10 replies to this topic

[BuffaloJoe]

I was looking at the booking section and it has listed PHL-SFO with 6 N/S, 1 being CO op westbound. Seems wild that UA would add all those flights just due to Virgin America doing 2. US has 5/Day also. Just seems like there is going to be a war this summer. LAX flight is a AM departure too in APR.

[jimntx]

Is there a chance that the UA/CO flights are "operated by US Airways"? They all do codeshare a lot.

[BuffaloJoe]

jimntx, on 29 January 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

Is there a chance that the UA/CO flights are "operated by US Airways"? They all do codeshare a lot.

But the US flight times are different as well as equipment. US flies A321's on the route as UA flies A319 and 1 CO-738 W/B. And I think that they can not codeshare between PHL-SFO only flights.

[zethya]

OAG Schedule for 7/20/2012 (Peak Season to the West Coast) :
PHL-SFO
UA 4 Non Stops and 1 One Stop
US 5 Non Stops
VX 2 Non Stops

UA has 2 PHL Departing flights scheduled with 10 minutes of VX's.

9 against 2 - That's a bit of a lopsided challenge. Seems that US would care less about VX at PHL if they are planning to merge with AA and switch to OW. Kind of a shame that U.S. airlines will do anything to destroy VX and deprive the consumer the benefit of choosing a higher quality product. IMO, the really difficult challenge for VX is to convince high yield passengers to leave Alliance members and choose VX - which cannot offer any international FF travel benefits - not even on other Virgin affiliates (e.g., Virgin Atlantic). I'm afraid that unless US does actually merge out of *A, VX's days on this route may be numbered.

[BuffaloJoe]

12 Nonstops in May

US-5
UA-4
VX-2
CO-1

I included CO with UA in the title, but UA had a 11:45am nonstop that got pulled off. It may have been on for a short time. Also the CO and UA flights 2 of them leave within 50 minutes of each other with US's flight in the middle. With VX flying 3 to LAX, I wonder what DL's response will be. US has 6 on the LAX flight.

[WorldTraveler]

With VX decision to enter the market, UA has no choice but to add service in order to protect its key hub

[jimntx]

BuffaloJoe, on 31 January 2012 - 10:23 PM, said:

12 Nonstops in May

US-5
UA-4
VX-2
CO-1

I included CO with UA in the title, but UA had a 11:45am nonstop that got pulled off. It may have been on for a short time. Also the CO and UA flights 2 of them leave within 50 minutes of each other with US's flight in the middle. With VX flying 3 to LAX, I wonder what DL's response will be. US has 6 on the LAX flight.

At some point, someone is going to have to answer the question...Does the PHL-SFO market justify 12 non-stop transcons/day? As important as SFO has been to AA over the years, we have been cutting back in the SFO market in general.

[BoeingBoy]

To/from SFO by itself? Probably not an a year around basis, at least not with average load factors high enough to be profitable. The bay area? Yes, if passengers can be attracted to SFO because of the competition (i.e. lower fares which hurts US/UA more than VX).

Jim