Why Does Anyone Fly Alaska? (Including Rants)
#91
Moderator: Chase Ultimate Rewards
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 2P, MR LT Plat, IHG Plat, BW Dia, HH Au, Avis PC
Posts: 5,455
Trying so hard to stay loyal...
For whatever it's worth, as a PM AS MVP Gold, with a lot of California travel, I'm finding it nearly impossible to stay loyal on a practical basis, in the sense that there are no flights on the routes I need!
When I became elite 3 or 4 years ago, it was easy. I would take AS for PNW travel and take Delta or American for anything else.
Then we lost Delta but American was still good enough.
And then Alaska started cutting its own and VX's non-stop routes from SFO.
This year alone, I've needed to fly to DEN, MSP, and OMA - routes either AS or VX used to fly from SFO - plus anytime I need to get to smaller cities in the Northeast it involves driving from New York or Boston. And there is still no service to PHX.
In particular, it shocks me that there's no service to DEN or PHX out of SFO! These are popular destinations for west coast business travelers!
I don't think I can even hit renewal of my status if I try because the flights don't exist. I'm left with trying to route thru SEA or LAX for connections that don't even have published fares, then driving from New York City or Boston for anything in the Northeast.
Any single one of those issues would be workable but not all of them together. As much as I dislike United and especially the loyalty program there's really no other viable option at this point.
When I became elite 3 or 4 years ago, it was easy. I would take AS for PNW travel and take Delta or American for anything else.
Then we lost Delta but American was still good enough.
And then Alaska started cutting its own and VX's non-stop routes from SFO.
This year alone, I've needed to fly to DEN, MSP, and OMA - routes either AS or VX used to fly from SFO - plus anytime I need to get to smaller cities in the Northeast it involves driving from New York or Boston. And there is still no service to PHX.
In particular, it shocks me that there's no service to DEN or PHX out of SFO! These are popular destinations for west coast business travelers!
I don't think I can even hit renewal of my status if I try because the flights don't exist. I'm left with trying to route thru SEA or LAX for connections that don't even have published fares, then driving from New York City or Boston for anything in the Northeast.
Any single one of those issues would be workable but not all of them together. As much as I dislike United and especially the loyalty program there's really no other viable option at this point.
#92
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posts: 663
I couldn't disagree more. JFK Airtrain is really easy to use, and the walk from the train to T7 gates is really short. It's one of the easiest airports I know of for PT.
#94
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat, WN A-list, AS MVP 75K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 380
a unicorn? if I'm not mistaken, there have been very few positive comments regarding JFK T7 ...
#95
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
#96
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Yellow Springs
Programs: AS 75k
Posts: 1,523
I agree that the JFK Airtrain is easy and walk to T7 gates is pretty short. It's getting TO the Airtrain that I was complaining about, especially when traffic (car & subway) is crowded/slow.
#97
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak
Posts: 27,610
I avoid Alaska out of SFO! I was a loyal VX flyer, but Alaska service is awful and bland. I am not impressed. I stick to Delta and some United mostly now and just connect when flying out of the Bay. Really sad that Alaska was allowed to take over VX and cheapen the brand for customers.
i like AS a lot out of sfo and am intrigued why you avoid it! I’ll take DL when the nonstop routing works - I only fly to a few places so have to book based nonstop and fares. I’ll try DL when flying sfo/msp since SY is pretty finished!
#98
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern Calif./Eastern Ida.
Programs: Amethyst Premier Plutonium Medallion
Posts: 20,642
I have moved a fair bit of my regional AS flying to WN, and so far it's working OK. Different experience, but not bad different. I have put my AMEX airline reimbursement on WN and just buy EBCI via the reimbursement when I want or need it.
This year I will only have flown AS to YKM (where they have no competition) and to OGG, where they have the only nonstop from my home airport...and even then, one way was booked with BA miles.
#99
Moderator: Chase Ultimate Rewards
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 2P, MR LT Plat, IHG Plat, BW Dia, HH Au, Avis PC
Posts: 5,455
DL operates to most places in the northeast that UA does, via either DTW or ATL. I would rather connect in either of those airports than EWR or ORD, but YMMV. From SFO to DEN/PHX, you'd have to connect in Salt Lake, pretty good connecting airport and often the connections are efficient -- 35-45 minutes...but sure not the convenience of the nonstops that UAL offers. As a 50,000 mile flyer on either UA or DL you will not be seeing that many upgrades anyways.
#101
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,148
No airline's perfect and Alaska does have its share of shortcomings. It's been my experience however (1.6 million miles flown on Alaska, 3.8 million on all the others) that Alaska offers a more consistently good overall service and - as a top level elite flyer - I can't imagine being treated any better by a U.S. airline; be it mileage earned, upgrades or even basic recognition. I remember when I was 1K on United - no comparison. 75K on Alaska is far superior. Additionally, I've heard the continuing parade of horror stories from DL and AA elites. Those airlines have simply become so large that I don't believe the quality of service I've come to expect from Alaska is possible aboard AA/DL with the consistency that I experience on Alaska.
That said, I totally commiserate with those for whom Alaska's route system or frequency of flights don't work or no longer work. I can't imagine Alaska would just cavalierly drop routes like SFO to DEN or PHX unless factors such as competition or even availability of aircraft made Alaska's continued presence in those markets untenable. For my part, I'm at a loss as to why Alaska doesn't bring back nonstop flights between Denver and PDX - a longtime Alaska/Horizon hub with great opportunities for online connections around the Pacific Northwest.
That said, I totally commiserate with those for whom Alaska's route system or frequency of flights don't work or no longer work. I can't imagine Alaska would just cavalierly drop routes like SFO to DEN or PHX unless factors such as competition or even availability of aircraft made Alaska's continued presence in those markets untenable. For my part, I'm at a loss as to why Alaska doesn't bring back nonstop flights between Denver and PDX - a longtime Alaska/Horizon hub with great opportunities for online connections around the Pacific Northwest.
#102
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Programs: AS MVP 100K, UA PremEx-MM
Posts: 3,335
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
Well, they made have made out like bandits, but MAJOR investors weren't happy with the way VX was run. Sir Richard made a big deal of snagging DAL slots / gates, but again could not figure out how to make money there, something WN had no problem doing. And it appears that AS isn't having success with figuring out what to do with DAL either. UA did - they leased their two gates for an obscene amount of money to WN @:-)
VX was just weird in their choices; they dumped money into LGA/DCA slots, which might have made sense if they were going for a new midcon focus city, but they tied them up with an airport that had a hard cap on expansion (DAL), plus they wasted time and money on DAL-AUS/LAS, which just wasn't going to work going head-on against the WN beast.
I wouldn't be shocked if SFO/LAX-DFW happened at some point; you could sell SFO/LAX-DFW-XXX AA codeshares.
UA has something like 13x SFO-DEN. WN and F9 serve it pretty well too. It's not by any stretch of the imagination an underserved market.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Sep 28, 2018 at 3:10 pm
#105
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Portland, Oregon
Programs: Hilton Platinum, Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 2,363