Originally Posted by
BearX220
In +/- 20 years SEA has gone from sleepy to totally paralyzed / overwhelmed. DL's expansion had a lot to do with it, but so did the Port of Seattle's steadfast refusal to meet forecast traffic demand. Incredibly, with 24.8 million pax boardings in 2018, SEA now handles more pax than EWR, IAH, MSP or PHL... and more than twice as many as IAD, SAN, or SLC. Northeast traffic levels bring Northeast-style delays.
I'm very glad to have moved away from the PNW... I no longer have to cope with SEA on a weekly basis. Last time I was there the place was mobbed with standees and queues for everything and it was just a regular operating day.
While POS bears some responsibility, it is nearly impossible to predict that a major airline (DL) would decide to open a major at SEA. How on earth do you forecast that? DL simply did it because AS wouldn't sign an exclusive feeder agreement with them. Again, is that part of any forecasting algorithm? And, to their credit, POS is building out or is proposing to build out, all the solutions that were developed conceptually YEARS ago. SEA is landlocked and it's not like there are tons of options for expansion there.