maokh

..typical

Jeeves

5/27 AS540 PDX-LGB had 8 empty seats in F. That's right, only 4 of us in first. Coach looked like it was only 25% full.

5/28 AS549 LGB-PDX had 3 empty seats in F.

Perhaps it was because it was only a couple of days after Memorial Day and the biz travelers were taking the week off. Not everyone considers LGB when they fly to LA or Orange County. I ran into people on both flights that hadn't flown in or out of LGB before.

brarrr

and PDX people wonder/moan about why it's going to all horizon?

hgdf

Meanwhile, they've reduced SEA-BUR to 3x daily and many flights are overbooked! I don't see many empty F seats on this route, except occasionally on Sat evening.

AS Flyer

I checked availability for the next week starting tommorow. Only 2 flights out of 21 were even full. Not sure where you learned that flights are regularly overbooked but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

only1mouse

try flying AS to/from PDX - LAX every flight I am on is booked to capacity and often oversold. This is why we "wonder/moan" about why it's going to all horizon.

AS Flyer

I'm not trying to be contrary but looking at loads over the next couple of weeks, what you're saying does not bear out at all. I think that Alaska was able to maintain frequency and attractive business schedule by reducing the Alaska flights and adding Horizon into the LAX mix. Alaska could have gone the same route as UA and just converted to an all RJ schedule but chose not to. Given the market these days, if there was an untapped market there, Alaska would be all over it. If the market could support 10, or even 5, 737's a day then Alaska would have them in the market.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the Alaska planning people just throw darts at a board to see where they'll put their planes next. I also don't believe they have it out for the PDX people and don't care about their PDX flyers. I believe they are doing everything they can to maintain service in PDX at a respectable level using the resources they have. Alaska could probably support one 737 a day to BUR or ONT but putting three Horizon CRJ's on the route instead allows them to maintain a frequency that can support a business traveler instead. The good news is that Oregon is expected to return to positive job growth late this year. If that happens then maybe the market will return and Alaska can return some of their very valuable assets to the PDX market.

only1mouse

While I respect your opinion, I have to disagree with you. I have flown this route for 4 years, prior to that I was flying PDX - BUR until they moved those all to Horizon. Looking at coming weeks and making a judgement on loads is a bit backwards. I can tell you I have changed my flights to go through Seattle because there are NO convenient times for me to fly anymore (and I know others have done this as well) OR it's on a Horizon. Contrary to popular belief not everyone likes Horizon. I can honestly say I have NEVER seen a first class seat empty on any of the flights into or out of PDX from LAX (which is what this thread is about) I believe this has to do with the times I fly as they are peak business travel time; however I have made many friends over the years and we are all saying the same thing. PDX is getting the short end of the stick. While flights mid day (I don't honestly know as I do not fly them) might be empty early morning and late evening flights are not. They have moved the schedule so many times that it's not reasonable any longer for many to fly this route. We talk about this almost weekly because it's very frustrating.

One previous poster mentioned the PDX to LGB flights being empty - why would AS not put a Horizon flight on that route to see how the loads were? Leaving the AS flight to LAX until they could determine if the loads to LGB were at a level that warrented them?

As an MVPG, and a true supporter of AS for many years Horizon gives me absolutely no benefits. The planes are too small, they are noisy, uncomfortably and NOT every seat is FC, matter of fact NO seat is FC. . It's hard to justify continuing to support them. I completely understand they do it for business reasons and it's not personal against anyone of us, but it is frustrating and I do send in my comments about the routes and the times regularly.

SanDiego1K

We flew SEA-SAN on Sunday morning. It was our 4th AS flight of the trip, and the first to have more than 5 or 6 empty seats in coach. First was about 2/3rds full. Upgrades to F were offered for $50.

rjque

It was about a year and a half ago, but my husband and I did SFO-PDX with only 2 out of 12 seats filled in F. That's right, we had the entire F cabin to ourselves. To top it off, we were both there on MVPG upgrade certs. This was the late Friday night flight before New Years; I was apparently the only MVP on the plane.

maokh

I have no idea whats up with the routes i fly, but i am seeing: 1) fewer elites 2) nobody taking the paid upgrade 3) empty seats

I mean, come on, empty first class seats on a 6 hour flight to LIH and back?

hgdf

In the past couple of weeks, I've seen the offer to standby for a later flight in exchange for 'compensation' come up during the OCLI process. I assume this wouldn't happen if the flight wasn't oversold. It may just be from all the folks who were previously booked on flight 522/523 who got switched to other flights.

AS Flyer

For the record, I was responding to your post where you were specifically referencing the LAX flights and said that "every flight I am on is booked to capacity and often oversold". I realize this post was about First Class seats being open but you're post was not about that and I was just responding to your post. I'm also not trying to dispute your personal experiences. It's possible that the flights you take do go out full. I'm merely pointing out that the load projections as I can see them don't bear that out. While you might not agree that checking every flight for the coming week is very accurate, it gives me an idea of how full the flights are. In any case, I believe PDX is getting what they can support. Alaska isn't the only airline that is moving to RJ flights in/out of PDX. With all due respect, I guess we just have to agree to disagree.

One last note, I was on an 1100a flight from LAX-PDX recently and there were two open F seats. I was surprised because, you're right, it's not often I see open F seats at all.

CDKing

Maybe i should be flying to hawaii more often

makfan

If given a choice of SFO-PDX-YVR (all QX) or SFO-SEA-YVR (AS to QX, except for the last to YVR which is also AS), I will take the SEA connection whenever possible. Even if I don't get the coveted UG, at least I can usually get an exit row and a tray that can hold my laptop. How many of us are booking away from PDX flights to avoid so much time in less comfortable planes?