Wed Feb 17, 2021 2:52 pm
In regards to DL from DTW:
I actually think their TATL/TPAC international network (PreCovid) was very appropriate for DTW. I agree with another poster that there may be some room for improvement to the Caribbean, but in general I think DLs network is very good from DTW, given the size of local market. I am not even going to get into a “during Covid” international discussion because it is all based on non-existent demand or speculation.
In terms of DL’s ticket cost, I don’t fault Delta for trying to maximize their profits. When IND, CVG, PIT etc. previously had their nonstop CDG flight, their ticket cost was similar to DTW. The point is, DL can sell a ticket at that cost, so why wouldn’t they? Comparing cost to YYZ is a bit of a unicorn situation because YYZ is in Canada. Even comparing YYZ to ORD (which has both a Star and OW hub), YYZ was almost always significantly cheaper than ORD. I do think more should have been done to attract someone like EI or FI to the DTW market (increasing options), but that obviously is not DLs fault either. I also don’t think DLs ticket cost would change that much if EI/FI served DTW, just like DLs sun destinations don’t drop in cost that much because of NK.
To be blunt, from an international perspective, I give DL’s DTW a lot of credit and am definitely not critical of it, pre or post Covid.
Where I do fault DL’s network is more on the domestic offerings from DTW. Reason 1: During Covid, DL has launched a handful of new flights to leisure destinations in 2021 that didn’t exist previously, but none of them from DTW, only from ATL, MSP or SLC.
Reason 2: PreCovid, it seemed logical that DTW/MSP served as bookends of the Midwest flows. Going west, you connected in MSP. Going east, you connected in DTW. But if you dug deeper, more often than not, the situation would be that to a US Eastern midsize city XXX, DL would fly DTW say 3x daily and MSP 1x daily. Going to a Western midsized city, DL would fly MSP 3x daily and often there was no DTW service at all. And that was always the kicker. Even in 2021, Why does DL fly MSP-ANC 3x daily in the summer, but not a single flight from DTW, when MSP also has a 1x flight to SAV that overlies DTW? There are several examples of situations like this.
It just seems for many domestic routes, when possible DL opts to route domestic connections (particularly East-West) over ATL/MSP and away from DTW, and then because those connections are being made elsewhere, that reduction in feeder flights to DTW inhibits the opportunity for a borderline nonstop route to be offered by DL from DTW.
Last edited by
kavok on Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:14 pm, edited 8 times in total.