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With United’s announcement to add transcontinental routes from New York-JFK today, the market is heating up. With multiple airlines serving multiple daily frequencies, United’s entry will shake things up and add new competition to an already heavy market of premium routes. Here’s what to expect from every airline.
Although some airlines operate non-stop transcontinental flights from Newark, we will focus on operations to and from New York-JFK for the purposes of this article.
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Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines traditionally operates several daily flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to New York-JFK. This includes up to four daily flights from San Francisco and five from Los Angeles.
Alaska Airline is the only carrier to operate transcontinental flights without reclining seats in the premium cabin. Passengers can find the airline’s first-class reclining-style hard product on board. However, passengers traveling in first class have access to the Alaska lounge.
This is one of the reasons why the airline is often one of the cheapest on the premium cabin route. By coach, this can vary as the product from Alaska is quite comparable to that of other airlines.
American Airlines
American Airlines operates up to ten daily operations between Los Angeles and New York and five between San Francisco and New York. Both of these routes are operated using narrow-body aircraft.
Traditionally, American Airlines flies an Airbus A321T on the road. It is a three-class aircraft with 102 seats on board, 10 in Flagship First, 20 in Flagship Business, 36 in additional economy class and only 36 in standard economy class.
American Airlines is the only carrier with a separate product for business and first class on the road. Flagship First comes with floor perks, such as Flagship First Dining and inverted herringbone style elongated seats in a 1-1 configuration.
Flagship Business is a more standard reclining business class configuration on a narrow body. This is in a 2-2 configuration. This class, however, does not provide access to more exclusive perks, but passengers can access the Flagship or Admirals Club lounges in the field.
Delta Airlines
Delta has a fairly large transcontinental market. This includes up to seven daily return flights between New York and San Francisco and nine return flights between Los Angeles and New York-JFK.
Delta flies different planes on each route, making it the only airline to fly different products on these two transcontinental routes. Traditionally, flights to Los Angeles have been carried out aboard a Boeing 767-300ER with an extended Delta One business class facing forward.
On routes to San Francisco, Delta uses Boeing 757s. These are premium 757s with stretched seats in the Delta One cabin. This includes 16 Delta One seats in a 2-2 configuration, followed by 44 coach seats with more legroom and 108 standard economy seats.
Delta One passengers can access Delta Sky Clubs in both Los Angeles and New York-JFK. In addition, on the ground in Los Angeles, there is also an exclusive Delta One check-in location in Los Angeles.
JetBlue
JetBlue was one of the first airlines to put a door in Business Class, and you can find it on JetBlue’s transcontinental routes. The airline offers up to ten daily round trips between Los Angeles and New York and up to six between San Francisco and New York.
JetBlue flies narrow-body Airbus A320 family aircraft on these routes. However, unlike other narrow-body Business Class configurations on this route, JetBlue offers some throne seats in a staggered configuration. The first row is a 2-2 configuration, followed by a 1-1 configuration, then another 2-2, and then creating the solo seats with a solid door. Note that pairs of two seats do not have doors.
The only thing JetBlue’s product lacks, however, is ground play. JetBlue doesn’t have its own lounges, so unless you have access to another lounge on the lot, you’re out of luck.
United Airlines
New to the market from February 1 is United Airlines. With two round-trip flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles each day, the airline is swinging its feet in the water before increasing frequencies – something the airline hopes to do.
The planes United Airlines uses on this route are high-end Boeing 767s. This includes 46 Polaris business class seats, 22 Premium Plus seats (premium economy class), 47 Economy Plus seats with more legroom and 52 standard economy seats.
United Airlines is the only airline on this route to offer a truly premium economy product. The others offer additional legroom options, but United’s 767-300ERs are the only ones with a dedicated premium budget product.
One area United lacks is something JetBlue also lacks, lounge access – albeit at one end. Only in New York-JFK will there be no lounge access for United premium passengers. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, United operates lounges for premium passengers.
Why are these routes so competitive?
New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are among the largest business centers in the United States, and these airlines help connect business travelers from coast to coast.
Right now, many of these transactions are being adjusted. Some carriers have severely withdrawn their premium offerings from Los Angeles, while others have changed the aircraft they use. For example, American Airlines currently uses Boeing 777s instead of Airbus A321Ts on the route and will operate these jets on that route for the foreseeable future.
However, by the time United Airlines steps in on the route, it is likely that most carriers will resume at least some of these operations. Delta and JetBlue are two airlines that have kept some of their same products on the road for now.
What is your favorite airline for traveling on these transcontinental routes? Let us know in the comments!
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