clr4t8koff

It's being reported on the other website that DL is relaunching 2x daily BOS - SFO service starting in June 2017. Flights are loaded on delta.com:

Both flights will be on a 757:

BOS- SFO:
7:15a-10:56a
5:00P-8:45p

SFO-BOS:
11:45A - 8:31p
9:30p- 6:18a (+1)


A few interesting things here:

1). DL is immediately putting a 757 on the route, yet their flights to LAX and SEA, both of which are hubs and have multiple connections (SFO has none) are only operated by 738's.

2). SEA is only 1x daily even with the TPAC feed. AS from BOS is 3x daily, and with the recent acquisition of VX will soon have a presence on BOS-SAN, LAX, SFO,SEA. B6 2-3x daily to SEA with Mint coming. B6 will soon have Mint to SAN, LAX, SFO, SEA from BOS. These airlines both have better premium cabins than DL or any of the majors.

3). DL will now have transcons to/from BOS-LAX,SFO,SEA, plus flights to AMS, CDG, LHR and no showers in either of their lounges. I wonder if this is potentially something they would add?

I believe B6's deployment of Mint is going to change the transcon landscape from BOS. Sooner or later the majors are going to blink and pony up their own premium aircraft in order to compete. We've already seen UA do BOS-SFO with PS 757's.

Also being reported:

This weeks OAG has more DL BOS adds - BNA (1x CR9), MBJ (Seasonal) and increased SEA (2x daily). Seems like they're finally focused on growing BOS again.

appleguru

This is great news for me! I don't suppose those 757s will have lie flats up front?

clr4t8koff

At this point, no. They appear to be the newly configured 20-seat F 757's.

However, UA is putting a 777 on the BOS-SFO route starting October 26th this year. These 777s are scheduled to have lie-flats by next year, so DL may change its mind. This will give BOS lie-flats on the SFO run with UA and B6 with Mint, plus VX has a nice premium cabin. DL is obviously going after the O&D business market here and they won't be as competitive with the current plans.

clr4t8koff

What's interesting is that the SFO-BOS flights aren't optimized to connect with the TATL departures DL has from BOS. With the current schedule:

SFO-BOS:
11:45A - 8:31p
9:30p- 6:18a (+1)

the only flights they could connect with would be the second AF BOS-CDG, VS BOS-LHR, as well as AZ BOS-FCO. While AF & VS serves SFO, AZ does not. DL should try to bump the schedule to depart at 9:15am from SFO to arrive in BOS around 6pm to connect to their LHR, AMS and CDG flights, reducing the need to change terminals.

So it looks like DL is purely targeting O&D. Going to be interesting times for consumers as I expect fares to be competitive, especially with B6 and VX on the route.

N639DL

I agree the AM departure from SFO should be moved up to connect with the TATL bank from BOS.

However compare the LAX service from BOS, it gets in around 5pm to make connections. But LAX is served by all of DL's main European partners being AF, AZ (seasonal), KL, and VS.

SEA has none of those partners currently (VS does start next year to replace DL's SEA-LHR) and the SEA-BOS flight does not arrive until 7:55pm and misses the DL bank but could still make AF, AZ, VS (11:30am departure from SEA-BOS-LHR would arrive about 9:30am vs. 9:30pm SEA departure for ~2:30pm LHR arrival).

Additionally VS launches BOS-MAN 3x weekly next summer too. Yes, BOS-SFO/SEA for DL are O/D markets but it would be better to time those arrivals for the international bank in BOS.

injera

With JFK so close to BOS and some TATL flights from DTW and MSP is there really a need to focus on international connections in Boston?

Obvioulsy the more options they can provide, the better.....but if I need to get from SFO to AMS I'm probably better off going via JFK anyhow.

navi_jen

Thank goodness...it's about time. I HATE flying VX. I like my flying to be simple and elegant, not wrapped in disco lighting. But lordy, if they don't have layflats on the redeye, it will be hard to justify not taking Mint.

BostonPlanesAndTrains

I was on a DTW-BOS and almost half the pax were connecting to AMS/LHR/CDG

adambisi

Agreed This is for the big O+D BOS-SFO market. If you want to go to AMS fly the KL flight, go via AF/CDG or go through a DL fortress hub. DL must have crunched the numbers and saw they were sending a lot of people through DTW/MSP/ATL on SFO-BOS. The city pair is one of the top ten 1-stop destinations in the USA domestic market. The more I think of it this route is a no brainer for DL to serve from BOS due to its hublet/focus there.

DL may be wise to keep BOS available as a backup to JFK for other markets that do not have the transatlantic service that SFO and LAX have (CMH IND etc).

clr4t8koff

I'd say you're in the minority with this. In fact there's a whole thread and 26 pages of people disagreeing with you - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...htmare-26.html

Conversely, BOS is a very easy DL-DL connection, and isn't congested like JFK. You won't spend 45-75 minutes in line behind other aircraft waiting to take off.

clr4t8koff

It's impressive DL has quietly started to assemble a collection of non-hub flying from BOS:

BDA, PLS, CUN, MKE, CMH, IND, RDU, RIC, CHS, MCO, FLL, etc...

Next year - SFO, BNA, MBJ

Side Note - MKE, which was only recently added is going to 2x daily, and CMH is being reported as upgauged from an E145 to an E170. With DL giving WN 5 gates, as well as turning over A1 to WS for their flights to YYZ & YHZ, where is DL getting the gates from to operate these new additions?

jdrtravel

If I need to get to Europe from SFO I will either take the KLM or AF nonstop or connect in SEA or PDX on DL. I would not want to spend the time SFO-BOS in a domestic a/c, especially if I were in J. I might go through JFK b/c of the premium service, but still, would rather get on the long haul on the west coast and settle in with time for sleep.

I'm thinking that this is not about connections at all, but rather about providing service between two very strong economic centers. DL has room to grow here at SFO. We now have the best domestic SkyClub in the system, and the lines are always short, and UA is still terrible. There is money to be made here.

3Cforme

If that were true, they were searching for cheaper fares (or upgrades) than DL could get on the non-stops DTW-AMS/LHR/CDG. Any carrier adding capacity and cannibalizing fares on its own flights needs to proceed prudently.

Kacee

Absolutely. This is a prime market for UA with its SFO hub and a pretty bold move by DL.

BostonPlanesAndTrains

I believe that PMAA is moving to PMUS sometime between now and when all these flights startAA will use B4-18 and ... WN will move to ex. PMAA and control those gates.