Originally Posted by
ucdtim17
WN is a good airline and there are some benefits to having their level of service at OAK but the alternative of two airlines competing for the market is certainly more attractive.
More attractive to whom? Certainly not any airlines. Any airline would prefer to dominate an airport and have a smattering of minor competitors. OAK used to be dominated by UA before WN came in. UA even had flights from SFO to OAK. Shuttle by United was not profitable and UA folded and handed over the place to WN. It used to be the "low cost" alternative airport in the Bay Area. B6 started flights to the Bay Area through OAK as have others. Then airlines figured out that SFO was the place to be to stay competitive. Barring the collapse of WN, AS is just not going to have anything other than a token presence at OAK. It is just not all that important. People that are brand loyal will make the trek to another Bay Area airport. Those that aren't are probably not profitable for them anyway, so no great loss. Each airline has limited resources. No sense in throwing money down the drain by trying to outdo the dominant carrier at an airport when you have a substantial operation at two other airports which are not that far away.