samonyc

Interesting, if skeptical, interview with Delta’s SVP-New York Gail Grimmett by Brett Snyder:

http://industry.bnet.com/travel/1000...-win-that-city

Concerning the JFK operation:

HeathrowGuy

Continental and Star Alliance will mercilessly crush Delta in NYC. That is all.

DLPhoenix

Wow, they finaly got it.
I can't see a quick fix, but I like the aproach and I hope they come up with a creative solution that will make their customers happy.

DLP

elitetraveler

I hate to say but this is an "easier said than done" type thing. DL is doing lots of positive things with its new BE flights, nonstop flights, LGA expansion, but the main thing they need is new facilities at both LGA and JFK. Hopefully they will not simply turn LGA into the same habitrail terminal that happened at JFK. As to their local marketing approach, being part of the community, sponsoring sports teams, the Garden, theatre etc we're not in ATL. I think this is a big "thing" non New Yorkers just don't get. If the Braves are in the playoffs have the folks in ATL are wearing Braves caps and there are Braves posters and banners plastered all over folks offices. New York is just so big and diverse if you want to get the entire city's attention you can't just try to blend in and say "I like the same things you do." Just from a PR standpoint they DL would get more attention if they sponsored "The Naked Cowboy's" tight whites instead of a billboard a couple blocks away.

DLPhoenix

I hope you are wrong. We (The customers) need airlines to compete. You don't want to pay the air fares of a single player market.

DLP

AndyTLe

No airline will "win" the NYC market. It is simply too large with a diverse population and varying needs.

FreequentFlier

So their "plan" to "win" NY is to use LGA as a domestic hub and JFK as an international hub?

<slaps forehead> Why didn't anyone think of that before?!

remyontheroad

I'm curious what makes you say that?

I'm mid-level flyer (back and forth GM/PM) with primarily TATL.

I was REALLY motivated to find an alternative to start the new year with, but I just couldn't do it, primarily because I found the *A flights that would have suited me to be lacking.

If I want to fly CO, I'm on 757s across the pond...2/day to CDG, vs. 4 on DL/AF, nice selection of smaller cities I suppose.

LH gives me an old 747 to FRA, then connections.

UA? US? via IAD or PHL? Nah...

I'm sure for some flyers COs tie-up with * is going to be a big boon, but certainly not for all.

Robert Leach

And I don't think you get it, either. If you think folks in ATL are that devoted to the Braves, you're seriously wrong. Most of us are fine with the Braves winning, but plastering posters and banners all over offices? Give me a break. Atlanta is far more diverse than you give it credit for. It's much more a college football town (with many diverse loyalties) than it will ever be a professional baseball town.

The bottom line is that I think it is a tough sell in NYC for any airline. You've got to have your act together, as well as be price competitive. For one reason or another, Delta does not have its act together at JFK, despite 18 years spent trying since the PanAm route acquisitions. Hard to believe it's been that long.

Where in the world $70 Million went in Delta facilities at JFK escapes me. It certainly didn't go into the bathrooms.

Robert Leach

This might actually work if Delta would offer free stopovers in NYC and/or make ground transfers from LGA to JFK readily available and free.

BA offers free stopovers in London all the time. Delta should adopt the same approach in NYC. Fly into LGA; spend whatever time you need in NYC; depart out of JFK. Or vice versa.

Premium travelers connecting from LGA to JFK without a stopover should be put in a Towncar and driven over. Non-premium travelers should be offered taxi vouchers and a dedicated taxi departure area for those heading to JFK on Delta connections.

This thing of "you fly into LGA and then you're on your own to get to JFK" is not an attractive marketing strategy.

Lemurs

It's not really any strategy at all. Even the towncar option is sketchy depending on the, day, time, and season. LGA-JFK is 15 miles of the nastiest traffic you could ask for sometimes. I certainly wouldn't want to do it regularly. The lack of rail access to LGA is another turnoff for me as a LI-based DL flyer. I do plenty of domestic travel, and if too much domestic moves out of JFK, I'll have to re-evaluate my choices. LIRR-to-AirTrain is a hell of a lot better than any of my expensive options to LGA.

gustoj820

Really? As of two months ago STAR was the laughingstock of NYC, and now they have a CO hub that's not even in NYC...or New York state for that matter. Meanwhile, for the last couple of years, they've let Delta grow to what will soon be a 500 flight per day operation across all NYC airports, with a the largest presence at NYC and Manhattan's preferred airport, LGA.

Crush? Uh huh.

pbarnette

DL has no intention of turning LGA into a domestic hub. IIRC, they are targeting only about 25% connecting traffic for LGA. The goal of the LGA "hub", is to capture an outsized amount of the NYC O/D market, by having a dominant position at NYC's preferred domestic airport. I suspect that the JFK operation is a bit less focused on O/D, but I'd be shocked if they don't target upwards of 50% O/D traffic on the long-haul flights - I could be dramatically understating the O/D market. Remember that NYC folks think it is their God-Given right to fly non-stops. If DL offers enough non-stops to the places they want to go, then they can capture a huge chunk of the market.

There is enough traffic in NYC to justify a near-hub operation without connecting traffic. As long as DL can steal some connections from a few major markets (ORD, BOS, WAS, SFO, LAX, etc), then they don't really need to offer universal connectivity on an ATL scale.

ClipperDelta

There isn't any intention to feed JFK international flights from the LGA domestic flights. The LGA hub is supposed to take care of domestic connecting traffic (particularly north-south traffic) that may currently be routed through JFK, e.g., BTV-JFK-FLL or BGR-JFK-MCO.

Too much COol-Aid recently??

elitetraveler

Not a knock on ATL. I think ATL is a great city. I just see DL's NY approach as a lot of "me too" marketing. To stand out in NY you have to be bigger than life and do things others haven't done, make some noise. Sports team sponsorships and billboards may or may not make sense, but without some sizzle all those marketing dollars are going to be lost in the shuffle.