dll

Glad they spent all that money, time and resource buying up VX only to dismantle its best bits piece-by-piece.

WrightHI

Let's not go there. The topic has been beaten to death. I like the 321s too, but AS has made the decisions it's made about the product it's going to offer and we can either live with it or find another airline.

unfrequentflyer

I flew VX before and it was very good.

Tack

Some of your posts confuse me about AS. I’ll admit, since being retired for 4 years, even with friends, one neighbor, still flying, I don’t have the big picture. I know they have a set number of pilots that they want in the cockpit this year. Nothing that’s been communicated to me has shown they are looking to reduce either the size or number of new hire pilot classes. From my side of the fence, I’ve been told simplifying to a single fleet is to save money. The 321’s might be easier to dump now than expected and the Q’s are becoming maint drains, nothing more. Difficulty in finding qualified pilot applicants is effecting all airlines. Certainly AS more than AA/DL/UA for obvious reasons. Is your post a guess? Or are you more connected to the pilot group than I believe?

sltlyamusd

How many Max frames are they scheduled to receive over the next year? Is it enough to compensate one-for-one for the departing A320s, or is there a temporary dip in fleet count until the new planes finish arriving?

Tack

There are 29 more -9’s coming this year with 8’s scheduled to be delivered 1st Quarter 2023.

notquiteaff

And even if they don’t drop cities, they might drop routes. Instead of offering XXX-SEA and XXX-PDX, they might just fly XXX-SEA. Some of this has already happened (RDM, for example).

Tack

Lol, C’mon. I’ll say it again, I don’t think you have a clue as to the AS hours of AC utilization. But, if I’m wrong, please correct me, even if it’s via DM. I’m starting to kinda wonder if maybe you’re a current AS employee with more info than I? If so, I apologize for being so short, because I know the internal AS is not what customers see. And I can appreciate wanting anonymity. Just curious because the only info I get are pilot rumors, and what they post on the employee/retiree web site and not much of it corroborates with your posts.

Tide_from_PAE

Hopefully I'll find an inexpensive reason to fly the Q400 before they leave the fleet. I've really enjoyed them on the shorter routes, especially with the free beer and wine. They were also once considered the way to lower costs on routes less than 300 miles.

WN has shown that it can operate with an all 737 fleet and be profitable, so it makes sense that AS will try that again. Maybe AS will even arrange a special event for the last Airbus and Q400 flights like DL does with its domestic fleet retirements.

Snowdevil

I'd recommend you let AS senior leadership know your thoughts on the mid cabin lav, as the interior design/layout for the MAX 10 fleet hasn't been finalized yet, and you can bet your sweet bippy those are doing transcons all day long.

sfozrhfco

AS just did an investor update with JP Morgan a little over a week ago. it is not a secret that pilots at regionals are moving up to mainline aircraft at a faster clip than usual so as soon as they get trained at a regional--they leave as quickly as they can for a more lucrative position with mainline--whether at AS or another mainline airline. So the problem is that pilots are not staying on the likes of the Q400s and in the current climate it may not make all that much sense to hire a bunch of people and train them and then have to turn around and go through the whole process again with somebody new. It is also easier to staff one mainline flight than 3 regional ones with the same of even more seats.

AS is also paying double time to flight attendants as demand is exceeding the staffing they have available-- so it is not just a matter of staffing pilots but also flight attendants, etc. They have also had trouble retaining ground staff so less flights while slightly expanding overall available seats can help with that as well.

olouie

Yay for better regional planes.
Boo for losing the best economy seats in the airbus’ with the 2 seats rows.

18wheeler_vanrekt

As well as the return of DAL <=> LGA connecting to the West Coast flights, please!

18wheeler_vanrekt

Also, (to me, at least), the use of the few A321s regularly on SFO <=> JFK and SEA <=> JFK (the most "premium" NYC airport) seems to suggest that Alaska realizes these aircraft are nicer than their others. Making it more disappointing that they're hoping to get rid of 'em soon...

SJC ORD LDR

Not a surprise, but it's still sad news. A320s are always nicer than B737s from the seat width to the window placement.