TheMoose

You're absolutely right now that I think about it. The can vs. bottle is not much of a debate for inflight catering, I'm sure. Cans are safer to transport and lighter than glass. This makes sense, now. Not that Sierra Nevada is bad, it's just when you start talking "craft" brewing, I think CA has even better options to offer.

I'm glad the stigma of cans is dissipating, there is a lot of excellent craft brewing going on that is only distributed in cans. This isn't your father's Hamm's.

MS02113

That reminds me: Samuel Adams also introduced canned beer a couple of months ago. Have the East Coast Shuttle routes switched from bottled to canned Boston Lager yet? I haven't been on a Shuttle flight in a while. Though Sam Adams' cans were supposedly designed with the "drinking experience" in mind, I'd still prefer bottles, suitability for air transport be damned.

ryanm

Absolutely agree that Sierra Nevada isn't the best that CA produces--just that it's better by a long shot than Wente is. The cans are definitely a factor, I'm sure, in DL choosing this. There also seems to be a trend here, at least in my neck of the woods: Brooklyn Brewery is now putting its lager into cans (my barbershop keeps them in a Coleman cooler), and Sixpoint is mainly sold in cans.

I can see the marketing angle with Wente being such an old and family-run winery. If only it were a good winery! The problem, of course, is that most CA wineries have priced themselves out of this market--so while Wente is an uninspired choice, to say the least, it's not as if there are tons of CA wineries that can compete in the under-$15/bottle category. Still, locating and highlighting those that do fit that criteria would have been a great opportunity for DL to distinguish itself: sort of along the lines of Shake Shack in JFK's T4.

gustoj820

This thread can best be described as #firstworldproblems.

Anything above the basics on LAX-SFO (including replacing SkyWest) should be lauded.

jdrtravel

I guess I still don't understand this service from a business standpoint. Same day fares on this route are usually under $500, and if booked in advance can be around $150. What makes this profitable, and why not other routes? Is it because its such a short route flown by RJ's? Is it it the sheer volume of pax--so that Delta can sort of "own" this route and make a profit through selling a high volume of tickets?

Don't get me wrong, I fly this route often and am thrilled about this.... but I'm just not clear on why this makes sense for Delta and why other routes that are longer and more expensive don't get the perks. I know I already asked this question...but things like "delta's shuttle service has always been a better product" do not answer my question. Any thoughts form a business perspective?

sfozrhfco

The short answer is no it does not make much sense. The flight is often 50 minutes long and many times of the year, you can still get fares as low as $39 each way due to the sheer number of seats available in the market. There are a lot of flights on a lot of carriers already and DL is unlikely to get a premium for the few perks they are offering. People don't even read newspapers in paper form these days. The lines in terminal 2 and the international terminal rarely require any wait time at Terminal 2 and the international terminal They can be bad for the UA terminal but if you are already an elite FF member with UA you can avoid that mess too.

nerdbirdsjc

I don't go out of SFO that much, but I would be willing to give this a try.

McGowan06

Completely agree. I just booked a couple of flights in September and October for $159 round trip each. Over the last two years, the most I can remember paying for a one-way walk-up on this route was $229 or $239 or something. And on this route my upgrade percentage has been, I'd guess, at least 75%.

jaloola

Using a combination of FlightAware and FlightStats, I ended up figuring out how Compass positioned their E75s into the West Coast. Thought I might as well share, if anybody is interested, as it took me ~45 minutes, but in my defense I was waiting to pick someone up at SFO from a delayed flight.

(*)MSP-LAX 5866 09/02/13 03:40 PM - 04:56 PM (Backup)

(*)BOI-SFO 5867 09/02/13 08:35 PM - 08:57 PM (SFO-SLC 5742 06:00 AM)

MSP-SLC 5697 09/02/13 12:30 PM - 02:15 PM -> SLC-SFO 5728 09/02/13 07:55 PM - 09:00 PM (SFO-LAX 5833 08:00 AM Inaugural)

DFW-SLC 5737 09/02/13 08:16 PM - 09:59 PM -> SLC-LAX 5821 09/03/13 05:20 AM - 06:24 AM (LAX-SFO 5830 07:00 AM Inaugural)

DTW-SLC 5723 09/02/13 09:39 PM - 11:29 PM -> SLC-LAX 5783 09/03/13 06:20 AM - 07:15 AM (LAX-SFO 5832 08:00 AM)

MSY-LAX 5683 09/03/13 06:00 AM - 08:03 AM (LAX-SFO 5834 09:00 AM)

(*) indicates the flight was not sold as a revenue flight. I can understand BOI-SFO, but I don't understand MSP-LAX, especially when MSP-SLC was sold as a revenue flight. I wonder if that has anything to do with MSP-LAX being a PMNW route and their AFA Contract. Funny thing is, one seat was occupied on MSP-LAX, 5A Economy Comfort, even though First was completely empty. That would have been a great IRROP.

It looks like they're going to circulate aircraft through SLC from DFW, MCI, MSP, and STL, most significantly taking over the first flight of the day from SLC-MSP and last flight of the day from MSP-SLC, and prior to that from MSP. Previously it was suggested in another thread that they would circulate aircraft through LAX from MCI; those now appear to be turns, as in MSP-MCI-LAX-MCI-MSP both in the morning and evening.

The majority of flights left early today, so they're off to a pretty good start. ^ And kudos to them and the SFO and LAX Ground Crews for being able to turn aircraft around in less than 30 minutes all day, including MCI-LAX 5700 / LAX-MCI 5726 (OK, it was technically 41 minutes, but they were scheduled to do it in 30 minutes, got in 16 minutes early, and left 5 minutes early). Hope they'll be able to do the same in the coming months.

mnredfox

Flew the DL shuttle for the first time since they launched the new service. ^ to the E75's, always preferred these (even back in the NWA days) over the CR9's they used to fly. A bit more spacious, more overhead space, etc.

Also like the new snacks for all pax and free coffee/beer, BUT with the new snacks there is no more F snack basket. In other words, snack for F pax is exactly the same as Y pax. Does DL intend to differentiate anytime soon between Y and F on this flight? Should they?

MS02113

Interesting. On the East Coast Shuttle, economy passengers get a package of "premium" mixed nuts (last I checked), while first class gets the snack basket. On weekday mornings, there are bagels and cream cheese for everyone.

yohanson

I flew the shuttle on Wednesday and I agree about the E75's. It's a very nice aircraft. I didn't need anything out of the snack basket because I had plenty from my other 4 flights that day.

bennos

I'm wondering if this isn't a sort of "loss leader". DL doesn't care about the people buying $39 AP fares, but might care about those buying the last minute fares. ie: the same people who, having tried DL and found the in flight service better than expected, might consider buying a last minute LAX-TYO, LAX-SYD, or SFO-JFK J ticket.

Given that the Shuttle introduction was more about amenities than frequency (DL was already at 12x or 13x daily as mentioned upthread), the incremental investment here is pretty low.

cubachao

was the flight packed?

Mountain Explorer

Delta is increasing shuttle service from 12x/day to 15x/day, including the much-requested 6am departure. I assume they'll fill the 8pm hole also.

http://thebat-sf.com/2013/09/17/virg...precheckclear/