! Going to have to cancel those soon!

 

Exactly, actually I'd rather be on a Delta 75 or 73 with the new seat back screens than a new Alaska 737 with nothing. Why would they order brand new airplanes to fly transcon/Hawaii routes and not put in-flight entertainment in them? For business flyers Alaska doesn't have the network to compete with Delta. I'm afraid Alaska is fighting a losing battle.

 

Wait, I don't get it, what are you saying? It sounds like you two are arguing the same thing. Or are you saying the build up in SEA is only wide-bodies and there are no plans to grow SEA domestically??

 

No, you will need them for a major demographic shift in this country. Three reasons:
1. Student loan debt is about to be bailed out, freeing up capital. Those kids want to travel instead of buying cars, and homes.
2. Asia economies are teetering on the brink.
3. The Latin American push here in America; Amnesty, and shifting work from China to South America.

These items will suddenly introduce 100+ million new customers going south, instead of to Asia.

The world is changing Sailing. As a business customer with Delta, I have recently been forced to fly American, and it's annoying the hell out of me. My business to China has shrunk 90%, only to be more than replaced with 7000% growth in SA. Also, China tries to hack my computers almost daily to steal intellectual property. All the business owners I talk to have had it with them.

 

Good point.

What do businessmen/women want todo with thier rewards/miles? Fly to Boise or Paris.

 

I hope you are right about South America.

WRT China, they have over 1 Billion cell phone users. They have severe travel restrictions to the United States.

Those restrictions are slowly eroding.

What do those 1 billion cell phone users have in common? They all want to visit the United States. They call the the United States "Meiguo" which means "beautiful country".

The growth coming between the U.S. and China is just getting warmed up.

 

To have a successful international route you have to feed it from both ends. Alaska was the plan for SEA. They chose a different direction. We will now feed it internally. It's not a shift in the business plan, it's executing the business plan. That means both narrow body and widebody growth in SEA. Delta's yields in SEA are second only to ATL system wide. So far there seems to be no issue of to much capacity there. I think Delta and Alaska can coexist there just fine!

 

Actually, it is an ignorant point ... But most of those folks with the Alaska Airlines credit cards and mileage plans already know this ...

I did some secret research and found this within the bowels of the alaskaair.com website ...

Partner Awards are valid using any of our Partner Airlines. Our new Mix and Match Awards allow you to use one partner in one direction, and another partner coming back. And most of our partners even allow one-way bookings. Availability is limited, so you'll want to plan ahead, especially for summer or holiday travel.

Book Partner Awards online for travel on:

American Airlines
Aeromexico
Air France
British Airways
Delta Air Lines
Emirates
Fiji Airways
KLM
Korean Air
PenAir
Qantas
Ravn Alaska

As Sailingfun said, I think the future for SEA is for coexistence. Now, Juneau, on the other hand, is a different story. Can't wait to see how the summer shapes up there, especially as the Localizer is turned off until early July, and we are landing on the taxiway. (Just got back from there an hour ago.). Safe travels to all my DAL (and DAL as operated by SkyWest) buddies who will fly southeast this summer!

 

Just asking the question, but will Alaska points get you business/first class on those partners?