Originally Posted by
ethernal
I think that's a bit of a stretch. You basically have 4 carriers offering lie-flat transcon service to the same destination. I agree that JFK is not interchangeable with EWR, but it is pretty close to being the case - and if anything, EWR may be more desirable for most of the market in question (if you're going to midtown Manhattan, the commute times are comparable; if you're going to Downtown, EWR is favorable - the only benefit is that JFK has better subway connectivity, but people flying D1 transcons are likely using a car service unless they are landing in the middle of rush hour).
Discounting B9 - when they have the best hard product on the route - seems silly.
The pricing on this route concurs with my assessment. You can get a $1300 round-trip fare on this route even during a peak Monday-Thursday commute if you do a 30-day advanced purchase. Admittedly not the same thing, but that's what I pay for my 7-day advanced Economy bookings on shorter routes. That tells me there is plenty of competition.
NYC-SFO/LAX is extremely competitive, I concur. The major carriers tend to price match to a certain extent in both cabins (I'm not sure how many people here check on ITA or Google Flights for competitors as many of you are "wedded" to DL for earning). I think that's why I was so surprised at getting a poor experience; carriers deploy decent products on this 5-6 hour flight and are quite aggressive at attracting marginal business with admittedly good pricing in premium cabins.