How Are the Paine Field (PAE) Flights? Will Mainline AS Ever Fly There?
Apr 23, 2019, 12:12 pm
#16
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Apr 23, 2019, 6:45 pm
#17
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Was actually pricing it from mileage redemption perspective in which cheap award levels were found with ORD-SEA-PDX-PAE routings. Using dollars, same routes are available, but definitely priced higher.
I would have thought, however that AS would have eliminated routing which include SEA if flying to PAE.
Jiburi
I would have thought, however that AS would have eliminated routing which include SEA if flying to PAE.
Jiburi
Apr 28, 2019, 3:08 pm
#18
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Also ... Alaska has a small fleet of A319s that could easily slip onto some of the SFO & LAX turns ... giving a few more incremental seats as they grow the market.
Going straight from an E75 to a 738 is a big jump; luckily there are a few more incremental steps available in the fleet.
Going straight from an E75 to a 738 is a big jump; luckily there are a few more incremental steps available in the fleet.
I don't know the labor rules of whether a Horizon station can service Alaska planes or not.
Alaska did have a blog article about the supervisor and manager. The supervisor lives in Marysville, WA (to the north of PAE) and waited 24 years to get the PAE job. I think he worked in SEA for Horizon before then, a nightmare commute. The station manager worked with Horizon in Bellingham for several years after being a massage therapist for several years. Both are still Horizon employees.
May 11, 2019, 10:27 pm
#19
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Are these flights only water/juice in Y or are they running a full beverage service? My guess is that it is water/juice since the flying time is about the same as PDX-SEA flights, but I was just curious.
May 11, 2019, 11:20 pm
#20
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If you are talking PAE-PDX, then yes to water/juice. That's the announcement I've always heard.
May 12, 2019, 10:56 am
#21
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However, the labor costs for Horizon may be significantly less than mainline. They may not want to move up from an E175 to a A319. The A319 may be almost an orphan. Or it's used on mainline routes when there's not quite enough traffic for that time of day. However, for PAE, Alaska might want to wait until the E175 flights are always full and then raise the fares until they are always full with somewhat higher fares. Only then will they not incrementally increase the number of seats with an A319 but go all the way with a 737-900ER or 737-800.
What I don't know is how the CASM of the planes in the fleet between the E75 and 738 stack up. We do know that Alaska views, on shorter routes, the CASM of the A320 to be favorable or equal to the 738 but that those cost curves change as the stage length increases.
The A319 is an oddball in the fleet, but not any more so than the 73G, which has a niche flying mostly on local intra-Alaska flights.
I view the case for up-gauging the PAE flights a little differently. SEA is maxed out on gates, parking, runway, taxiways, etc. If AS can shift some passengers who are currently flying out of SEA on the core West Coast flights to PAE, and then do a slight capacity reduction on the same flights out of SEA, that frees up planes/gates/etc for some of the E-W routes where AS is competing with DL (and AA,UA) but probably needs to add some frequency to the route to really go toe to toe, that's a win.
I am Los Angeles based but born and raised in Seattle. My family is north Seattle so either SEA or PAE work for me. I'm more than happy to fly either BUR-SEA or LAX-PAE, but heaven help me if I have to fly LAX-SEA and put up with a slow, crowded, congested, and over capacity airport on both ends.
May 13, 2019, 7:39 pm
#22
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SEA is maxed out on gates, parking, runway, taxiways, etc. If AS can shift some passengers who are currently flying out of SEA on the core West Coast flights to PAE, and then do a slight capacity reduction on the same flights out of SEA, that frees up planes/gates/etc for some of the E-W routes where AS is competing with DL (and AA,UA) but probably needs to add some frequency to the route to really go toe to toe, that's a win.
As an aside, I would certainly enjoy flying EUG-PAE and bypassing both PDX and SEA entirely!
May 14, 2019, 9:08 am
#23
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PAE is awesome. But I don't fly south very often, and have only had one trip from PAE so far (on United). If Alaska would fly east (Denver, Chicago, NYC, etc) then I'd be there once a week. I may be forced to fly more on United since their connections work better out of PAE for eastern flights. Otherwise I need to fight the Seatac slog.
Last edited by tbau; May 14, 2019 at 9:09 am Reason: spelling
May 14, 2019, 9:31 am
#24
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PAE is awesome. But I don't fly south very often, and have only had one trip from PAE so far (on United). If Alaska would fly east (Denver, Chicago, NYC, etc) then I'd be there once a week. I may be forced to fly more on United since their connections work better out of PAE for eastern flights. Otherwise I need to fight the Seatac slog.
May 14, 2019, 12:03 pm
#25
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I understand the relationship between hubs, customer bases, and O&D demand, but I'm just sayin'...
May 17, 2019, 12:48 am
#26
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I just returned from a PDX-PAE quick overnight. Upgraded both directions.
A few observations:
- Flight time just about the same as SEA, maybe a little quicker since the approach is much less congested.
- Very attentive crews, with OJ/sparkling wine offered as PDB both ways.
- I had business in Seattle + Mt. Vernon. Getting the rental car kind of a pain, shuttle van ride of 15+ minutes. Driver and staff were great though.
- Enterprise location now also has Alamo & National rentals as well.
- Afternoon traffic to downtown Seattle was horrible.
- Got delayed on my return, didn’t make it to car rental return until 5:15 for a 6:00 flight. Still got to the gate by 5:40 and boarding had just started.
- Pre Check hours are limited but if it’s closed they’ll give you a card for “expedited” screening.
- Lots of interesting aircraft to see, including 10+ KC-46s, Dreamliners for Royal Air Maroc and Avianca, and lots of mothballed 737MAX.
.
A few observations:
- Flight time just about the same as SEA, maybe a little quicker since the approach is much less congested.
- Very attentive crews, with OJ/sparkling wine offered as PDB both ways.
- I had business in Seattle + Mt. Vernon. Getting the rental car kind of a pain, shuttle van ride of 15+ minutes. Driver and staff were great though.
- Enterprise location now also has Alamo & National rentals as well.
- Afternoon traffic to downtown Seattle was horrible.
- Got delayed on my return, didn’t make it to car rental return until 5:15 for a 6:00 flight. Still got to the gate by 5:40 and boarding had just started.
- Pre Check hours are limited but if it’s closed they’ll give you a card for “expedited” screening.
- Lots of interesting aircraft to see, including 10+ KC-46s, Dreamliners for Royal Air Maroc and Avianca, and lots of mothballed 737MAX.
.
May 17, 2019, 8:45 am
#28
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May 17, 2019, 9:14 am
#29
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Probably not unless there is an E75 base in ANC. The Q400s didn’t work so AS probably doesn’t want to repeat a mistake; they would need to be able to operate in Alaska.