As a Miami resident, I’ve been thrilled to see all the new competition that has been added at Miami International Airport (MIA) recently from JetBlue, Southwest, and Spirit. Historically all three airlines exclusively served the area via Fort Lauderdale (FLL), while they now offer flights to Miami.
Continue reading: Dear Alaska Airlines: Can You Please Fly To Miami?
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You mention that one of the reasons you think Alaska should start flying to Miami is for the connection potential to the Caribbean and parts of South America. American's Seattle-Miami flight does exactly that - connects very well to the Caribbean and Northern South America. Deep South America - Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Santiago - and Mexico - connect very well - and better with less circuity - over Dallas. Seems to me like the connectivity is pretty well taken care of to the largest places. Also, people from the northwest go more to Hawaii and western Mexico for their beach vacations. There isnt quite as much demand to the Caribbean from the Pacific Northwest since Hawaii and Mexico are much closer. It's analogous to how there's some, but not much, service from the Northeast to Hawaii. Though there are a few flights from Boston, NYC, and DC to Hawaii, there's way more nonstop service to the Caribbean - it's just closer.
Anyway, even though you dont think so, airline planners DO get demographic information and factor some of that into their planning. So the people at Alaska most likely have some indication as to where their customers are going/ coming from for their trips to southern Florida.
Anyway, I dont think connectivity would be a driving force for Alaska to add the route. When you connect to another airline you are diluting your fare you receive. If it makes sense for them based on the local market - just going from the PNW to south Florida - to add the route because of demand, and if they see a need for Miami instead of or in addition to FLL - they could do so, assuming they have the aircraft available and they can get space at MIA. Otherwise, they wont. Any connections to AA would be just gravy on top.
Will be interesting to see if AS makes any moves in South Florida especially since, as you point out, they are moving closer to AA and to oneworld in general.
Am I the only one who thinks this Oneworld thing is part of a secret long term agreement in grooming AS to be merged with AA?
Sounds like Alaska should start service for you, there is clearly not much demand SEA-MIA. American already flies it and they took away one of the two daily flights they had pre-covid. Fares are way too low at $200 each way last minute to make another flight even close to feasible unless it seasonal.
AS used to fly to Miami. I remember taking a red-eye SEA-MIA in December 2011. So they've tried before - must not have worked out how they'd like it.
FLL has no lounges in terminal 1
i have paid $85 for an uber to FLL
Miami is less than thirty
you have to drive on I 95 to FLL which is very busy and not very safe.
Long time ago AS flew to Miami it never really worked out I flew it a couple of times. FLL has a much greater draw than MIA, I mean who really wants to fly there other than transfer to international flights?
Am not sure how much of a market is really there and now that AS is in bed with AA that should default to AA.
One point what's with the old very old picture of Alaska First Class seating ?
As a PNW resident, I think the main draw of FLL is the cruise connectivity. Otherwise, Miami is not a big draw. We have Mexico and Hawaii as someone else mentioned. When I've gone to South America, I've connected in LAX to Peru or DFW to Ecuador. No need to route through MIA.
I agree that Alaska should be at MIA. FLL doesn’t really offer much to them. Yes, it is cheaper to operate but MIA has since reduced their fees enough that they got Spirit.
FLL (to me) is just a domestic airport. Never have I used them to fly internationally and quite frankly I try to avoid flying from there. FLL is lacking lounges, concessions, and airline that can take you somewhere nonstop (internationally).
Alaska now being in OneWorld makes MIA seem the better fit than FLL. MIA has more to offer than FLL by a mile as well.. And if we’re talking about cities, Miami is where you want to go. Fort Lauderdale is more of a local resident city while Miami is more of a global city. A number of people that I’ve met from Seattle that fly to FLL from Alaska say the always end up staying in Miami.
Down the line, I’m sure we will see Alaska at MIA. The connections will certainly help. I expect SEA, LAX and PDX.
Miami is the cruise capital of the world. You want a cruise, you fly to Miami.
There is certain routes you won’t find nonstop from LA or DFW. Just saying.
Literally everyone that I’ve known to take the SEA-FLL Alaska flight says they wish they were flying to Miami instead because the majority stay in the Miami area.
@ Nathaniel -- As mentioned by Daniel, Miami is a bigger cruise port than Fort Lauderdale.
Alaska inherited FLL operation from Virgin. I flew to SFO once.
PS: Login link stopped working for me, clicking on it does nothing for last few days
Alaska flyer here. Sadly, right now Alaska is only doing one direct a day, from Seattle. Flying the return tonight. The timing is awful for folks coming from Miami, requires either a risky drive through rush hour or leaving unnecessarily early. Agree that flying to MIA is needed.
I personally love Alaska airlines and the product it provides. I would definitely fly to Miami if they flew there.
Perhaps Alaska companion vouchers aren't a great investment for someone living in Florida.
Points Guy - there are people who live north of FLL heading to the northwest. An Alaska move to Miami would make our situation even more miserable
Alaska airlines stopped flying to Miami in 2012 and moved their operations to Fort Lauderdale. They did not inherit Fort Lauderdale from Virgin america. They competed with them until their merger. If they were to enter the Miami market, Alaska would end up with whatever is left.
Not the case. Working the flights to FLL consistently for years, my experience in talking with people is that it’s a huge mix with the majority leaving from Port Everglades on a cruise (pre-covid). The rest are scattered, many staying in Fort Lauderdale, some going north and some going somewhere south.
As James mentioned, they used to fly to Miami, but relocated to FLL because (as they said at the time) they found the majority of their customers were cruise passengers that were departing from there. I bet the gate fees are also a lot cheaper in FLL.
I question the market. What are people traveling from SEA to FLL doing with their time who don't live in South Florida?
If it's cruises, then moving to MIA doesn't make sense.
If it's connecting to flights to Europe - then they don't need MIA OR FLL to do that now with the oneworld connection.
If it's visiting the Miami area, then it's not really a tremendous hassle for a tourist to commute.
Where it only gets muddy is people living in South Florida who want to visit the PNW. I've seen a number of Florida plates in Seattle, so there appears to be some market for it. I'm not particularly clear on why, but with AA having MIA as a hub and being part of OW, then I wouldn't see why AS would enter the more expensive airport. Couldn't one take TriRail from Miami to FLL?
Miami is the capital for certain cruise lines, which attract certain demographics. Those in the PNW lean historically more towards Holland American and Princess, both of which do not use Port Miami.
Alaska truly needs a Midwest hub. In order to get to NYC to Florida on Alaska, it routes you through cities on the West coast. If anyone knows a better way on Alaska, please clue me in! (Also, flying to Omaha, it wants to do the same thing. It's so annoying!)
They used to fly to Miami and then they switched to Ft.Lauderdale because of airport fees.
It is time for them to come back and get with the program.
Miami is no longer the stepchild to Ft. Lauderdale thanks to Spirit, Jet Blue and Southwest. Even Emirates along with other International Airlines have realized that if you want to visit Miami you fly to Miami.
I recently had business in Miami...did not like having the time and expense to get there from Ft. Lauderdale airport. Would also like access to a lounge and I'm guessing there would be something available at miami
As a Portland resident, I have been asking for this for years. I can’t think of any reason why I’d rather go to Fort Lauderdale than Miami. I really can’t stand decisions that are purely based on cost (although, unfortunately it seems like consumers are obsessed with cost over all else). Additionally, a Portland to Miami flight opens up all of the Caribbean and South America from a three leg destination to two. Given the relationship with AA, this seems like a no-brainer.
I am late to the game but here is the response from AS Route and Market Dir to the Emp: (A. Hi ......, thanks for the question on MIA. Aside from NYC airports, MIA is the most expensive in the country to operate at. Cost per Enplanement (CPE) is the metric we use to compare. For 2019, MIA is ~$20, FLL is ~$7. FLL is nearly 1/3 that of MIA. When we switched from MIA to FLL many moons ago, we were after the lower airport costs and better access to cruise traffic. Since then, the returns at FLL have been good, and our focus has been to grow our presence at FLL vs. adding a second access point to south Florida.
We know though that FLL does not capture all the traffic for south FL, and MIA constantly pops up on our new market radar. Last I checked, it is one of our highest offline Mileage Plan redemption cities. On the AA and OW front, yes, AA has a large presence in MIA, and we could connect to that. However, most Latin America connections from the West Coast are already realized over DFW. You benefit from increased traffic, but also revenue from a connecting fare is generally lower for the segment than that of a local fare. Ultimately, the market has potential, and our AA partnership makes the market more attractive, but we have not settled on the right time if we were to re-enter.)
More ships sail from Port Miami year round but Port Everglades is super busy in winter and spring.