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.
Continue reading: Woot: Alaska Airlines Launching Miami Flights!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
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.
"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?
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!
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.
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
Not surprising given AA/AS but AS really needs to improve its premium product, which looks stuck in 1995.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.