BlatantEcho wrote:

I'm sad to report, as a long time Alaska booster, I'm jumping ship in 2018.

As my travel grows, Alaska's operational reliability (I am simply not willing to connect in SEA with Horizon) scares me.
Less emotionally, Alaska cutting ties with Delta, and now to a large extent, American, means I can't get to second tier cities east of the Rockies.
Add in mediocre international partners out of PDX (I flew paid Condor business this year, Icelandair a few times, and they underwhelmed), and I can't do it.

I'm moving all my spend to Delta. I'll be back to using the NRT/AMS flights, and will certainly try out the LHR.
Yes, I'll have to connect in SLC, MSP or ATL for some things - but I can't rely on Alaska anymore.

(I'll use AS for the PDX-OAK/SAN type stuff still).

I canceled my BofA Alaska card today, and will put my spend on other cards.

Part of me is sad.
Part of me is honestly mad.

MVP for ~8 years, Gold last 5 years and I'll hit 75k this year for the first time.
I put a lot of faith in Alaska, and I blindly would book them, at any price, to stay loyal.
I flew almost every non-stop in their system out of PDX.

I can't do it anymore.
Want to get to MSN, OKC, TPA, MIA, DEN, BDA, from PDX? Not easy on Alaska anymore.
Delta will get me there in one stop, plus I can get around the world easily.

I know no one at Alaska will care, but, I went out of my way to fly my staff and friends on Alaska.
I've got almost a million miles banked with them that I'll need to burn off.

Oh well, I'm sure Delta won't roll out the red carpet for me, but they can get me where I need to go.
Alaska used to be able to.
They can't anymore, so I'm switching teams :/

flyoregon wrote:

Interesting read and perspective:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/ ... ority.aspx

jbpdx wrote:

flyoregon wrote:

Interesting read and perspective:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/ ... ority.aspx

Good article. I especially liked the “Portland is underappreciated”. One correction: Portland metro is 3.2 million, No. 18 CSA, just behind Orlando. Not sure about the E175 making it to some of the cities mentioned. Priority adds should include BWI year round, FLL, BNA.

Alaska’s dominance in Portland was already growing, despite the temporary recent pullbacks at SkyWest and Horizon, as other carriers seem unwilling to compete and cut tail and run. Frontier is down to one daily departure (Denver), Spirit now has only one daily departure (Las Vegas). Even JetBlue has trimmed BOS and JFK.

Spirit
September 2016. 240
September 2017. 162

JetBlue
September 2016. 256
September 2017. 240

Southwest
September 2016. 2448
September 2017. 2370

Alaska
September 2016. 2100
September 2017. 2490

(# of total flights per month)

BlatantEcho wrote:

I'm sad to report, as a long time Alaska booster, I'm jumping ship in 2018.

As my travel grows, Alaska's operational reliability (I am simply not willing to connect in SEA with Horizon) scares me.
Less emotionally, Alaska cutting ties with Delta, and now to a large extent, American, means I can't get to second tier cities east of the Rockies.
Add in mediocre international partners out of PDX (I flew paid Condor business this year, Icelandair a few times, and they underwhelmed), and I can't do it.

I'm moving all my spend to Delta. I'll be back to using the NRT/AMS flights, and will certainly try out the LHR.
Yes, I'll have to connect in SLC, MSP or ATL for some things - but I can't rely on Alaska anymore.

(I'll use AS for the PDX-OAK/SAN type stuff still).

I canceled my BofA Alaska card today, and will put my spend on other cards.

Part of me is sad.
Part of me is honestly mad.

MVP for ~8 years, Gold last 5 years and I'll hit 75k this year for the first time.
I put a lot of faith in Alaska, and I blindly would book them, at any price, to stay loyal.
I flew almost every non-stop in their system out of PDX.

I can't do it anymore.
Want to get to MSN, OKC, TPA, MIA, DEN, BDA, from PDX? Not easy on Alaska anymore.
Delta will get me there in one stop, plus I can get around the world easily.

I know no one at Alaska will care, but, I went out of my way to fly my staff and friends on Alaska.
I've got almost a million miles banked with them that I'll need to burn off.

Oh well, I'm sure Delta won't roll out the red carpet for me, but they can get me where I need to go.
Alaska used to be able to.
They can't anymore, so I'm switching teams :/

BoeingGuy wrote:

BlatantEcho wrote:

I'm sad to report, as a long time Alaska booster, I'm jumping ship in 2018.

As my travel grows, Alaska's operational reliability (I am simply not willing to connect in SEA with Horizon) scares me.
Less emotionally, Alaska cutting ties with Delta, and now to a large extent, American, means I can't get to second tier cities east of the Rockies.
Add in mediocre international partners out of PDX (I flew paid Condor business this year, Icelandair a few times, and they underwhelmed), and I can't do it.

I'm moving all my spend to Delta. I'll be back to using the NRT/AMS flights, and will certainly try out the LHR.
Yes, I'll have to connect in SLC, MSP or ATL for some things - but I can't rely on Alaska anymore.

(I'll use AS for the PDX-OAK/SAN type stuff still).

I canceled my BofA Alaska card today, and will put my spend on other cards.

Part of me is sad.
Part of me is honestly mad.

MVP for ~8 years, Gold last 5 years and I'll hit 75k this year for the first time.
I put a lot of faith in Alaska, and I blindly would book them, at any price, to stay loyal.
I flew almost every non-stop in their system out of PDX.

I can't do it anymore.
Want to get to MSN, OKC, TPA, MIA, DEN, BDA, from PDX? Not easy on Alaska anymore.
Delta will get me there in one stop, plus I can get around the world easily.

I know no one at Alaska will care, but, I went out of my way to fly my staff and friends on Alaska.
I've got almost a million miles banked with them that I'll need to burn off.

Oh well, I'm sure Delta won't roll out the red carpet for me, but they can get me where I need to go.
Alaska used to be able to.
They can't anymore, so I'm switching teams :/

I understand your point. I'm a big AS fan too, but they've done some things that i find curious, especially breaking domestic mileage ties with AA. I posted on their web page that is one of those decisions that bean counters make, but don't see the whole picture. It makes me less likely to go out of my way to fly AS in the future either. Want to get to GSP on AS or any partners? LFT maybe? Forget it.

What's even sillier is that if you fly internationally out of SEA on AA. Say you fly SEA-DFW-EZE. You earn AS miles for the AA DFW-EZE segment, but not SEA-DFW. How silly is that?

BoeingGuy wrote:

BlatantEcho wrote:

I'm sad to report, as a long time Alaska booster, I'm jumping ship in 2018.

As my travel grows, Alaska's operational reliability (I am simply not willing to connect in SEA with Horizon) scares me.
Less emotionally, Alaska cutting ties with Delta, and now to a large extent, American, means I can't get to second tier cities east of the Rockies.
Add in mediocre international partners out of PDX (I flew paid Condor business this year, Icelandair a few times, and they underwhelmed), and I can't do it.

I'm moving all my spend to Delta. I'll be back to using the NRT/AMS flights, and will certainly try out the LHR.
Yes, I'll have to connect in SLC, MSP or ATL for some things - but I can't rely on Alaska anymore.

(I'll use AS for the PDX-OAK/SAN type stuff still).

I canceled my BofA Alaska card today, and will put my spend on other cards.

Part of me is sad.
Part of me is honestly mad.

MVP for ~8 years, Gold last 5 years and I'll hit 75k this year for the first time.
I put a lot of faith in Alaska, and I blindly would book them, at any price, to stay loyal.
I flew almost every non-stop in their system out of PDX.

I can't do it anymore.
Want to get to MSN, OKC, TPA, MIA, DEN, BDA, from PDX? Not easy on Alaska anymore.
Delta will get me there in one stop, plus I can get around the world easily.

I know no one at Alaska will care, but, I went out of my way to fly my staff and friends on Alaska.
I've got almost a million miles banked with them that I'll need to burn off.

Oh well, I'm sure Delta won't roll out the red carpet for me, but they can get me where I need to go.
Alaska used to be able to.
They can't anymore, so I'm switching teams :/

I understand your point. I'm a big AS fan too, but they've done some things that i find curious, especially breaking many domestic mileage ties with AA. I posted on their web page that is one of those decisions that bean counters make, but don't see the whole picture. It makes me less likely to go out of my way to fly AS in the future either. Want to get to GSP on AS or any partners? LFT maybe? Forget it.

What's even sillier is that if you fly internationally out of SEA on AA. Say you fly SEA-DFW-EZE. You earn AS miles for the AA DFW-EZE segment, but not SEA-DFW. How silly is that?

32andBelow wrote:

BoeingGuy wrote:

BlatantEcho wrote:

I'm sad to report, as a long time Alaska booster, I'm jumping ship in 2018.

As my travel grows, Alaska's operational reliability (I am simply not willing to connect in SEA with Horizon) scares me.
Less emotionally, Alaska cutting ties with Delta, and now to a large extent, American, means I can't get to second tier cities east of the Rockies.
Add in mediocre international partners out of PDX (I flew paid Condor business this year, Icelandair a few times, and they underwhelmed), and I can't do it.

I'm moving all my spend to Delta. I'll be back to using the NRT/AMS flights, and will certainly try out the LHR.
Yes, I'll have to connect in SLC, MSP or ATL for some things - but I can't rely on Alaska anymore.

(I'll use AS for the PDX-OAK/SAN type stuff still).

I canceled my BofA Alaska card today, and will put my spend on other cards.

Part of me is sad.
Part of me is honestly mad.

MVP for ~8 years, Gold last 5 years and I'll hit 75k this year for the first time.
I put a lot of faith in Alaska, and I blindly would book them, at any price, to stay loyal.
I flew almost every non-stop in their system out of PDX.

I can't do it anymore.
Want to get to MSN, OKC, TPA, MIA, DEN, BDA, from PDX? Not easy on Alaska anymore.
Delta will get me there in one stop, plus I can get around the world easily.

I know no one at Alaska will care, but, I went out of my way to fly my staff and friends on Alaska.
I've got almost a million miles banked with them that I'll need to burn off.

Oh well, I'm sure Delta won't roll out the red carpet for me, but they can get me where I need to go.
Alaska used to be able to.
They can't anymore, so I'm switching teams :/

I understand your point. I'm a big AS fan too, but they've done some things that i find curious, especially breaking many domestic mileage ties with AA. I posted on their web page that is one of those decisions that bean counters make, but don't see the whole picture. It makes me less likely to go out of my way to fly AS in the future either. Want to get to GSP on AS or any partners? LFT maybe? Forget it.

What's even sillier is that if you fly internationally out of SEA on AA. Say you fly SEA-DFW-EZE. You earn AS miles for the AA DFW-EZE segment, but not SEA-DFW. How silly is that?

I thought they had to end codeshare on hub to hub. Of course you could fly the AS segment SEA-DFW instead...

Chugach wrote:

When I lived in ANC, the choice was easy...AS. Not other airline comes remotely close to the breadth of service AS offers at ANC.

Now that I’m in PDX, I’ve started to reconsider my options and have basically settled on something like this...

1. If AS serves the route nonstop from PDX, I’ll fly AS (assuming the price isn’t out of whack)

2. If there is nonstop service not on AS, I’ll fly that airline nonstop.

3. If a connection is required, I’ll give AS the right of first refusal but if prices or connection location are better than I’m not going to blindly stick with AS in that situation.

Considering about 3/4 of my travel spend is currently to Alaska (ANC/FAI/JNU) AS will still get a lot of money from me, but DL is an increasingly viable option from Alaska in situations where a connection is required (I.e. PDX-FAI).

jbpdx wrote:

flyoregon wrote:

Interesting read and perspective:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/ ... ority.aspx

Good article. I especially liked the “Portland is underappreciated”. One correction: Portland metro is 3.2 million, No. 18 CSA, just behind Orlando. Not sure about the E175 making it to some of the cities mentioned. Priority adds should include BWI year round, FLL, BNA.

FA9295 wrote:

jbpdx wrote:

flyoregon wrote:

Interesting read and perspective:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/ ... ority.aspx

Good article. I especially liked the “Portland is underappreciated”. One correction: Portland metro is 3.2 million, No. 18 CSA, just behind Orlando. Not sure about the E175 making it to some of the cities mentioned. Priority adds should include BWI year round, FLL, BNA.

Recently, AS updated their timetable and it looks like ATL, BWI, MKE, and PHL are all becoming year-round service...

Also, I'm not sure why that article mentioned Tulsa and Memphis. They don't even serve those cities from SEA. I would see the following AS E175 routes within the next few years.

PDX-DEN
PDX-FAI
PDX-ICT
PDX-IND
PDX-OKC
PDX-BNA
PDX-MSY
PDX-SAT

That's just my opinion on what markets I think may have some potential. I'm not taking into account that the E175 may not be able to fly the distance between the two destinations...

BlatantEcho wrote:

If Alaska had any brains, they would be flowing a lot more connections through PDX.

Yakima, Boise, Montana, even Bellingham.
Airport is less constrained, there is less competition and there is room for expansion.
That leaves them to price more seats out of SEA for O&D customers as well, which I'm sure doesn't hurt.

And while I hope they add all those above cities, and year round service is great.... the reality is that a lot of travels still can't get to major and minor cities on Alaska easily.

Miami FL, Madison WI, Albany NY, Nassau Bahamas, Traverse City MI, Columbus OH, Providence RI
Those are just some of the domestic cities I have to visit in 2018.
That's just domestic...

And Alaska can't help me.

Add in Bay Area stuff, Tampa FL, Oklahoma City, OK, Sheboygan, WI, Denver, CO and again, unless I connect in SEA (which I refuse to do at this point). I'm stuck.

Can't use AA and connect in DFW or ORD.
Can't use DL and connect in SLC or ATL or MSP.

So, no matter how many non-stops they add, without a midwest hub or something, I'm left hung out to dry.

I wish they add more connections to PDX, and I hope I can use more of them.
But for now, well, folks like myself who need to get around, have to look elsewhere :/

BlatantEcho wrote:

If Alaska had any brains, they would be flowing a lot more connections through PDX.

Yakima, Boise, Montana, even Bellingham.
Airport is less constrained, there is less competition and there is room for expansion.
That leaves them to price more seats out of SEA for O&D customers as well, which I'm sure doesn't hurt.

And while I hope they add all those above cities, and year round service is great.... the reality is that a lot of travels still can't get to major and minor cities on Alaska easily.

Miami FL, Madison WI, Albany NY, Nassau Bahamas, Traverse City MI, Columbus OH, Providence RI
Those are just some of the domestic cities I have to visit in 2018.
That's just domestic...

And Alaska can't help me.

Add in Bay Area stuff, Tampa FL, Oklahoma City, OK, Sheboygan, WI, Denver, CO and again, unless I connect in SEA (which I refuse to do at this point). I'm stuck.

Can't use AA and connect in DFW or ORD.
Can't use DL and connect in SLC or ATL or MSP.

So, no matter how many non-stops they add, without a midwest hub or something, I'm left hung out to dry.

I wish they add more connections to PDX, and I hope I can use more of them.
But for now, well, folks like myself who need to get around, have to look elsewhere :/

32andBelow wrote:

BlatantEcho wrote:

If Alaska had any brains, they would be flowing a lot more connections through PDX.

Yakima, Boise, Montana, even Bellingham.
Airport is less constrained, there is less competition and there is room for expansion.
That leaves them to price more seats out of SEA for O&D customers as well, which I'm sure doesn't hurt.

And while I hope they add all those above cities, and year round service is great.... the reality is that a lot of travels still can't get to major and minor cities on Alaska easily.

Miami FL, Madison WI, Albany NY, Nassau Bahamas, Traverse City MI, Columbus OH, Providence RI
Those are just some of the domestic cities I have to visit in 2018.
That's just domestic...

And Alaska can't help me.

Add in Bay Area stuff, Tampa FL, Oklahoma City, OK, Sheboygan, WI, Denver, CO and again, unless I connect in SEA (which I refuse to do at this point). I'm stuck.

Can't use AA and connect in DFW or ORD.
Can't use DL and connect in SLC or ATL or MSP.

So, no matter how many non-stops they add, without a midwest hub or something, I'm left hung out to dry.

I wish they add more connections to PDX, and I hope I can use more of them.
But for now, well, folks like myself who need to get around, have to look elsewhere :/

I have no idea why we don't have like 5X ANC/PDX. There is no reason for us to connect in SEA all the time.

kwbl wrote:

I believe continental flew Pdx-anc seasonally. I know TWA did it as well

pnwpdx wrote:

Does anyone know if Delta is bringing back their seasonal HNL service to PDX?

jbpdx wrote:

pnwpdx wrote:

Does anyone know if Delta is bringing back their seasonal HNL service to PDX?

Seems like LIH and KOA started early this year and KOA daily is new?

Honolulu
AS 738 daily
HA 332 daily
DL 739 (21 Dec-2 Jan)

Maui
AS 738 daily
AS 738 x3
HA 321 daily (starts 19 Jan)

Kona
AS 738 daily

Kauai
AS 738 x357

bigfoot0503 wrote:

jbpdx wrote:

pnwpdx wrote:

Does anyone know if Delta is bringing back their seasonal HNL service to PDX?

Seems like LIH and KOA started early this year and KOA daily is new?

Honolulu
AS 738 daily
HA 332 daily
DL 739 (21 Dec-2 Jan)

Maui
AS 738 daily
AS 738 x3
HA 321 daily (starts 19 Jan)

Kona
AS 738 daily

Kauai
AS 738 x357

As a point of clarification...Delta amended their PDX-HNL schedule. The original schedule witnessed a Saturday non-stop flight continuing through at least February, I'm no longer seeing that.

ooslc wrote:

bigfoot0503 wrote:

jbpdx wrote:

Seems like LIH and KOA started early this year and KOA daily is new?

Honolulu
AS 738 daily
HA 332 daily
DL 739 (21 Dec-2 Jan)

Maui
AS 738 daily
AS 738 x3
HA 321 daily (starts 19 Jan)

Kona
AS 738 daily

Kauai
AS 738 x357

As a point of clarification...Delta amended their PDX-HNL schedule. The original schedule witnessed a Saturday non-stop flight continuing through at least February, I'm no longer seeing that.

I'm seeing a Sat only flight from Feb 17th-Mar 31st.

jbpdx wrote:

Am I wrong or has Alaska’s PDX-KOA flight been increased and extended this year? I don’t remember it operating daily thru 20 May (wasn’t it 4x/week last year?) and it will operate 4x/week thru 17 August. I can’t find any announcement.

Aeromexico’s PDX-MEX nonstop begins Friday. AM now operates as many daily flights in/out of PDX as Frontier.

Spirit is launching PDX-DTW. Really?

BlatantEcho wrote:

I booked PDX-MEX next month. never been to Mexico City.

Was going to credit to Alaska, but now will to DL as I switch over.
Another thing that hurt Alaska, losing partners that were useable with non-stops from PDX.

—
Now, when is PDX-ICN going to start???

jbpdx wrote:

Spirit is launching PDX-DTW. Really?

TransWorldOne wrote:

BlatantEcho wrote:

I booked PDX-MEX next month. never been to Mexico City.

Was going to credit to Alaska, but now will to DL as I switch over.
Another thing that hurt Alaska, losing partners that were useable with non-stops from PDX.

—
Now, when is PDX-ICN going to start???

When does the DL/KE JV go into full effect? I expect that will be when DL launches PDX-ICN on a 763. The question is, will it replace PDX-NRT or operate alongside it? Is PDX-NRT mostly connecting traffic or primarily O&D?

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

910A wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

What a move, right at the beginning of the holiday travel period.

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

PDX757 wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

Shame. KS had a nice little hub going.

ANCHORAGE – PenAir announced today that their last day of operating between Crescent City, California, and Portland, Oregon, will be December 15, 2017.

PenAir started operating between the two markets on September 15, 2015 under an Essential Air Service contract with the Department of Transportation. Beginning in early October of 2016 they added several other routes to their resume including Arcata/Eureka, CA; Redding, CA; Coos Bay/North Bend, OR; and Klamath Falls, OR.

In August of 2017 the company entered into Chapter 11 and began closing their Pacific Northwest markets out of Portland, OR. “As part of the Chapter 11 process, the company was obligated to begin eliminating those markets that were not making money. It was a tough decision to make considering the future opportunities we could see in each of these markets”, said President Danny Seybert.

“The City of Crescent City has chosen another carrier to operate out of Crescent City; however, that carrier is not ready to enter the market for several months, said Sr. Vice President of Ground Operations, Murphy Forner. We are not able to continue to service the market until the new carrier is able to start service.”

Customers currently holding reservations/tickets on PenAir after December 16, 2017 may contact PenAir Reservations at 800-448-4226 for a full refund.

PDX757 wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

Shame. KS had a nice little hub going.

BoeingGuy wrote:

PDX757 wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

KS last day at CEC and PDX is 15DEC

Shame. KS had a nice little hub going.

It's really too bad. My dad lives in LMT and I have an uncle in RDD. I was really happy when K5 started these kind of markets from PDX.

However, I flew to LMT last Thanksgiving and it was kind of a joke. The 1pm flight was 7 hours late (you could drive there faster). The evening flight had the usual - 2 hours late; 3 hours late; 4 hours late; cancelled. There was only one employee who had any clue what she was doing or even seemed to care. She being a former AS employee from ANC, she said. K5 had gate agents at PDX who didn't even know what time the flights were scheduled to leave or how to issue a ticket.

One gate agent wrote a supposed ticket on the back of a used ticket stub (from someone else) about a supposed make up extra section the next day. Needless to say, I had no confidence that such a flight existed. I got on the late 1pm flight only because they removed two guys who'd sat on that airplane at the gate for 5 hours. Everyone around said it was totally unjustified; their conduct was fine.

The return from LMT was a bit better. Only 1 1/2 hours late because no-one could figure out how to get the de-icing truck started. I barely made my PDX connection, but made it.

K5 was just a terribly incompetent rinky-dink operation in my observation. Great concept but horribly managed. That's really too bad. I'm sure the CEO lined his pockets with money though.

I wish QX could make a run at LMT, CEC, ACV, and RDD with a once a day Q400.

jbpdx wrote:

Wonder what happened on the inaugural flight?

Aeromexico (AM) 497
Status: Arrived - Recovered

Departure: Portland, OR (PDX)
Scheduled: 23:20, Dec 1
Takeoff: 23:51, Dec 1

Arrival: Mexico City, Mexico (MEX)
Scheduled: 06:35, Dec 2
Diverted To: Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL)
At Gate: 07:12, Dec 2
Terminal-Gate: P

Diversion Departure: Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL)
Takeoff: 08:08, Dec 2

Arrival: Mexico City, Mexico (MEX)
At Gate: 10:21, Dec 2