Originally Posted by
smilinganddialing
AY connection timings are often awful or AA and AY have not coordinated at all on the AA-metal ORD - HEL seasonal route as it does not really serve US - HEL - Asia very well. Some examples:
a) DEL - 11h 40 min outbound, 23h 10 min on return
b) PEK (although one could just do ORD - PEK nonstop) - 9h 35min outbound, 24h 5 min return
c) BKK - 8h 40min outbound, 23h 10 min return
d) CKG - 9h 10 min outbound, 24h 25min return
So much for winning transit business to Asia. AY is missing a strong opportunity here given how uncompetitive BA is on pricing between US - Asia and basically giving all OW traffic to QR.
That is my whole point. The only OW partner treated decently by AA is BA to the detriment of the others. Although 2-connection itineraries are routinely displayed by AA for flights as short as US-Europe, you will never see a connection to India (as an example) offered as AA/QR/QR. While QR certainly finds many advantages in its OW membership due to its global network, good service and competitive prices, I see no such benefits for AY. Passengers definitely lose AY's former attractive fares. AFAIK, all these Alliance immunities should be revoked by the DOJ, as experience shows how detrimental they are to the consumer. If what I read above is true, I cannot wait to see RJ's pricing on JFK-VIE as a gateway to Eastern Europe, hopefully with the help of AB and/or S7