In September I wrote a post begging Alaska Airlines to start flying to Miami. Today Alaska Airlines has announced that it’ll start flying to Miami… you’re welcome. 😉
In this post:
Alaska Airlines adds Seattle to Miami route
As of June 16, 2022, Alaska Airlines will launch a daily nonstop flight between Seattle (SEA) and Miami (MIA) with the following schedule:
AS305 Seattle to Miami departing 7:15AM arriving 4:15PM
AS728 Miami to Seattle departing 5:40PM arriving 9:10PM
At 2,724 miles, this is the farthest flight in the lower 48. The eastbound flight is blocked at 6hr, while the westbound flight is blocked at 6hr30min. The flight will be operated by a Boeing 737-900, featuring 178 seats, including 16 first class seats and 162 economy class seats.
For context:
- Alaska stopped flying to Miami about a decade ago
- Since then, Alaska’s South Florida operations have been consolidated in Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
- Alaska will continue to fly to Fort Lauderdale out of Seattle, and will also offer seasonal service from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles (LAX), Portland (PDX), San Diego (SAN), and San Francisco (SFO)
- This will be Alaska’s 100th nonstop destination from Seattle, so it’s pretty cool to see Miami getting that title
Why I’m delighted to see this route
I’m happy and not surprised to see Alaska Airlines adding a new service between Seattle and Miami. I live in Miami nowadays and used to live in Seattle, so it’ll be great to fly between the two cities nonstop on a conveniently timed flight.
There are reasons I think this flight makes sense in general, and reasons I’m selfishly excited about this flight. In no particular order:
- Alaska has now joined the oneworld alliance, and has a close partnership with American, including elite reciprocal upgrades
- Miami is a huge hub for American, so this opens up all kinds of connectivity to the Caribbean, South America, etc. (and the flight is clearly timed around maximizing connectivity in both directions)
- Miami and Fort Lauderdale are different aviation markets, and as someone who lives 10 minutes from Miami Airport, I’ll avoid Fort Lauderdale Airport at almost all costs; clearly airlines are starting to catch on, as JetBlue, Southwest, and Spirit, have all started flying to Miami recently
- Miami and Seattle are both cruise hubs, so this flight will be popular with cruisers in both directions
- American operates a once daily flight between Seattle and Miami, though personally I prefer the timing of the Alaska flight; while the westbound flights are similarly timed, I’d choose Alaska’s eastbound daytime flight compared to American’s eastbound redeye
- Alaska’s inflight product is superior to American’s inflight product, in both first class and economy class
- I can finally use the Alaska companion voucher I earn with my Alaska Airlines credit card from my home airport, yay!
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines will be launching a new daily nonstop flight between Seattle and Miami as of June 2022. This is a route I’ve been hoping for, and I’m excited to see it’s finally becoming a reality.
To me the route makes sense — Alaska now has more of a connection to Miami vs. Fort Lauderdale, thanks to the airline joining oneworld and having a close partnership with American. I can’t wait to fly Alaska Airlines on this route.
What do you make of Alaska Airlines’ new route to Miami?
Next up:
BDL, PVD, MSN.
Might as well add Cozumel, Acapulco, Montego Bay, Toronto at this rate too.
I highly doubt PVD is on the radar for AS right now. BDL maybe. AA needs to reinstate PVD-DFW. A route that was discontinued back in 2007.
It would be nice if you showed the updated cabins. Much nicer than the old and tired ones you show. None of the 900s have this cabin.
Congratulations Ben.
Sad news - the companion fare is ONLY good in ECONOMY. 6 hours in a 737 Y is not fun.
The pass was good in any class in the past. Perhaps you can convince Alaska Airlines that it could be changed? Westjet has a companion fare that charges about $99 in Y or $299(?) in J. Maybe Alaska could be convinced this is the way to go?
Miami F1 Race in 2022 will also make this a busy route for that week.
It would also be nice if we could get decent service to FLL and/or MIA out of SFO. AA operates 2 or 3 flights to MIA per day, with the tightest configuration they have - and charge huge premiums for the convenience of a non stop. AS and UA seem to dip their toes in and out of the market with varying levels of service. B6 offers the best option with their Mint service, however,...
It would also be nice if we could get decent service to FLL and/or MIA out of SFO. AA operates 2 or 3 flights to MIA per day, with the tightest configuration they have - and charge huge premiums for the convenience of a non stop. AS and UA seem to dip their toes in and out of the market with varying levels of service. B6 offers the best option with their Mint service, however, they seem to offer only one flight a day certain times of the week. Connecting through LAX onto the 77W on AA is the most comfortable way to go these days. You would think if AA could make LAX work with a 77W multiple times a day, at least they might be able to fill a 787 to MIA once a day from SFO?
Too long for me on an Alaska plane, as I actually find AA's hard product better by quite a bit. I'd rather fly through LAX and make the long leg up front on the 773. At the same time, it's the difference between being treated like a human vs. a commodity for 6+ hours, so there's that. I love AS for shorter hops though - it's a charming experience from 20 years ago, LOL.
I used to fly MIA-SEA often and hated the AA night flight. Leave SEA/MIA late in the evening. Glad to see AS bringing day flights.
Not surprising given AA/AS but AS really needs to improve its premium product, which looks stuck in 1995.
As a MVP75K, AA Gold, DL Silver, and UA Gold, I'll take AS's dated first class seats on a narrowbody over any of the other Big 3's narrowbody first class seats 8 ways to Sunday! Furthermore, AS's premium service runs circles around their counterparts...from meal service to the usual beverage/snack service.
As an AA EP, UA 1K, and DL Plat, I will avoid AS's throne seat at any cost on 4h+ routes. Many more options out there with flat beds, plus the premium lounge accesses. AS's onboard meal service was at best mediocre. You can afford to buy a meal in the terminal for better food.
Reminds me of my time back in mid 2000s while building mobile apps for Burger King. Flew that AS route. Would leave SEA at 10:30pm, land, drive about 5 minutes to BK headquarters, work until 4pm, then hop back on a flight to SEA. Getting in around 10pm. 24 hour blur. Did that about once a month for a year. A joy.
Love your posts! It cracks me up that everytime you blog about MIA, you always copy/paste this comment: "Miami and Fort Lauderdale are different aviation markets, and as someone who lives 10 minutes from Miami Airport, I’ll avoid Fort Lauderdale Airport at almost all costs."
Well, as someone who lives 15 minutes north of Ft Lauderdale Airport, I do the reverse: I avoid Miami Airports at all costs. FLL is a joy to fly...
Love your posts! It cracks me up that everytime you blog about MIA, you always copy/paste this comment: "Miami and Fort Lauderdale are different aviation markets, and as someone who lives 10 minutes from Miami Airport, I’ll avoid Fort Lauderdale Airport at almost all costs."
Well, as someone who lives 15 minutes north of Ft Lauderdale Airport, I do the reverse: I avoid Miami Airports at all costs. FLL is a joy to fly out of: most of its terminals are new/renovated (c'mon JetBlue, renovate T3!!), airport is easy in/easy out, distance from curbside to gate is remarkably short. T1/T2/T3 security is fast (T4 Spirit sucks). MIA however...hmm it's confusing, parts are dingy, the sheer volume of int'l flights makes it really busy etc.
Don't get me wrong, I go to MIA to catch int'l flights (and bear the crazy I-95 traffic as Lucky attests). But as a domestic hub, I'd gladly take FLL's JetBlue, Southwest, and yes even Spirit any day over MIA! And Ben... keep up the good work! Woot!
While you're wishing, I wouldn't mind SEA-JAX! Unlikely, I know...
"American operates a once daily flight between Seattle and Miami, though personally I prefer the timing of this flight; while the westbound flights are similarly timed, I’d choose Alaska’s eastbound daytime flight compared to American’s eastbound redeye"
What is "this flight"? The American flight as that is the only flight specified in the sentence?
All about the good grammar!! Yes!!
@ Grammar Gal -- Fixed, thanks...
Also, this isn’t the furthest flight. It’s the farthest.
Am I the only one who thinks economy on this long of a flight is brutal?
@ SQ51 -- Hah, nope, you're not alone.
So true! This flight was especially brutal in coach on AA since it was pretty much a night flight. Maybe AS will be a little better being a day flight.
Yes. But if you fly out of SEA you're likely used to it on the Hawaii flights! Was even worse on a 737-800 at nearly 7 hours due to wind.
Looking forward to flying Delta now that they have an A330-900 flying SEA-HNL.
I guess this makes sense. It was a missing dot and definitely Miami can more than hold its own and can support a Seattle flight just like Fort Lauderdale can.
But this flight wont really give connectivity to much of the Caribbean. Some northern South America flights for sure, but looking at AA's MIA schedules, most of their Caribbean flights leave in the morning. Which is what AA's redeye from Seattle serves very well.
...
I guess this makes sense. It was a missing dot and definitely Miami can more than hold its own and can support a Seattle flight just like Fort Lauderdale can.
But this flight wont really give connectivity to much of the Caribbean. Some northern South America flights for sure, but looking at AA's MIA schedules, most of their Caribbean flights leave in the morning. Which is what AA's redeye from Seattle serves very well.
This flight might get some connectivity to Central America (although arguably flights over DFW are less circuitous) and some destinations in Colombia.
At the end of the day, this flight is more about serving the Seattle to Miami local market - just people in either city looking to go to an dfrom either one. It's not particularly well-timed for Caribbean flying, and other connections can be served via less-cirucuitous routes. I think it'll be a good addition for Alaska, and it makes sense that it was added.
That's exactly what I came here to say. Many of the Caribbean flights leave in the 10am to noon time frame, hence AA's red-eye, meaning that the connectivity of this flight, as you already said, isn't very good for those. I guess since AA and AS are partners AS figured it would be best to offer a different time, since their customers who want to connect to the Caribbean are already well-served by the AA flight
What's even more ridiculous is that Alaska's official press release states that these flights will enable easy connectivity to the Virgin Islands and Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires - those destinations are specifically called out. Now it wont. Virgin Islands flights leave in the morning on AA, so they cant connect on the way down. I think they may return in time for AS's flight. Flights to Rio and BA leave late at night...
What's even more ridiculous is that Alaska's official press release states that these flights will enable easy connectivity to the Virgin Islands and Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires - those destinations are specifically called out. Now it wont. Virgin Islands flights leave in the morning on AA, so they cant connect on the way down. I think they may return in time for AS's flight. Flights to Rio and BA leave late at night generally, so I guess they could have a long layover on the way there. Flights from Rio and BA arrive MIA very early in the morning, so you'd probably have a 12 hour layover. Just because there are flights doesnt mean they all connect, and I think they should know this before publishing it.