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Interview with Janet Lamkin, UA President of California

Interview with Janet Lamkin, UA President of California

Old Mar 7, 2019, 8:55 am
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Interview with Janet Lamkin, UA President of California

https://crankyflier.com/2019/03/07/t...of-california/

Podcast with Janet Lamkin. Not too much groundbreaking besides possible bus service from OAK.

Some points:
- want more SFO gates
- possible bus service from Oakland to SFO?
- want more underserved / unserved markets from LAX
- Madison bookings look good from LAX
- CRJ550 unlikely to make it to the west coast for now
- moving forward on LAX Terminal 9, would ideally like to move *A to new complex
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:27 am
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A good piece and some interesting insight on how United views LAX in the context of its West Coast strategy. It would almost seem that United is trying to rebuild the LAX hub, scrapping service to competitive O&D markets ("maybe not to run a 10th flight to a destination everybody else is going") but instead targeting underserved business-oriented routes, which she described as the "beginning" of a hub-and-spoke strategy. As you note, MSN forward bookings have been successful, and UA is adding more such markets which will presumably be higher-yield and contribute incremental flow traffic through more unique connecting opportunities.

I've heard it before but she solidifies the notion that T9 might end up being part of a bigger *A co-location project, which would make sense.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:41 am
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It's not "creative" but offering actual air service at OAK would be a lot more useful for serving East Bay passengers than bus service. Where would bus service even go, and how would it ever be more convenient than BART?
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:43 am
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Why would any one want to take a United bus from OAK to SFO?

Now, if United offered a post-security ferry from OAK to SFO (along the lines of HKG's post-immigration ferries to Macau and the PRC), that would be interesting. Drive to OAK, go through security there, and get on a ferry to SFO to skip the crowded bridges.

It'll never happen though.


Originally Posted by ucdtim17
It's not "creative" but offering actual air service at OAK would be a lot more useful for serving East Bay passengers than bus service. Where would bus service even go, and how would it ever be more convenient than BART?
Exactly. How about OAK-DEN, OAK-ORD, and OAK-IAH 2-3x daily to start with? And if things work out, add EWR later.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 10:42 am
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Originally Posted by smxflyer
... - want more underserved / unserved markets from LAX ...
Were any specific markets mentioned? I, for one, would love service back to CIC ... and preferably not through SFO. I always felt that UA pulled back too far from the smaller markets in California when they scaled back a few years ago.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 11:18 am
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Originally Posted by iapetus
Were any specific markets mentioned? I, for one, would love service back to CIC ... and preferably not through SFO. I always felt that UA pulled back too far from the smaller markets in California when they scaled back a few years ago.
In reality, many of those were at-risk markets flown by SkyWest, so UA wasn't contracting for the service and didn't call the shots when service was pulled. These were mostly EMB-120 markets that went away when that fleet was retired.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 11:59 am
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Originally Posted by EWR764
In reality, many of those were at-risk markets flown by SkyWest, so UA wasn't contracting for the service and didn't call the shots when service was pulled. These were mostly EMB-120 markets that went away when that fleet was retired.
Agreed. And some of those markets don't have the facilities to handle larger planes (e.g. CIC). But I can dream!


Actually, in the case of CIC, I know that there is a group lobbying for the return of commercial service there, but I don't know how they're going to do what would need to be done to make it all happen.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 12:37 pm
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Originally Posted by sincx
Exactly. How about OAK-DEN, OAK-ORD, and OAK-IAH 2-3x daily to start with? And if things work out, add EWR later.
All four markets having been flown in the past by UA or CO, before United's gradual and then total surrender to WN at OAK
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 2:44 pm
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The only way I see bus service making sense is if it involves pre-SFO bag checking (think cruise lines / disney resorts where you don't deal with your bag once you get on the bus).

I can also see it as a convenience in some regards for comfort. I live in east bay and fly out of SFO. While I can easily take BART, if I have a flight anywhere near peak hours its a miserable way to get to the airport due to overcrowding. The busses from east bay can skip the majority of traffic across the bay bridge due to the bus lane approach to the bay bridge. They'll still get caught in 101 traffic, though, which BART avoids.

Amtrak similarly runs busses from the city to Emeryville station, but I'm not aware of the specific regarding luggage. The post-security ferry would be interesting, but agree it will never happen for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is I doubt OAK would be interested in giving up parking space to non-OAK passengers when they're trying to expand.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 3:56 pm
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The ABE buses load post security at EWR and bags are seamless.

ABE - EWR bags are checked at ABE but you clear security at EWR.

I guess thats something for XXX-SFO-OAK but would need to be at least hourly to make much sense given the alternatives.

And no bus lane advantage Eastbound SFO-OAK.

But extra PQMs for a short ride in theory...

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Old Mar 7, 2019, 4:01 pm
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Originally Posted by ucdtim17
All four markets having been flown in the past by UA or CO, before United's gradual and then total surrender to WN at OAK
I used to love flying CO EWR-OAK route.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:05 pm
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Huh ?? ......"UA President of California" ?
Why ?
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:52 pm
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Originally Posted by FlyingNone
Huh ?? ......"UA President of California" ?
Why ?
created 18 months ago - UA add NYC & California president role
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 9:55 pm
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SJC LAX seems like an obvious route
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 10:19 pm
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Originally Posted by flyerbaby19
SJC LAX seems like an obvious route
There was a time this was the most contested single airline route in the world in terms of number of airlines flying it - including United.

Between a few dropping out (incl UA) and mergers, it's now down to only 4 airlines flying it (AA, AS, DL, WN), which is still a reasonable number, but I personally would love to see it come back on UA if only to increase the number of options for 1-stop connections out of the south bay.
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