Xu Guan

Was flying through Seattle this morning in the B gates and there was a Delta agent going gate to gate announcing that they had breakfast set up for everyone in front of B4 and thanking them for flying Delta.

When I went to B4, they had an array of McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, Starbucks Coffee, Parfaits, and OJ from McDonald's and they were using the hashtag #DELTASEASURPRISE to promote the even

While it was a surprise to have breakfast food that seemed way better than the SkyClub, is this something normal for Delta to do or something unique to the SEA airport?

dzflyer

It's called let's take more business from AS

Widgets

Everything to outshine Alaska in Seattle!

Delta people around the system are trying to think of surprises for customers to keep their travel experience fresh.

In my airport, we randomly offer really nice snacks at the boarding door, pass around chocolates on holidays, bust out a Keurig coffee maker in the morning, etc. The fact the United gates are on the other side of the concourse walkway from Delta makes it a stark comparison between the lively Delta crowed and the dark, sad United crowd that never gets these things.

I sometimes invite a few curious United passengers over and serve them some tea.

gloyster

no sky club premium gruel?

jrl767

similar at B7 last Thurs for DL345, the 1120am 763 (26J config, but ex-Gulf Air ship 1505 with no individual air vents) to ATL ... they also offered Pizza Hut slices to the coach passengers before the first beverage service

mnredfox

Yup, only seen this in SEA.

Exiled in Express

Sunday (Mothers' Day) was a pink carnation offered to each arriving female passenger.

BackOfTheBus

Breakfast, pizza and flowers? Enjoy, Seattle passengers! Meanwhile we here in the Southeast have gotten our umpteenth summer fare hike and are enjoying "great sky miles values" like 32,500 skypesos one way to Seattle on a Tuesday. Cheers!

Zeeb

Man, Delta is desperate to take over Seattle.

readywhenyouare

Too bad this song and dance won't work. I know quite a few people in the Seattle area and they tell me that Alaska will always be Seattle's airline. The load factors are also quite bad. One upon a time DL knew they couldn't be everyone's airline and so they focused on what they did well, a good domestic airline with an impressive network to South America and Europe.

BenA

I've also seen a variety of promotions at the gate in ATL for flights departing to SEA - most recently, a cart full of snacks, drinks, toys and games. I've scored decks of playing cards and a book of puzzles from the last two ATL-SEA segments I've flown.

I've only ever seen this done for Seattle flights, although I'm sure they occasionally do it for other cities too.

Ben and Jerry

Plenty of overpriced awards for us Seattle folks too....

BenA

I perceive Delta as having an excellent Europe and Asia network, but South America? Outside of Brazil and the Caribbean, they have pretty poor coverage compared to American - and even the DL Brazil network has taken flight cutbacks this year.

readywhenyouare

I'm talking about pre-merger DL. Their only destination in Asia was NRT. If you look at their restructuring they had quite the buildup of South, Central, and Latin America. I'm not sure what the stats are now but before the merger DL was the largest carrier across the Atlantic.

Northwest was very good to Asia, no denying that. But their international presence pretty much consisted of Asia and a shuttle to AMS. I think they tried serving Costa Rica once but it didn't work out.

kettle1

I think both DL and AS can operate a profitable hub in SEA. It takes time. Look how long it took DL to build up NYC (10+ years).

Does anyone know when the DL/AS partnership agreement ends or comes up for renewal?

If that agreement is not renewed - I would bet that DL really builds SEA fast. Fares would drop just as fast and it would be a bloodbath.

I also guess DL has lots of sales reps in SEA picking up major corporate accounts.

Like I said, it takes time and lots of money to build a hub.

As for the fine folks that live in SEA, they kayak like in every other city. The lowest fare wins for 90% of travelers. AS is a great carrier and many in SEA are loyal, but price and schedule are key. DL currently has the resources to hit AS hard if they wanted.

Just my 2 cents.