Originally Posted by
ucdtim17
Originally was just talking about OAK, but threw SJC in there without rewriting. WN applies to both, but SJC has been more successful than OAK recently with other airlines. It's further away from SFO so less of a direct competitor. The flip side of that is it has a smaller population base to draw from than SFO/OAK but the distance from SFO + close proximity to lots of big tech companies has fueled growth there. It's possible to imagine a counterfactual where the northward movement of the tech boom this cycle benefits OAK more relative to SJC but that hasn't been the case. Maybe next time.
A perhaps unexpected but beneficial consequence of what you've described is the advent of the lovely JetsuiteX service from OAK (and CCR). Not earning miles or points (save a paltry sprinkling of B6 points) on this service is worth every centavo, several times over.
DL is trying year-round OAK/ATL again, albeit at a sucky time to start. Hopefully it will stick more permanently, with some frequency, or at least same day connections to the east and to 'the world.' Right now, we're pretty much hosed for "one stop to the world" service on a non-WN major carrier (and even with major alliance partnerships).