Goodbye Virgin America

I tried reading from where I left off.

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Yes, true. The official phrase for going towards SOC is "Adopt and Go Alaska"


Some have a problem with that. I say just go with the flow and it will save on the antacids.

Yea, I gotta give credit to Alaska, they did lead us on to think they weren't going to totally and utterly hack the brand and image to death at first. Hopefully everyone understands now that we will be flying 737s with Eskimos on the tail in 5 years.
 
Dayaaaam, those 12 inch, 100 spoke daytons look tiiiiiiight, yo. Watch me as I hit them switches.

Straight up. I lease-to-own mine from K-Momo because mom's been trippin' and she want me to pay rent now.
 
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That's the short term plan and unless I'm missing something, there is no other decent alternative. What would you recommend? Fact is VX is in T2, AA is here as well with nowhere to go, and AS is in the Intl terminal. The long term plan is once the new T1 is done and AA leaves T2, then both VX/AS would share T2.
I'd recommend that when 6+ months ago Alaska submitted SFO-PDX flights on the Q400, and the airport told them "Breh, that plane don't fit on Term A or T2 and we ain't finna fit it", they should have listened instead of throwing a 3rd terminal into the mix. A busing operation is very difficult for a lot of reasons I can't really talk about...but this won't run as smoothly(probably not the right word) as it does in LAX. Trust me. T1 is under constant renovation and demolition and the route and method of transport to/from the gates/TSA checkpoint/other terminals will change constantly...you don't want to be part of that. It is also worth noting that by starting ground boarding off the only remote pads within a 30 minute tow of the Alaska's operation(the ones by the parking garage are going bye bye)...now any extended mechanical or GDP delay Alaska has on the INTL terminal will have to tow across the airport and back which could take 1.5 hours each way if the 10s are in use. I would highly advise against connecting onto the T1 PDX flights if there are clouds in the sky that day.

The way this construction is progressing, any kind of split operation at SFO will be awful with the exception of AA being in 2 concourses. I worked for a carrier with T3/T1 split ops for a few years, things never got better and eventually the T1 operation was closed. There is very limited infrastructure when a major airport is all at the spoke of a tiny circle design...

Honestly if I was VX/AS, I would have waited until T1 was complete to flood SFO with new flights and focused on SJC. SJC is a Southwest strong hold on the West Coast but with almost no other competition to the rest of the country and has been ignored by the ULCCs(so far) like Spirit and Frontier and has many gates open most of the day....and happens to already be an Alaska focus city and surrounded by very high income people who love leisure travel. Turn it into a class bravo, beef up Oakland, then when you're done, fill up SFO T1 and have a true Bay Area hub vs GDP ridden SFO delaying 1/3 of the flights in the system through-out the day.
 
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Yea, I gotta give credit to Alaska, they did lead us on to think they weren't going to totally and utterly hack the brand and image to death at first. Hopefully everyone understands now that we will be flying 737s with Eskimos on the tail in 5 years.

I disagree. Not sure how much more clear this picture could get on the April 4th merger announcement date:


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The writing was already there on day 1. Some just refused to believe and/or accept it, and some have too much of a lovefest over the red-tailed brand. Seriously, name one airline merger in which both airline names survived in the United States. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
 
I'd recommend that when 6+ months ago Alaska submitted SFO-PDX flights on the Q400, and the airport told them "Breh, that plane don't fit on Term A or T2 and we ain't finna fit it", they should have listened instead of throwing a 3rd terminal into the mix. A busing operation is very difficult for a lot of reasons I can't really talk about...but this won't run as smoothly(probably not the right word) as it does in LAX. Trust me. T1 is under constant renovation and demolition and the route and method of transport to/from the gates/TSA checkpoint/other terminals will change constantly...you don't want to be part of that. It is also worth noting that by starting ground boarding off the only remote pads within a 30 minute tow of the Alaska's operation(the ones by the parking garage are going bye bye)...now any extended mechanical or GDP delay Alaska has on the INTL terminal will have to tow across the airport and back which could take 1.5 hours each way if the 10s are in use. I would highly advise against connecting onto the T1 PDX flights if there are clouds in the sky that day.

The way this construction is progressing, any kind of split operation at SFO will be awful with the exception of AA being in 2 concourses. I worked for a carrier with T3/T1 split ops for a few years, things never got better and eventually the T1 operation was closed. There is very limited infrastructure when a major airport is all at the spoke of a tiny circle design...

Honestly if I was VX/AS, I would have waited until T1 was complete to flood SFO with new flights and focused on SJC. SJC is a Southwest strong hold on the West Coast but with almost no other competition to the rest of the country and has been ignored by the ULCCs(so far) like Spirit and Frontier and has many gates open most of the day....and happens to already be an Alaska focus city and surrounded by very high income people who love leisure travel. Turn it into a class bravo, beef up Oakland, then when you're done, fill up SFO T1 and have a true Bay Area hub vs GDP ridden SFO delaying 1/3 of the flights in the system through-out the day.

Ouch. I just flew the SFO/PDX route on an A320. If the Qs have problems in SFO, I won't complain.
 
Uh...of course they will long term...when the new T1 opens up in 2020 or 2021 or whenever it actually does, SFO will be a big happy place where Sun Country, jetBlue, and all the domestics can move off the International Terminal to the new T1, American can consolidate all their gates to T1, and Alaska/Virgin will have T2 all to themselves.

But that is beyond the year 2020. I'll jump off a bridge if I'm here in 2020. I care about now. In my post, I said that AS/VX will be doing split ops between the international terminal and T2 and this will cause many problems. Now, am I wrong because you're thinking 3-4 years down the road, or am I wrong because you guys have some master plan you don't want the airport to know about that will move Alaska off of the international terminal soon? Because right now, the official plan with the airport is split ops with Alaska PDX flights and some randoms operating out of T2 but the bulk of Alaska here on the International Terminal.

Really, people here would love to know so that some flights can be approved and gates 20-22 can be closed and Frontier can move. Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets hurt someone.


Were you there for the original uniform where you wore all black with just 3 gold pins on the collar for an F/O or 4 for the CA? Most of the guys I chatted with loved it because no one knew who the hell they were and they rarely were bothered at airports or during deadheads. But I hear the FAA didn't like the whole no one easily identifying the crew thing...

This should help alleviate:


  • We will begin hardstand operations out of 37 & 38. These are located abeam taxiway H in the old T1 footprint.
  • We will begin operating 6 departures out of gate 47 in Terminal One. Located abeam taxiway G.
  • Alaska will be taking over gate 50B, in addition to 50A on Saturday and VX will be taking over gate 59 in T2 as well.
 
This should help alleviate:


  • We will begin hardstand operations out of 37 & 38. These are located abeam taxiway H in the old T1 footprint.
  • We will begin operating 6 departures out of gate 47 in Terminal One. Located abeam taxiway G.
  • Alaska will be taking over gate 50B, in addition to 50A on Saturday and VX will be taking over gate 59 in T2 as well.
I don't see how flights operating thru 3 seperate TSA checkpoints and not knowing if you are arriving in the INTL term, T1, or T2 is going to alleviate anything. The airport is also behind on several construction projects so there is a fraction of the intended overnight parking this summer which is hitting VX and DL the hardest. To make matters worse, we keep forcing Alaska flights to the G concourse as we are short a few gates for construction. One those days, Alaska/Virgin are using 4 different TSA checkpoints for their flights! While certain cities always DEPART from the same terminals, inbound flights park according to whatever they're turning that day(SEA to T2, PDX to A-term, ect). That is crazy, and has lead to a lot of confusion already. Plus the hardstands are just about useless as all these new flights starting up were given standing reservations of the hardstands, meaning when the gates are occupied they don't really provide more options, just more congestion for the FAA to deal with on the taxiways.

I still think this is WAY too much expansion too quickly. At least at SFO. But at least I can get to PDX or SEA whenever I want confirmed for $120ish roundtrip all the time now.
 
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I don't see how flights operating thru 3 seperate TSA checkpoints and not knowing if you are arriving in the INTL term, T1, or T2 is going to alleviate anything. The airport is also behind on several construction projects so there is a fraction of the intended overnight parking this summer which is hitting VX and DL the hardest. To make matters worse, we keep forcing Alaska flights to the G concourse as we are short a few gates for construction. One those days, Alaska/Virgin are using 4 different TSA checkpoints for their flights! While certain cities always DEPART from the same terminals, inbound flights park according to whatever they're turning that day(SEA to T2, PDX to A-term, ect). That is crazy, and has lead to a lot of confusion already. Plus the hardstands are just about useless as all these new flights starting up were given standing reservations of the hardstands, meaning when the gates are occupied they don't really provide more options, just more congestion for the FAA to deal with on the taxiways.

I still think this is WAY too much expansion too quickly. At least at SFO. But at least I can get to PDX or SEA whenever I want confirmed for $120ish roundtrip all the time now.
Haha and people are talking about an SFO-EAT flight with Q400's here haha
 
Haha and people are talking about an SFO-EAT flight with Q400's here haha
LOL. Right. I think Alaska would pick up Chico and Modesto which both suported 4-6 flights per day back in the era of the Brasilia over...Wenatchee which might have 14 originating pax to get to SFO per day. Even Klamath Falls would come back before EAT. People are silly.
 
Haha and people are talking about an SFO-EAT flight with Q400's here haha

LOL. Right. I think Alaska would pick up Chico and Modesto which both suported 4-6 flights per day back in the era of the Brasilia over...Wenatchee which might have 14 originating pax to get to SFO per day. Even Klamath Falls would come back before EAT. People are silly.


That's not sillly. The silliest thing is thinking they'll find pilots to fly their Qs.
 
I don't see how flights operating thru 3 seperate TSA checkpoints and not knowing if you are arriving in the INTL term, T1, or T2 is going to alleviate anything. The airport is also behind on several construction projects so there is a fraction of the intended overnight parking this summer which is hitting VX and DL the hardest. To make matters worse, we keep forcing Alaska flights to the G concourse as we are short a few gates for construction. One those days, Alaska/Virgin are using 4 different TSA checkpoints for their flights! While certain cities always DEPART from the same terminals, inbound flights park according to whatever they're turning that day(SEA to T2, PDX to A-term, ect). That is crazy, and has lead to a lot of confusion already. Plus the hardstands are just about useless as all these new flights starting up were given standing reservations of the hardstands, meaning when the gates are occupied they don't really provide more options, just more congestion for the FAA to deal with on the taxiways.

I still think this is WAY too much expansion too quickly. At least at SFO. But at least I can get to PDX or SEA whenever I want confirmed for $120ish roundtrip all the time now.


The T1 and T2 gates we use have a connector so those pax can stay inside security. The buses going to the handstands 37/38 leave from T2. That leaves the intl terminal for the non-SEA Alaska flights.
 
The T1 and T2 gates we use have a connector so those pax can stay inside security. The buses going to the handstands 37/38 leave from T2. That leaves the intl terminal for the non-SEA Alaska flights.
Very true! But what hampers this is silly pax not following the connector signs and then leaving T1 and having to re-clear to T2. I personally thought the signage for the connector is pretty simple("This way to T2!)...but...the pax will lumber where they do I suppose.
 
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