Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 at SeaTac Airport – Photo: Don Wilson | Port of Seattle
So, everybody and their brother has been writing about the recent announcement from Delta Air Lines that they’re further expanding their domestic flight schedule out of Seattle (SEA). There have been stories from mainstream media, miles/points bloggers, and (of course) industry watchers such as ourselves. Yet, we wanted to talk amongst ourselves and digest the information before weighing in.
Why is this a story? It’s because Alaska Airlines (AS), which is based out of Seattle, is supposed to be a partner airline with Delta. All three of the recently announced Delta routes are in direct competition with Alaska; actually 8 of Delta’s 13 domestic routes out of Seattle compete with Alaska.
As a guy who grew up in Washington State, and went to college at the University of Washington, I hold a special place in my heart for Alaska. An all-Boeing 737 operator, they have a loyal following in the Northwest. I just flew Alaska to and from Denver, and enjoyed their solid customer service, low-priced First Class upgrades, and great ground experience out of Seattle. (Although, as seems to be common from Denver, I got stuck on the Disneyland plane – am I the only one freaked out by flying on this bird?!).
British Airways Boeing 747-400 at Seattle
Although I know many readers of this site are more interested about the flight itself, I tend to be more intrigued with what goes one between searching for a ticket and stepping on to the plane. Odd for some, I know, but I wanted to share my own insight.
My most recent adventure started when I decided to go to Paris (CDG) from Seattle (SEA) for vacation. After some work, I narrowed my dates to flying out on a Thursday so that I could have a full weekend in-country. Last year, I made the same trip on Icelandair and chose that airline mostly on having the lowest fare. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go with the lowest fare this time; I was also interested in the experience, so I decided to start my ticket hunt early. This all resulted with me flying on a British Airways Boeing 747-400 out of Seattle.
ANA To resume 787 service on the Seattle to Tokyo flights from Fall 2013 – Image: All Nippon Airways
Today All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced that as of the 20th of September 2013, they will be returning the 787 Dreamliner to its daily service from Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) to Seattle (SEA).
The service was started on October 1st 2012, when ANA was the first commercial operator to service Seattle with a 787. However, the route was cancelled after the grounding and battery fire dramas. On the 1st of June the service to Seattle resumed, but a Boeing 777-300ER was used instead. With the resumption of daily flights to Seattle this adds a second daily 787 service to North America with daily flights on the Tokyo to San Jose route as well (which will begin daily service on the 10th July).
Icelandair Boeing 757 in Seattle (SEA).
On May 16th, 2013, Icelandair flew its inaugural flight from Anchorage (ANC) to Keflavàk (KEF) in Iceland. I was not able to swing a trip up to ANC for the festivities, but I was able to take their flight from Seattle (SEA) and join in with the celebration in Iceland. This is my review of flying Icelandair to Iceland and back. Notice: Icelandair covered my trip to/from Iceland. All opinions are my own.
I have flown internationally before and the standard international travel excitement led me to show up way too early. I arrived at noon and still had thirty minutes until Icelandair’s ticket counter opened. Since the airline doesn’t fly every few minutes, they don’t staff their counters at all hours of the day and night — which makes sense. I tend to forget this since I mainly travel with larger carriers and have little problem getting to the airport super early.
Promptly at noon, an Icelandair ticket agent had the place running, checked in my bag, and had me on my way. They recently adopted online check-in and ticketing and it worked perfectly. No paper, no fuss.
ANA Boeing 787 at Paine Field. Photo by David Parker Brown.
As 787s around the world return to the sky after the infamous battery incident, airlines work to get their aircraft back to full utilization. United Airlines resumed domestic services between its major hubs of Houston, Chicago & San Francisco, while Qatar Airways returned their Dreamliner to their short Dubai route before starting service back up to London. All Nippon Airways (ANA), which currently operates the largest 787 fleet of 18 aircraft, will start putting their 787s back to service starting June 1.
Prior to the battery incidents, ANA operates two Dreamliner flights to North America: Seattle (SEA) and San Jose (SJC). Once the grounding came into effect both routes were suspended and the industry speculated what would happen to the destinations. Other 787 services like Frankfurt & Beijing (both served from Tokyo Haneda) were changed to other aircraft to keep them active. Would SJC and SEA remain 787 destinations? Yes and no.
