Originally Posted by
hockeyinsider
Then what about Atlanta and New York's J.F.K.? Delta has non-stop flights from those airports to Asia. The same with Los Angeles on the West Coast.
DL has n/s from these airports to
Tokyo, and that's it. DTW is also losing its utility for TPAC from the east coast. Example: HKG, which is only accessible from SEA. Departing from NYC, I could fly DL JFK-SEA-HKG, or I could take a non-stop flight on CX with better timings and service, or I could route on JL or NH (again better timings and service) if I wanted a Japan stopover. Why exactly would I fly DL on this route?
On paper, China Eastern is an option, but in practice with a hit-or-miss soft product and (even more critically) PVG as the least reliable transit option, there's just no compelling reason to stay on DL/SkyTeam for NYC based (or really most of the East Coast) TPAC travel.