Delta is poised to become the biggest US airline at Tokyo Haneda’s Airport, and they’ve just put all of their new flights on sale (and there’s even a ton of award space, so keep reading!).
Continue reading: Delta’s New Tokyo Haneda Flights Now On Sale
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
DL gets so much praise for their operational reliability and employee friendliness, but they really have a third-tier route network in my opinion. It’s crazy to me that Delta has no flights to Asia from JFK (and barely any flights to Europe from LAX). I don’t understand their strategy of having almost all their hubs in secondary cities, but I guess it’s working for them.
Unless forced by your employer, why on Earth would you fly Delta when there are so many other Premium Asian carriers: JAL, Cathay, ANA offering far better service ??
@Matt - good observation! Flights from MSP, SEA, LAX & ATL land at HND within 45 minutes of one another - between 1:35pm - 2:20pm. So, DL will have their planes simultaneously occupying 4 gates at HND - I wonder what kind of challenges, if any, that brings for DL at a busy foreign airport.
Your third-tier route argument is nonsense. Maybe give some examples of your first and second tier routes?
I don't see AA or UA having much difference either, both have west coast serving Asia and east coast serving Europe. In terms of hubs in secondary cities, it's up to definitions. But I would take those hubs coming in over JFK LAX ORD any day. I would say all have their fair share of sizes, except maybe ATL might be a bit too small for O&D.
I do think Delta somehow got special favors from DOT over these routes, as discussed many times earlier.
PDX-HND is definitely a joke, even folks at DL are probably laughing.
Examples of “primary” routes for UA:
EWR-HKG
EWR-EZE
EWR-DEL
SFO-SIN
SFO-TLV
IAH-SYD
Examples of “secondary” routes for DL:
SLC-AMS
IND-CDG
PDX-HND
Just speaking from United’s perspective, from NYC they serve 5 continents, from IAH they serve 5 continents, from SFO they serve 4 continents and I believe from ORD they serve 4 continents. They are in every since a global carrier and have hubs in the most important US markets.
Delta isn’t really a global carrier. They have a great network to Europe and a decent network to South America. They are laughably uncompetitive in Asia Pacific, as evidenced by their abandonment of HKG.
I can fly ANA sjc-hnd in business class for 80k miles "roundtrip*! And 200k roundtrip on Delta is a sale?!?
They also loaded up their new ICN-MNL flights:
Begins March 30, 2020
ICN-MNL 7:40pm-10:50pm, DL 197, A330-900neo
MNL-ICN 10:30am-3:25pm, DL 196, A330-900neo
I totally agree with @john Deltas route map out of JFK sucks they do not fly one planet direct to Asia you have to either connect in Detroit or Atlanta or fly China’s Eastern or Korean (no thanks). This is the one place where United blows both Delta and AA out of the water. They have the best route map out of NYC of any of them and it just keeps getting better. It’s like They treat JFK like it was a secondary city and Detroit and Atlanta like they were JFK and LAX. I find it extremely frustrating and think maybe for my purposes it’s tome to rethink my dedication to them and maybe (shudder) try United again?
For those of you complaining Delta serves nothing in Asia from New York, is Mumbai not in Asia? (Their service is still scheduled to start December.)
I'm not seeing 60,000 miles anytime in April from any of the above cities. Currently pricing at 82,500 miles. Am I missing something?
DL275 Detroit to Tokyo arriving at 2:15PM and departing at 3:25 PM. that seems very short to deplane, clean, cater, refuel and board an A350.
@ddrabk, are you sure they are using the same plane to go back to Detroit? Sometimes a carrier with a service to a destination from multiple hubs will rotate planes through hubs this way.
@John -- "Examples of “primary” routes for UA:"
Just to reinforce your points ... SFO serves additional Tier-1 non-stop routes in Asia (beyond SIN), including between -- NRT, ICN, TPE, HKG, PEK, PVG, SYD, etc.
@Adam -- "I can fly ANA sjc-hnd in business class for 80k miles ..."
Just to clarify -- that will be SJC-NRT instead of SJC-HND ...
@ Lucky
By the information I have put together by a bunch of websites, delta used to fly sea-tokyo with the a350 started this march, but then switched to the a330neo for flights later, is it now switching back to the A350? I may need a little clarification on this.
Your secondary route is all out of, well non international hubs, not JFK or LAX that you are trying to make a point. Nevertheless, didn't DL also serves CDG AMS from largers hubs, like lol, JFK and LAX!!!!!!!!!
DL does fly JFK-EZE and will fly JFK-BOM. So, no I don't think those are second tiers at all. You didn't take into account that DL already have service from their coastal hubs before flying your so called third tier routes.
And by the way, NYkers see EWR as 2nd tier too hahahaha.
AA, DL, UA all have pros and cons in their route, but to call any of them flying their-tier is rubbish.
@Person
IAH or LAS lost to PDX over reasons that could also be used against PDX. This is much better for better but not for the overall public. AA also should have requested PHX or PHL or CLT too.
No one in their right mind would travel to Asia with a US carrier. The american cannot compete with real quality and service. It's a discount carrier or being forced by one's US employer/overlord to travel with them.