Originally Posted by
tsillanman
...Second, look at YVR,YLW,YEG and YYC. Delta has 3 out of those 4. and has signed a new expanded partnership with Westjet. This gives those Canadian customers a loyalty program that covers all of Canada, plus all Delta destinations . When the program takes full effect in one year, you'll likely see AS/QX fade from those markets as Delta and Westjet offer tons of Eastbound departures from those cities without the need to detour through SEA. Combine that with WJ expanded ns frequency to California destinations, and AS might be ceding those markets to Delta/WJ. AAG seems to not care as their strategy seems centered on the Virgin "opportunity" with less regard for current destination that feed traffic. Time will tell if this is a viable strategy.
I have a few itineraries on QX for next year that have already had major sked changes as AS has cancelled the QX morning flight outta YYC, thus killing most of the same day connections to east coast.
From 4xdaily to just 2xdaily and not even a morning flight anymore and tons of connections now no longer possible (without a forced overnight in SEA at least) and DL is a far more attractive option out of YYC.
The new JV with WS and DL will be interesting for sure. But certainly AS has gone from being a major player in Western Canada to a much more diminished position.