BarryL

Comming back from DEN yesterday, the FA mentioned that AS was making plans to goto HI. Possibly starting this year. She said the runs would probably be from LAX & ANC. She was unsure of which island(s) they would fly to.

Anyone else heard of this rumor? It would be nice to get a FC seat on a long flight like that.

Barry

AS Flyer

Hawaii has been rumored for a long time but it's just a rumor at this point. If we did fly to Hawaii I don't think we would fly from LAX - there is already plenty of service from LAX to most of the Hawaiian islands. I would place my bets on ANC-HNL if anything.

Lot's of rumors have been flying around for a while now about where we'll go next. My guess is Atlanta. It would be a logical tie in with Delta. Salt Lake City might be logical as well but the yields to SLC aren't as good because Southwest flies there already.

RASMguy

HI is nice, but I have to agree. LAX is out. We also have to do some serious certificate changes to reach the HI Islands in our equipment.

WebTraveler

That would sure be disappointing. Since Delta already flies non-stop from SEA and PDX on pretty decent frequency, what would anyone really gain with ATL?

AS Flyer

The same could be said of ORD but I think our flights typically do fairly well there. ATL is the worlds first or second busiest airport - there surely must be a lot of connection opportunities there for persons flying on Alaska.

channa

AS, like any airline, is there to make money, not to provide community service. There are many cases where an airline would do better going head-to-head against a partner or competitor, than starting service to a wholly new market.

Seat 2A

While Alaska's 737-700s could probably handle the ANC-HNL run, I'd sure like to see Alaska's colors on a 777-290 someday... or some of these other aircraft...

Alaska 777-390

Alaska 787-290

Alaska 757-290

Alaska 717-290

Alaska A320-212

Alaska 747-490 New Colors?

A more likely scenario

SEA-PDX in 7 minutes

slippahs

Are the AS aircrafts ETOPS certified? That would be the first step to flying to Hawai'i....

aloha

WebTraveler

No doubt there are connection opportunities - and I've connected there many times. If you are going to Florida or somewhere internationally this is fine. But Delta likes to sometimes route its northeastern traffic through Atlanta, which puts you way off course and burns 2+ hours each way with connections, etc.

I just think some better locations could be Philadelphia, expanded service in the NYC area, or adding some PDX flights to ORD. There could be some decent traffic on SEA-PHL that could help the system and network out.

So I'd vote for Philadelphia over Atlanta.

WebTraveler

No kidding, really? Duh? Look, I don't need a lecture on this. I know this....but this forum is for expressing ideas and thoughts - and this thread discusses potential new cities.

AS Flyer

I understand what you're saying but, since we don't have a partner with any kind of a hub at PHL, we wouldn't have any feed traffic that way. We already offer multipe connecting opportunities to virtually any city in the NE through EWR/IAD/BOS/DCA and even ORD. In fact, I don't know if PHL would offer any additional connecting opportunities to any cites we don't currently serve already through our partners via one of those points. ATL would offer a whole host of connecting opportunities throughout the southeast to MANY destinations that Alaska doesn't currently offer single connection service to. Not just to FL but cities throughout TN, AL, KY, WV, VA, SC, NC, LA, MS. I believe that ATL offers much more than PHL in terms of connecting opportunites.

formeraa

It all depends whether DL views AS as competition or cooperation. With AA, it is viewed as cooperation because it strengthens AA's position in the market vs. United. With DL (and no other non-stop competition in the market), it may be viewed as additional competition (and they won't codeshare, etc., etc.).

Gardyloo

The partnership/codeshare/competition thing makes my head ache sometimes. Why would AS open a new station at ATL when they can brand a bunch of DL feeders and distributors with AS numbers anyway without using their own equipment? By the same token, and in the face of AA's virtual exit from the northern tier transcon business, how does AS respond to 2- or 3-a-day Song flights from JFK to SEA? Oh, thanks, partner, we needed that competition? Like I say, head. Ache. Of course I have no idea about slot availability, but upping the service to EWR or JFK would seem to make more sense to me (I assume they wouldn't be able to fit into LGA); or even RDU if they want to develop a technology-corridor route. I do like MSY or HNL or even YYZ though, if we're dreaming.

Meant to add, if the oil and gas business in Alaska heats up as it's likely to do, I think the -800s would have the legs to make ANC-DFW or -IAH feasible.

WebTraveler

Who is the partner at IAD & DCA?

Is the SE a big travel destination for northwest travelers? NWA can hardly fill its SEA-Memphis flight to it's "connection opportunities in the southeast." I can hit virtually any city in the Gulf coast via AA at DFW or CO at Houston. I just don't see the deep south as economically viable for northwest or Alaska travelers. If so, there'd be more flights!

Time will tell, but I still think Atlanta is not the best choice.

AS Flyer

I couldn't say for sure but I would imagine that DL would welcome this as an additional flight they could code-share on as well. Currently, DL and AS don't compete on any non-stop route directly but our experience so far with AA on the ANC/SEA-ORD routes and CO on the SEA-EWR route has proven that it can be beneficial for both. Only time will tell. We may not even be thinking of ATL, for all I know our next city could be Columbus, OH or Nashville, TN. They don't tell us anything before they tell the general public. Even the management people that have "dropped hints" in the past have proven to be poor sources of information.