ChasenSFO
hen teaser
Oh boy, lets throw in the hard-plastic-backed slim seats that freggin Frontier and Spirit use that start to hurt your back on flights over 2 hours. And hell, lets put hard plastic seat backs on the first class seats, too! Because nothing welcomes the Virgin America first class crowd used to plush white leather electric recliners that damn-near lie flat and have a massage function and leg rest like staring at white plastic with a magazine propped into it for 6 hours...with less legroom.
Just like American with AirCal and USAir with PSA, obviously Virgin was going bye bye. Gates routes and West Coast frequent flyers are what AS obviously wanted(plus one less competitor from NorCal/SoCal to the PacNW). Which is fine, that's business. But don't try and feed this, "We <3 u Virgin and we will merge our souls into something new and amazing, here, have a salted caramel bacon donut" crap to the public and the employees when you can shorten it to, "We're gonna make the cabin less comfortable, but add mood lighting. Thanks for the mood lighting, Virgin".
Obviously those who don't live on the West Coast aren't really going to notice much of a difference, but already, the $70k+ 20/30-something crowd(and out here, there are a lot of them...) that frequents Virgin America is already becoming very vocal about how little traction their Elevate Points get when transferred to Alaska. They should have done their homework, though, as even 20,000 bonus miles on Alaska would have left me with significantly less rewards than I currently may earn with my point balance on Virgin. I knew people liked Virgin out here, but this merger has actually come up constantly with my non-aviation friends who take flights like people take the bus and usually don't give air travel much of a thought. Operationally, Alaska is awesome, and I'm sure some will prefer the more traditional airline over the hip and different to be different airline. But...Alaska is just another airline. A good airline run better than most other airlines, who does take care of the pax...but still, an airline.
Some perspective is a seemingly disproportionate amount of DJs and other entertainment artists request transportation on Virgin America when possible as listed on their riders(pretty much a list of "demands" for booking them). Airlines aren't usually specified on these things, so that speaks volumes of the "vibe" Virgin America has created for itself. I really question if in 3 years those same people will specifically request Alaska...
Good luck to Alaska, anyway. But from a gate planning perspective, I can tell you that SFO growth will be very, very limited. Split ops will only be able to accommodate a small portion of the AS flights at SFO on T2, and as far as the bulk of flights on the International Terminal, SFO has very clearly taken the stance of, "Hey, it's cool you guys are adding all this SFO flying but, you operate on the International Terminal, and we won't hesitate to block your new flights if an International Carrier wants those slots/gates". What's more, when a cloud rolls in over the San Mateo bridge and flights back up, let's say Alaska has a 737 on the ground and has a gate but an international wide body is 10 out and needs a gate, guess who is getting their gate stolen and holding 30 mins for the next one, regardless of connecting pax(nothing personal but gotta do mah job)? Trouble be a brewin' unless AS chooses to stop SFO growth and move to SJC which is already a focus city. Probably not a good sign that many AS ops/mx veterans from the 80s and 90s(some of which were around for the Alaska/Jet America merger in Long Beach!) are retiring as a direct result of the merger from SFO faster than the airline can train new agents...who will be thrown into the fire with a split ops hub.
Just like American with AirCal and USAir with PSA, obviously Virgin was going bye bye. Gates routes and West Coast frequent flyers are what AS obviously wanted(plus one less competitor from NorCal/SoCal to the PacNW). Which is fine, that's business. But don't try and feed this, "We <3 u Virgin and we will merge our souls into something new and amazing, here, have a salted caramel bacon donut" crap to the public and the employees when you can shorten it to, "We're gonna make the cabin less comfortable, but add mood lighting. Thanks for the mood lighting, Virgin".
Obviously those who don't live on the West Coast aren't really going to notice much of a difference, but already, the $70k+ 20/30-something crowd(and out here, there are a lot of them...) that frequents Virgin America is already becoming very vocal about how little traction their Elevate Points get when transferred to Alaska. They should have done their homework, though, as even 20,000 bonus miles on Alaska would have left me with significantly less rewards than I currently may earn with my point balance on Virgin. I knew people liked Virgin out here, but this merger has actually come up constantly with my non-aviation friends who take flights like people take the bus and usually don't give air travel much of a thought. Operationally, Alaska is awesome, and I'm sure some will prefer the more traditional airline over the hip and different to be different airline. But...Alaska is just another airline. A good airline run better than most other airlines, who does take care of the pax...but still, an airline.
Some perspective is a seemingly disproportionate amount of DJs and other entertainment artists request transportation on Virgin America when possible as listed on their riders(pretty much a list of "demands" for booking them). Airlines aren't usually specified on these things, so that speaks volumes of the "vibe" Virgin America has created for itself. I really question if in 3 years those same people will specifically request Alaska...
Good luck to Alaska, anyway. But from a gate planning perspective, I can tell you that SFO growth will be very, very limited. Split ops will only be able to accommodate a small portion of the AS flights at SFO on T2, and as far as the bulk of flights on the International Terminal, SFO has very clearly taken the stance of, "Hey, it's cool you guys are adding all this SFO flying but, you operate on the International Terminal, and we won't hesitate to block your new flights if an International Carrier wants those slots/gates". What's more, when a cloud rolls in over the San Mateo bridge and flights back up, let's say Alaska has a 737 on the ground and has a gate but an international wide body is 10 out and needs a gate, guess who is getting their gate stolen and holding 30 mins for the next one, regardless of connecting pax(nothing personal but gotta do mah job)? Trouble be a brewin' unless AS chooses to stop SFO growth and move to SJC which is already a focus city. Probably not a good sign that many AS ops/mx veterans from the 80s and 90s(some of which were around for the Alaska/Jet America merger in Long Beach!) are retiring as a direct result of the merger from SFO faster than the airline can train new agents...who will be thrown into the fire with a split ops hub.
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It may be hard to believe but the brand thing was huge and many people (pilots included) thought VX would stay in some way. 
