American Attacks Alaska, Adds Miami To Portland Route

American Attacks Alaska, Adds Miami To Portland Route

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Gosh, airlines really crack me up sometimes. A few days ago, Alaska Airlines announced it would launch Portland to Miami flights as of November 2023. Now American Airlines has announced that it will launch exactly the same route, just a couple of weeks earlier.

American Airlines adds Miami to Portland flights as of November 2023

American Airlines has just updated its schedule, and added a new transcontinental route out of Miami, as flagged by @IshrionA. As of November 5, 2023, American will add a daily, year-round nonstop flight between Miami (MIA) and Portland (PDX). The flight will operate with the following schedule:

AA2888 Miami to Portland departing 7:30PM arriving 11:20PM
AA2889 Portland to Miami departing 11:55PM arriving 8:41AM (+1 day)

The 2,700-mile flight is blocked at 6hr50min and 5hr46min eastbound, and will be operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8. I believe this is the first time that American has operated a nonstop flight between Miami and Portland, and it complements American’s existing service from Miami to the Pacific Northwest, as the airline also flies from Miami to Seattle.

Not that this should matter to American, but I have to say that as someone who gets up very early and goes to bed very early, I hate this schedule, and would never take this flight. 7:30PM is basically when I go to bed, and not when I want to board a seven hour domestic flight. Similarly, I avoid domestic redeyes at almost all costs, as I value sleep too much.

American will fly a Boeing 737 MAX from Miami to Portland

Airlines are funny sometimes, and consumers win

Sometimes airlines have funky ways of competing. For years, American didn’t see merit to operating a Miami to Portland service, as clearly the airline decided there were better ways to utilize aircraft. Now that Alaska has announced it wants to operate this route, American is suddenly interested as well.

So we’re going from zero to two daily flights between Miami and Portland. And of course the flights are launching within a couple of weeks of one another, with American launching just before Alaska does.

Many people are probably saying “but wait, aren’t American and Alaska partners?” They are partners, but they don’t have a joint venture (or anything along those lines), so the two airlines can’t coordinate schedules and fares. Make no mistake, this isn’t the two airlines somehow working together to decide this is an untapped market they both want to serve. Rather American’s decision to launch this route is a direct competitive response to Alaska’s decision.

Now, I never really understand what these kinds of “attacks” between airlines are intended to accomplish. If American didn’t previously think that even one daily flight between the two airports made sense, does American suddenly think the time to launch this route is when another airline is adding service as well?

What’s the thought process of those in American’s route planning department?

  • Are they thinking this acts as a “warning” to Alaska to not expand to more of American’s hubs?
  • Are they thinking that suddenly there’s enough demand for this market for two daily flights, when previously it wasn’t a priority?
  • Are they thinking they can beat Alaska here, and cause the airline to drop out of the market?

Honestly, these kinds of partnerships are great for consumers. You’ve gotta love when airlines have to compete with one another on routes and with fares, but still offer reciprocal elite perks, plus reciprocal mileage earning and redemption opportunities.

Even though the airlines are competing, the two airlines do have a codeshare agreement, and you’ll be able to book American from Miami to Portland in conjunction with a connection on Alaska, and vice versa.

Alaska will fly a Boeing 737 MAX from Portland to Miami

Bottom line

American Airlines is adding a new daily, year-round flight between Miami and Portland as of November 2023. This addition comes just days after Alaska Airlines announced it would launch the same route. While the two airlines are partners, they compete when it comes to schedule and fares, so this isn’t some coordinated effort.

Rather this is a competitive response on the part of American. I always find these kinds of cat fights to be a little strange, and I’m not sure what they’re intended to accomplish.

What do you make of American matching Alaska, and launching Miami to Portland flights?

Conversations (59)
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  1. Smelly Feet Guest

    Never understood why JetBlue ended their FLL to PDX flight. Those flights were usually full.

  2. Arthur V. Guest

    Nobody seems to be considering international connections, an important role for Miami and especially AA> the 8am departure from Miami on Alaska does not permit a vast array of otherwise international connections throughout the Caribbean, Central and northern South American countries. Hence the AA timings are considerably better timed for those connections. What is strange is that the AA schedule has only 35 minutes between arring in PDX and returning to MIA. So, are they...

    Nobody seems to be considering international connections, an important role for Miami and especially AA> the 8am departure from Miami on Alaska does not permit a vast array of otherwise international connections throughout the Caribbean, Central and northern South American countries. Hence the AA timings are considerably better timed for those connections. What is strange is that the AA schedule has only 35 minutes between arring in PDX and returning to MIA. So, are they planning to use two aircraft for this route?

  3. Richard Logan Guest

    If Alaska flies during the day, that would work.

  4. iamhere Guest

    Could be good for the consumer though because of driving down prices

  5. Bravenav Guest

    It's also possible that both airlines saw the same opportunity. That's actually not uncommon. And once each airline loads the route, neither is going to retreat.

  6. Nigel Guest

    AA and AS are part of the one world Alliance. They are just protecting their Hubs and fending off Delta and United

    1. Tim Dunn Diamond

      Your statement is not legally accurate; alliance partners do not have the ability to coordinate schedules or jointly plan capacity unless they also have a joint venture.
      However, it is not necessary to be an alliance partner to have a joint venture

      Legally, AA and AS are competitors.

      Ben's statement about AA's actions might be dramatic w/ the use of the word attack but his point is valid.

    2. OCTinPHL Diamond

      @Tim Dunn,

      while you clearly know a ton about the aviation industry, do you really know what a joint venture is? I've asked this before of you. You speak authoritatively as if a JV is a one-size fits all agreement and all JV's are legally the same.

      FYI, the DOJ treats alliances as JV's for which antitrust immunity is not needed. In such a use, DOJ is not using the term "joint venture" as...

      @Tim Dunn,

      while you clearly know a ton about the aviation industry, do you really know what a joint venture is? I've asked this before of you. You speak authoritatively as if a JV is a one-size fits all agreement and all JV's are legally the same.

      FYI, the DOJ treats alliances as JV's for which antitrust immunity is not needed. In such a use, DOJ is not using the term "joint venture" as a legal entity (ironic, given its role as a legal branch of gov't), but rather as a marketing term. But that use explicitly states (in DOJ white papers) that antitrust immunity has not been granted.

      Your blanket use of JV is sometimes incorrect. JV's come in different sizes and colors - some have antitrust immunity, some don't. Some revenue share, some don't.

    3. Tim Dunn Diamond

      I'm sorry but alliances in the US do not have the ability to coordinate schedules, plan capacity, jointly price or share revenue.

      If you believe otherwise, you should be able to provide evidence from US government documents to justify your position.

      AA and AS are competitors in the eyes of the US government. They do not legally have the right or ability to jointly plan capacity or schedules.

    4. OCTinPHL Diamond

      Tim, where did I say they did? I keep asking if you know what a JV is, and why you seem to think they are all the same?

  7. Stefan Weitz Guest

    The funniest thing is the 35 minute turn.

  8. Jerry Guest

    A 35 min turn in PDX seems ambitious, does it not?

    1. Ken Guest

      Totally overly optimistic. Unless they expect the plane to be practically empty on the way to and from (which perhaps it will be).

  9. Nate nate Guest

    The most interesting part of this article is Ben going to sleep at 7:30pm. I would like a part II explaining that point.

  10. FLLFLYER Guest

    Robert Crandall has entered the AA HDQ again.

  11. Don coleman Guest

    I will not fly American airlines. I have about 500 thousand Alaska miles.

  12. Guillermo Rodriguez Guest

    I believe they both are going to do well. Alaska has the Portland market and AA has the Miami market.
    Nike is in Portland and Miami has the Cruise ships
    And Latin America.
    The schedules are not the best, but they will improve.
    Maybe they both know something that we do not know.
    I am just glad that now we have Two non-stop flights to choose from. Two is better than none.
    Good luck to both airlines.

  13. Ken Guest

    Could it (loosely) be an example of Hotelling’s law from economics? Gist: Both firms see the route as economically viable and so compete in the same space.

  14. Rob Guest

    I've been bugging Port of Portland, Miami-Dade Airports, Alaska, and American for YEARS to open a nonstop route between PDX and MIA. The potential to get to the Carribbean and S / C America is fantastic. And the cruise ship industry would benefit tremendously. And no one ever seemed interested in the viability of this route. And now suddenly there are two competing routes. Amazing. I hope both (or at least one) survive!

  15. RF Diamond

    What a partnership. Competition is good so I don't mind. Come on AA, put some lay flats on the route if you really want to compete.

    1. Nigel Guest

      Lol . That will never happen. That route is not competitive for such. That would require a wide body AC from AA

  16. Nb Guest

    You go to bed at 7h30pm? I mean you could never live in Spain, lol it’s even dinner time :)

    1. Max Guest

      Spain is at the western end of the Middle European time zone though, so you can’t convert times 1:1.

    2. Grant P McWilliams Guest

      *sigh* if people are sitting down to eat dinner with their families at 10pm it way later than 7:30 pm no matter how you skew the numbers. We're not talking about 15-30 minutes here.

  17. Travis Peacock Guest

    I think you read this the wrong way, AS and AA have been getting tight. They are not going to war over Miami.

    You also don't build and announce a route in a week

    I think this was coordinated and is closer to the AS/AA team launching twice daily flights to PDX from MIA.

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Travis Peacock -- Keep in mind that they're legally not allowed to coordinate schedules and routes without a joint venture. So this couldn't be a coordinated effort.

    2. JB Guest

      Maybe AA was planning on launching this route, and Alaska announced it first. So AA figured it should announce its flight right away as well and beat Alaska to the punch.

  18. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

    Not sure this constitute the US of the word "attack" is way, shape, or form. I could think of a dozen other ways to put this headline.

  19. Dhinsv Guest

    I noticed AA also just announced DFW-ALB, which would in theory be great since SWA got rid of ALB-LAS. However the times are just terrible. Leave ALB at 6:11 to go to DFW. And the return lands in ALB around 11:40pm. Neither would make me want to take this route although I would love a better option from west coast to ALB. Times just seem silly - I’d be fine with a late departure from...

    I noticed AA also just announced DFW-ALB, which would in theory be great since SWA got rid of ALB-LAS. However the times are just terrible. Leave ALB at 6:11 to go to DFW. And the return lands in ALB around 11:40pm. Neither would make me want to take this route although I would love a better option from west coast to ALB. Times just seem silly - I’d be fine with a late departure from west coast that creates a red eye. I’d also be fine with 9a (ish) departure from ALB where can get to west coast at reasonable travel times. ALB is an underserved market - I fly it frequently and every plane I’ve ever been on is 100% full.

    1. Tim Dunn Diamond

      as with the PDX-MIA flight, this DFW-ALB flight is basically taking an aircraft that would otherwise be finished for the day at DFW and using it to fly another roundtrip late in the evening and early in the morning.

      Flights like this to/from hubs on shorter distances esp. as large of a hub as DFW is for AA make a lot more sense than a transcon flight such as PDX-MIA. The ALB flight is driven...

      as with the PDX-MIA flight, this DFW-ALB flight is basically taking an aircraft that would otherwise be finished for the day at DFW and using it to fly another roundtrip late in the evening and early in the morning.

      Flights like this to/from hubs on shorter distances esp. as large of a hub as DFW is for AA make a lot more sense than a transcon flight such as PDX-MIA. The ALB flight is driven much more by allowing many more people to fly from somewhere west of DFW to ALB on the new flight than PDX-MIA.

      The bigger theme w/ both of these flights - and perhaps others - is that AA has decided to quit buying new aircraft - or do it at the slowest pace among the big 4 - in order to pay down debt - and they simply have very little additional capacity they can add without pushing their airplanes harder to fly more late night/early morning flights.

  20. Bob S Guest

    If I were going to fly AA I'd rather just take the premium flight to LAX and connect there. No thanks to a nearly 7 hour flight in domestic F.

    1. JB Guest

      A lot of AA flights from LAX to MIA are flown on the A321neo now, so they have the same product as other domestic routes (and I believe AA doesn't have any additional premium service on the A321 flights). For this summer, AA only has 1 daily 777-200 flight on this route. There were more widebodies flown prior to the summer though, with a lot of 787s. But I guess those are being used on transatlantic summer routes now.

  21. S Diamond

    UA did the same to AS when AS launched SAN-IAD. UA has 4 IAD-SAN/vice versa routes a day now, including one with a 777!

  22. Tim Dunn Diamond

    AA's schedule is based on using a plane that would otherwise sit in MIA and flying it to PDX so they just need to cover direct operating costs - fuel, crew, direct maintenance and employee costs- but they don't have to allocate a new aircraft. This type of schedule is the cheapest way to add a flight and it will allow AA to price its seats at a low enough price to make it difficult...

    AA's schedule is based on using a plane that would otherwise sit in MIA and flying it to PDX so they just need to cover direct operating costs - fuel, crew, direct maintenance and employee costs- but they don't have to allocate a new aircraft. This type of schedule is the cheapest way to add a flight and it will allow AA to price its seats at a low enough price to make it difficult for anyone else to make money.
    AS' schedule requires fully allocated costs based on the use of an aircraft specifically for this flight at times when premium passengers are willing to fly.

    The irony of this is that AA tried but failed to create the Northeast Alliance under which it could coordinate schedules and capacity with JetBlue.
    AA walked away from a number of routes on the west coast and developed a partnership with AS in order to create the presence that AA was unable to profitably do including to try to build an international presence on the west coast that DL and UA can both do with their own resources.
    AS is nowhere near the pushover that will be bullied into doing what AA wants - any more than AS accepted DL's reported demands for an exclusive partnership with AS. The difference is that DL already had the international network in SEA and grabbed up all of the remaining space in order to build out its own domestic network which is large enough to feed its west coast international network and compete in the top domestic markets on a local market basis. AA cannot do that because there simply is no space left at SEA either physically or competitively.

    And the judge and DOJ in the NEA case can clearly see what AA will do when it can't have its way.... it bullies its smaller partners. B6 hasn't indicated any interest in an appeal for the NEA ruling because it has other options and it, like AS, is not interested in reducing its goals to AA's wishes.

    The AA-AS relationship might not be as long for this world as a lot of people think.
    And AA's network will be even smaller as a result.

    1. KS Guest

      Lol. Tim Dunn is imagining and hoping so hard that AA and AS’ partnership does not last last long so that his darling DL does not have to dismantle its bleeding SEA focus city. Keep praying hard!

  23. FloridaHellscape Guest

    Alaska is the superior experience as a passenger. Florida is the sweaty taint between my balls and my starfish with a huge opiod and intellectualism crisis so don’t think I’ll spend my money there but good for Alaska for adding a new route.

    1. XPL Diamond

      Your Mr. Intellectualism credentials would be helped if you were to spell "opioid" correctly next time.

  24. Sam Guest

    Both of these flights are flown from SEA & both sell out almost every day. I'm guessing enough pax connect from PDX (to SEA & other AA hubs) to make these viable. When AS added MIA, they kept FLL so the market is sizable in the Southern direction.

  25. D3kingg Guest

    At the pace American is taking deliveries of 787s will they at least have the new business class seats already installed ?

    1. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

      The article clearly states they are using a 737-8 MAX for the route. No way in he'll they would use a precious, new 787 with new seats on this throwaway route.

    2. D3kingg Guest

      @BenjaminGuttery

      My comment was off topic but still related to American Airlines. In no way did I suggest american fly a Boeing 787 lol

  26. Steve Guest

    Terrible flight times for connecting to or from South America in MIA. Most of those flights depart MIA late night and return early morning.

    1. ChuckMO Member

      Any PDX-S.A. demand is well covered by DFW. PDX-Caribbean is the target here as well as PDX-S Florida.

  27. shoeguy Guest

    AS entering PDX-MIA isn't attacking AA's MIA hub. AS/AA code-share so it benefits both though twice daily might be a lot for this market.

    1. TravelGeek Guest

      They codeshare on some routes, but do they on this one?

  28. DesertGhost Guest

    The schedules are quite different. But that was conveniently ignored to enhance the conspiracy. LOL.

  29. OneAlphaTwo Gold

    Neither of these flights will last. There is no cultural connection between these two cities and probably little economic activity either….maybe some Nike reps going to the U. Haha As Ben stated, the times are terrible too. Even factoring in any connecting traffic to Latin America, a lot which could go through DFW (or ATL & IAH on others), I just don’t see that kind of demand coming out of a smaller market like Portland....

    Neither of these flights will last. There is no cultural connection between these two cities and probably little economic activity either….maybe some Nike reps going to the U. Haha As Ben stated, the times are terrible too. Even factoring in any connecting traffic to Latin America, a lot which could go through DFW (or ATL & IAH on others), I just don’t see that kind of demand coming out of a smaller market like Portland. Alaska MAY have been able to make this work as a seasonal flight, but two daily, year round flights? Alaska will pull out first and American will follow…a couple days later. ;) Then they’ll be right back where they started.

    1. Hal Guest

      No cultural connection? One is a growing city with a huge Latin market in a low tax state, the other is a cesspool of crime and homelessness where everything is closing. I don’t see the problem here

    2. FoxNewsBears Guest

      Lmao Florida is a cesspool, isn’t it.

    3. LadyOlives Guest

      It is amazing how stupid Americans are with their politicized everything. My state is better than yours. My candidate is better than yours. My love of money far exceeds your worship of it. Get lost already.

    4. OneAlphaTwo Gold

      I agree. My comment was not in any way intended to be a political statement. I was merely pointing out that there’s not much of a connection between those two cities as say AUS-SEA/PDX or LGA/JFK/EWR and MIA/FLL/TPA, etc. Sadly people make everything political culture wars.

    5. Hans Guest

      Spot on Hal, as a former PDX resident for 35 years you stated the problems well, the cause........Fentanyl. So sad, once an amazing place but no longer a place you want to live, work, visit or play. Californication.

      Route makes more sense for AA than AS but AA has very, very little presence in PDX.

      Might be a good opportunity to use my retiree AA passes (via TWA purge June 2003) that I have used once in the last 20 years. No love lost for that company.

    6. Al Guest

      Tell me you haven't been to Portland recently without actually saying you haven't been to Portland recently

  30. Alex Manero Guest

    This is simple. AA and UA (and literally everyone) has said publicly they will defend their hubs. That's all this is. And although the eastbound flights are similar in time of departure the westbound is very different and is consistently with Americans PNW flying from mia

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Alex Manero -- I get the concept of "defending" hubs, but what does that actually mean in practice? American will just stay in the market forever, even if the airline could better utilize planes elsewhere?

    2. Mark Guest

      It’s a fairly low opportunity cost for AA when they’re using a plane that might otherwise sit overnight in MIA during a time of year when they might have spare pilot hours.

      Both airlines will operate a daily winter schedule and then AS will probably exit, at which point AA will likely reduce their frequency to less than daily before also exiting. AS won’t re-enter the market for a few years, if ever, and AA...

      It’s a fairly low opportunity cost for AA when they’re using a plane that might otherwise sit overnight in MIA during a time of year when they might have spare pilot hours.

      Both airlines will operate a daily winter schedule and then AS will probably exit, at which point AA will likely reduce their frequency to less than daily before also exiting. AS won’t re-enter the market for a few years, if ever, and AA will have “successfully” defended their hub by pouring a ton of money in a losing route.

  31. derek Guest

    AA should start some new fare basis codes for that market. Instead of F, Y, B, etc. consider

    FKOFFPDXMIA
    YUWANTDIEMIAPDX

  32. DCS Guest

    Never tried the Miami to Portland route before.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Ben Schlappig OMAAT

@ Travis Peacock -- Keep in mind that they're legally not allowed to coordinate schedules and routes without a joint venture. So this couldn't be a coordinated effort.

2
Mark Guest

It’s a fairly low opportunity cost for AA when they’re using a plane that might otherwise sit overnight in MIA during a time of year when they might have spare pilot hours. Both airlines will operate a daily winter schedule and then AS will probably exit, at which point AA will likely reduce their frequency to less than daily before also exiting. AS won’t re-enter the market for a few years, if ever, and AA will have “successfully” defended their hub by pouring a ton of money in a losing route.

2
Stefan Weitz Guest

The funniest thing is the 35 minute turn.

1
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