dayone

I believe AA plans to eventually (read: in years) relocate to Terminal 1.

SJC ORD LDR

I've read that before as well. I think the plan was for VX to take the entirety of Terminal 2.

IStream

Or they could tell Boeing they'll take Maxs instead if they beat the price of the Neos.

beyondhere

I think AS purchased VX for it's long term viability in the West Coast, and for increased exposure in the LAX and SFO markets.

That said, I don't think this will be like the WN/FL merger, which was mostly competitor elimination.

WN eliminated FL which was a competitor in connecting traffic flows (e.g. FL selling LGA-ATL/MKE-SFO competes with WN's heartland connecting model). WN was a much more diversified carrier in markets its served and was picking FL not for considerable growth.

VX and AS have little overlap, especially with connecting traffic flow, AS is not as diversified, and AS will likely attempt to court business and high yielding traffic from the Bay Area and So. Cal. So, it would likely incorporate a better F for the transcons it will inherit. I'd have a hard time believing it paid $2.6 Billion for competition removal when that competition removal would more for the benefit of the big 3 and WN than for itself.

Worcester

There was a merger suggested in the UK with Virgin Atlantic and Easyjet (U2) to become EasyVirgin.

makfan

I think the renovated and expanded T1/B was to house AA/US, AS and WN or some combination. I was told early on that the T2 Admirals Club is temporary, though the move would be years off.

This article suggests 2024 for the new B pier (with 24 gates when completed) plus a refresh of the C pier. http://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/airport-development/t1

makfan

Currently you can use any Admirals Club with your Boardroom membership if you are flying AS or AA that day. So right now they don't have to do much of anything once the merger closes to provide access, except to amend the rules so that AA will accept VX boarding passes.

Javelin

Hopefully they'll add airside connections to Intl A and T2. I want a fully airside connected SFO so badly.

Edgerfly

I agree with those saying this is a long term deal. I picked up a ton of AS stock today because if this goes off without a hitch AS will dominate. Did you see the list of international partners this deal will come with? The amount of connecting traffic AS is gonna get from all these different airlines worldwide is obscene. On top of that, AS now controls the west, and has picked up some great West- East coast routes in the process, this has put AS on the map as a force to be reckoned with.

With their non-revenue FF program with the HUGE list of international partners, in addition to their excellent customer service that surpasses the US3 employees by 100x. AS is going to pick up A LOT of customers from the US3 who didn't pick AS because of their isolation to Seattle. Those who didn't take AS because they didn't fly to enough places are now going to start taking AS, or who were inconvenienced cause it was only really a "Seattle Airline," are going to come over.

So tons of international partners, control of the west, a huge expansion across the country to a real airline that will put a thorn in the sides of the US3, great frequent flyer program with literally every worldwide airline customers will be able to redeem on, terrific customer service, coupled with a coast to coast network? At first I thought this deal was moronic and could not understand why. But the more I ponder, I realize AS wants to become one of the big boys, and this is the perfect way to do it. The more I consider this deal, I think it was a brilliant decision.

ashill

That assumes that AS keeps all those partners (and that all those partners keep AS). And AS doesn't necessarily want more connecting traffic. Connecting traffic is great to fill out planes at perhaps a higher fare than they could get by driving local airfares way down, but local AS traffic is still the vast majority of AS's revenue and keeps the planes mostly full by itself. The root of the AS-DL fight in SEA is, as I understand it, that DL wanted to build up a long haul hub at SEA but wanted AS to provide all the feed, but AS didn't want to provide any more feed because their flights were as full as they wanted them to be already.

Remember that on (say) a LHR-SEA-ANC ticket, AS gets only a small portion of the revenue. Providing feed to long hauls operated by non-revenue sharing partner airlines is a very different economic proposition than providing feed to your own long hauls.

jdrtravel

I am not so sure that AA will want to open its SFO lounge to AS transcon customers (flying former VX routes).

Edgerfly

What airline doesn't want to fill up every one of their seats on their flights? And from what I understand, you are not correct. DL got greedy and didn't want AS providing all the feeder routes, which is why they started all this west coast traffic out of Seattle to compete directly with Alaska in Seattle. Hence the term people use, "battle in Seattle," and often refer to DL as a frienemy, which is a partnership lots are speculating will be ending.

In short, IMHO, this move is for AS to leave the "hometown" status behind and to start becoming an actual airline with a global network, and flights to almost every destination one could think of in the US so they can compete with the US3, and become one of the big boys.

Will it work out? Only time will tell but I think it will.

jdrtravel

I have remained loyal to Delta after moving to San Francisco because I just can't stand United. That being said, I would be thrilled to say goodbye to them in favor of Alaska and their superior loyalty program--if they are able to maintain an adequate level of service here. Mostly I fly to LAX and JFK, so it should be good. I have avoided VX because they simply did not have a robust enough loyalty program.

Edgerfly

THESE are exactly the customers Alaska is going to pick up, by the millions. Look out US3, there's a new sheriff in town.

Dean1

Alaska's name will be of a big disadvantage. People will think it is oddball or not even think of it.

It reminds me of airlines that fly away from their "home" area. For example, Cathay Pacific Vancouver-JFK or, at one time, Royal Air Maroc JFK-Montreal Mirabel.

There are not too good alternatives. TWA, Continental, US Airways, Pan Am, and Northwest are all owned by someone else. MarkAir and Jet America are not household names. The Braniff name could probably be bought cheaply but that name is from so long ago that it isn't worth much.