Alaska Airlines has just announced its newest international destination, which will mark the carrier’s longest route yet…
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Alaska adds flights to Nassau from West Coast
For the upcoming winter season, Alaska Airlines will be introducing flights from both Los Angeles (LAX) and Seattle (SEA) to Nassau (NAS), using the Boeing 737 MAX 9. This marks the carrier’s first-ever route to the Bahamas, and it will be the carrier’s only current route to the Caribbean (the airline briefly operated a Los Angeles to Havana route, but that didn’t last).
The Los Angeles to Nassau route will operate 4x weekly from December 15, 2023, through April 8, 2024, with the following schedule:
AS724 Los Angeles to Nassau departing 10:40AM arriving 6:55PM
AS723 Nassau to Los Angeles departing 11:00AM arriving 2:20PM
The eastbound flight will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and the westbound flight will operate on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The 2,524-mile flight is blocked at 5hr15min eastbound and 6hr20min westbound.
The Seattle to Nassau route will operate 3x weekly from December 15, 2023, through April 9, 2024, with the following schedule:
AS750 Seattle to Nassau departing 9:00AM arriving 6:15PM
AS749 Nassau to Seattle departing 10:00AM arriving 2:05PM
The eastbound flight will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and the westbound flight will operate on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The 2,887-mile flight is blocked at 6hr15min eastbound and 7hr5min westbound. This will be the longest flight in Alaska’s network.
Will Alaska Airlines succeed flying to Nassau?
I don’t think most of us were expecting Alaska Airlines to add flights to Nassau, so this is an interesting one. I’m curious if this is a one-time experiment, or if the route comes back in future years.
Generally speaking, those on the West Coast seeking warm weather often vacation in Hawaii or Mexico (particularly Cabo and Puerto Vallarta, due to the distance), while those on the East Coast seeking warm weather often vacation in Florida, the Caribbean, or Mexico (particularly the Cancun area). At least that’s what minimizes travel time, and what current flight schedules reflect.
Of course that doesn’t mean people always travel with those patterns. Heck, living in Miami, I’ve vacationed in Hawaii more often than I’ve vacationed in the Caribbean. One thing is for sure — Alaska won’t have much competition on these routes, at least compared to other warm weather destinations. JetBlue is also launching a Los Angeles to Nassau route this upcoming winter, but that’s otherwise the only West Coast to Nassau competition.
Lastly, as you can tell, the aircraft utilization on these routes isn’t very good. In both cases, the plane will be on the ground in Nassau for around 16 hours. Clearly this is intended to maximize connectivity, and minimize crew layover times. I suppose in winter, Alaska has some planes to spare (since leisure demand isn’t high), or else I couldn’t imagine the airline would launch a route with this schedule.
Bottom line
This upcoming winter, Alaska Airlines will add seasonal flights from both Los Angeles and Seattle to Nassau, marking the carrier’s first-ever service to the Bahamas. These are some interesting adds to Alaska’s network, especially with the not-ideal aircraft utilization.
I’m always a bit surprised when people from the West Coast vacation in the Bahamas, but everyone has a different take on that. At least Alaska won’t be facing much competition in these markets.
What do you make of Alaska adding flights to Nassau?
I'm actually flying to NAS from LAX at the end of July and would love a direct flight there from LAX, but I have a stopover in ATL (Delta). Why am I going to Bahamas vs. Hawaii? Because I got a free stay at Atlantis through a casino offer, as many people may know - as a Caesars Diamond status member, you get a yearly free stay at Atlantis (and I also like a little...
I'm actually flying to NAS from LAX at the end of July and would love a direct flight there from LAX, but I have a stopover in ATL (Delta). Why am I going to Bahamas vs. Hawaii? Because I got a free stay at Atlantis through a casino offer, as many people may know - as a Caesars Diamond status member, you get a yearly free stay at Atlantis (and I also like a little gambling action during trips). Food is pricey on the resort, but the resort is awesome - gotta go at least once!
You had me at 7hr in domestic economy/first cabins.
I believe ANC-ORD still holds the longest flight record for AS coming in at 2,837 miles.
So 2,887 would be longer.
I think they would have more success if both ways were red eyes. The Bahamas is far more than just Nassau; these flights arrive in Nassau too late for transfer to flights to other islands in the Bahamas, necessitating an expensive overnight stay in Nassau. Similarly, they leave Nassau too early in the day to transfer in from out islands, again necessitating an expensive overnight stay in Nassau.
Yep. On landing in Nassau, couldn't connect to Grand Bahama the same evening, and on the return, couldn't reliably get to Nassau that early. These flights are useful for Nassau only, not the many other wonderful islands.
If you have to connect, just connect over MIA or FLL. Far easier.
Yes, but there are few direct flights from out islands to MIA or FLL, so one may well have to go via NAS anyway. Silver serves some out islands, but they cancel flights at little or no notice unnervingly often and very often run late. Trusting them for a connection in FLL runs the risk of missing the connection and losing the cost of the onward ticket. Then there is the problem of arriving early...
Yes, but there are few direct flights from out islands to MIA or FLL, so one may well have to go via NAS anyway. Silver serves some out islands, but they cancel flights at little or no notice unnervingly often and very often run late. Trusting them for a connection in FLL runs the risk of missing the connection and losing the cost of the onward ticket. Then there is the problem of arriving early enough for onward connection from either MIA or FLL. Finally, MIA is a nightmare, going in and going out.... Believe me, a major airline (Jet Blue or Alaska) running a red eye direct NAS to West Coast would get out-island business.
Bahama Tourism, Atlantis Paradise Island and Baja Mar will be jumping on this. Those two resorts in particular have endless pockets… though they are usually full, especially around the season of the flights. However, there might be a great upside on yield compared to the East Coast? That’s often not factored by the arm chair types.
It does sound like an odd addition. But living in Seattle, Im definitely going to take a trip. Unless the pricing is silly. The value of a non-stop and during that time frame works well for me.
As somebody from Northern CA, I welcome flights to the Caribbean from the west coast. Hawaii is bloody expensive and the beaches aren't as great. However, I think Aruba, Turks and Caicos, or Barbados would have been a better destination.
I think this is great. Part of the reason we West Coast people go to Hawaii is that it's a PITA to go to the Caribbean — usually a redeye to Texas or Florida for a morning connection. I would LOVE to see more routes like this.
I agree that the west coast needs more flights to the Caribbean.
Why on Earth would anybody from the PNW go to Nassau on vacation?
Aaah… beaches, SUN, fishing, SUN, scuba diving. Wonderful people
just in time for all the lucrative corporate spend by FTX.
There’s a decent number of people in LA who vacation in the Bahamas. Seattle probably has less O/D, but there may be some connecting traffic from the PNW to winter getaways. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have packages in place with resorts like Baha Mar or Atlantis.
Everyone saying “cruise traffic” yet I can’t think of a single major cruise line who homeports from Nassau.
It is hard to imagine this will be very high profit margin flying. transcon leisure flights do not do well and other airlines have the opportunity undercut the market via enroute hubs.
Unless of course Delta adds LAX-NAS or SEA-NAS, then it was a genius launch of a route no one thought about previously.
Will AA codeshare on both the Alaska and Jetblue flights?
This is definitely catering to cruise traffic and they may have some arrangements with cruise lines already.
We will likely see utilization like this with the pilot shortage during off peak flying seasons. Reducing pilot hours in winter to preserve for spring break and summer will allow for some low utilization flights like this.
The flight times are not very favorable for vacationing. Both are fully daytime flights, essentially two days are fully spent flying.
Alaska has been shafting SFO. Many trans-con routes cut or downgraded to seasonal post VX merger. Instead of adding SFO-MIA or SFO-ATL or bringing back SFO-FLL as year-round service they're adding Nassau to their route map? WTF!
San Francisco is in a greater decline than the Turkish Lira
United is the leader in San Francisco. Those flights are already operated by United :)
I wish AS would bring back FLL (or even MIA) to SFO, even if just seasonally! We're stuck with AA on the MIA route (and their horrible Oasis configuration or uncomfortable A321s) - and I say this as an AA ExecPlat. It shouldn't be a shock that JetBlue is always priced at a premium (over AA to MIA) on their FLL Mint routes. More recently, United now serves both FLL and MIA, but with a...
I wish AS would bring back FLL (or even MIA) to SFO, even if just seasonally! We're stuck with AA on the MIA route (and their horrible Oasis configuration or uncomfortable A321s) - and I say this as an AA ExecPlat. It shouldn't be a shock that JetBlue is always priced at a premium (over AA to MIA) on their FLL Mint routes. More recently, United now serves both FLL and MIA, but with a single flight to each airport typically it is a redeye eastbound, and typically as an early morning westbound return. I believe their FLL -> SFO departs at 6:45AM EST. Fares are typically cheapest on UA (vs AA and B6) - as they have the smallest market share on the Florida end. I do welcome West Coast to NAS non-stops, even if my preference would be to SFO. Will definitely try to take advantage of those flights!
Is the market there? I mean, cruise traffic maybe, but I have a hard time imagining these flights will make any money. They don't make sense.
4x weekly seems ambitious but there must be some market. Cayman Airways has been flying 1x weekly year-round GCM-LAX since November