Originally Posted by
sfozrhfco
From the Bay Area, every add AS makes is going to face at least one and probably more competitors. Mint is coming to SFO/LAX-FLL in just a few months which will trash VX's yields on yet another set of transcon routes. SAN/SEA/LAS to BOS/JFK are coming soon thereafter. All those routes will lose money if seats are not being sold in the front cabins. B6 knows this as they went through many years of losses on transcon routes before realizing that they needed Mint.
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AS may decide that they need a sub-fleet of about 12 737-900ER with Mint-like seating that is not subject to free upgrades. It could be sold as J class and called any one of a number of fancy names, from Commodore Class, Royal Alaska, Expedition Class, Northern Lights Class, Aurora Class, etc. Maybe even a J class, C class, Y+ class, Y class.