Originally Posted by Longboater

First and foremost, per anything from SFO to the South Pacific, while the LA Basin might have larger demand and geographical more ideal for connections, it is better to be the big fish in the smaller pond than the small fish in the bigger pond. UA has NO daytime competition to PPT from SFO. DL did with Air Tahiti Nui. French Bee's thrice weekly SFO-PPT departs in the evening and flies back to SFO in the morning from PPT, getting in early evening at SFO. French Bee has no US partners and has 10 abreast on the A359. DL also operated LAX-PPT in conjunction with AF's five times weekly LAX-PPT, although it flies in a similar schedule to French Bee, thus limiting connections at the LAX end. DL operated a 76K, the 767-300ER that had 26 seats in D1 and 18 in PS, on LAX-PPT, which was not their initial plan as French Polynesia denied their request for a A339neo as the aircraft was too large. French Polynesia limits the seats coming into PPT due to limited rooms available on the island of Tahiti since arrival flights are either too late for connections, as UA's does and DL's did, or arrive early in the morning. LAX-PPT needs 240 ETOPS as does SFO-PPT for that matter, in order to stay shortest route to PPT. Yeah, flying in the South Pacific is that remote. Since DL's 767-300ERs do not have 240 minute ETOPS, the plane had to fly closer to Hawai'i to remain with 180 minute ETOPS. That added extra flying time and as we know, extra flying time can turn a marginal route into a route that is quite unprofitable. (The A339neo is eligible for 240 minute ETOPS and would have not had this issue.) DL's LAX operation just isn't the same as UA's SFO operation and the connections are much fewer going to and from PPT. UA's schedule works really week as it allows for the morning flights from the East Coast to connect to PPT and then late morning/early afternoon flights back to the East Coast. Then there is the issue with capacity as Air Tahiti Nui, French Bee, and UA have expanded/entered the PPT market and Delta was the last entrant. There are way too many seats flying into PPT, which is partly why UA downgauged this past NW to a 788 and dropped their Sunday flight. Lastly, DL never operated this flight during peak season and while they extended flying all the way to June 7, which suggests they were somewhat successful with French Polynesian authorities in flying into the beginning of peak season, they were unable to fly during the busy season. Combination of all of this is why DL is stopping LAX-PPT in two months. DL blinked and AF is compensating by going daily on LAX-PPT, including during off-peak season. DL is still selling tickets to PPT as French Polynesia is in the AF-DL JV, but its entirely on AF metal now. Credit to UA for refusing to budge and eliminating their chief competitor on this route.