WN732 wrote:

SAN-ELP is resuming in a quick update for the WN summer schedule! 1X Daily, time is different on Saturday.

cutting LIH,OGG,KOA ouch hopefully it’s just because of fuel.

Wneast wrote:

WN732 wrote:

SAN-ELP is resuming in a quick update for the WN summer schedule! 1X Daily, time is different on Saturday.

cutting LIH,OGG,KOA ouch hopefully it’s just because of fuel.

Very interesting. Did any other cities get their Hawaii service cut? SAN is also getting IND back in June.

I will say due to the construction at T1 it is especially horrible to fly in and out on WN there and perhaps this plays a role as to why these flights were cut, as space is limited. Or the return on those flights was bad. Hopefully we'll see a resumption someday.

WN732 wrote:

Wneast wrote:

WN732 wrote:

SAN-ELP is resuming in a quick update for the WN summer schedule! 1X Daily, time is different on Saturday.

cutting LIH,OGG,KOA ouch hopefully it’s just because of fuel.

Very interesting. Did any other cities get their Hawaii service cut? SAN is also getting IND back in June.

I will say due to the construction at T1 it is especially horrible to fly in and out on WN there and perhaps this plays a role as to why these flights were cut, as space is limited. Or the return on those flights was bad. Hopefully we'll see a resumption someday.

SAN construction was the first thing that came to my mind, especially since it appears SAN is the only one seeing these cuts. They just demolished 5 gates and even with shifting down to gate 17 they might be in a pinch for gate space as they regrow the station so those longer ETOPS turns have to go for a while. Just a guess.

vedatil4 wrote:

I took two screenshots of videos I found online. Then I added some notes explaining how I think the new international wing of Tijuana airport will work for people coming down from San Diego using the CBX bridge. There will be a type of international waiting area there where passengers are in Mexico but not admitted into Mexico.

What remains unclear is how Tijuana people will be able to even access these areas. I don't think they will be able to. Or maybe they don't have to if they're catching an international flight? Again, the notes are guesses as to how the process will work based on what they've released (which is not much). Once the facility opens, we'll see if I was right.

At some point, passengers originating on Tijuana and passengers originating from CBX will have to combine to board the aircraft. Does Mexico have exit immigration checks like many EU countries? If so, once Tijuana originating passengers have completed those, they could mix with the CBX customers in a single departure area. If not (like the US), then they’d presumably need to have separate departure areas that combine somewhere just before the jet bridge. International transit passengers would presumably be able to mix with CBX passengers as CBX passengers are essentially in transit to another country as well, the difference being they arrived at TIJ via the bridge instead of another airplane.

hawaiian717 wrote:

vedatil4 wrote:

I took two screenshots of videos I found online. Then I added some notes explaining how I think the new international wing of Tijuana airport will work for people coming down from San Diego using the CBX bridge. There will be a type of international waiting area there where passengers are in Mexico but not admitted into Mexico.

What remains unclear is how Tijuana people will be able to even access these areas. I don't think they will be able to. Or maybe they don't have to if they're catching an international flight? Again, the notes are guesses as to how the process will work based on what they've released (which is not much). Once the facility opens, we'll see if I was right.

At some point, passengers originating on Tijuana and passengers originating from CBX will have to combine to board the aircraft. Does Mexico have exit immigration checks like many EU countries? If so, once Tijuana originating passengers have completed those, they could mix with the CBX customers in a single departure area. If not (like the US), then they’d presumably need to have separate departure areas that combine somewhere just before the jet bridge. International transit passengers would presumably be able to mix with CBX passengers as CBX passengers are essentially in transit to another country as well, the difference being they arrived at TIJ via the bridge instead of another airplane.

I don't think there are exit checks out of Mexico. Maybe they do if you fly from Mexico City to the US or Europe? I didn't see anyone checking passports leaving from La Paz to Phoenix back in January.

I've seen the long glass hallway leading from the "in-transit" area to the two international gates. I think Tijuana passengers would walk in the normal areas, go through a set a double doors, mix in the glass hallway in front of the jetway bridges with CBX people, before going through another set of doors, and catching an international flight. That's what I figured the last time I was there.

Here's a not very good video of the glass hallway (jump to 34 second mark and watch to about the 1 minute mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EbU39evG8Y I remember another set of double doors closer to the end of the hallway that this man didn't show. I also remember the doors being more robust. Like they'd been upgraded to something having more security features. But I didn't take pictures because security guards were around.

If CBX in-transit area passengers are sealed off from Tijuana passengers, and US officials are there somehow to make sure everything is secured, maybe there can be flights into the US with no immigration check once you fly back into the US? (I know this is a tremendous leap of imagination.) But based on what the officials said in the press conference, this may be a hidden goal. I doubt they'll let the facility sit idle waiting for the once-in-a-great-while international flight.

Anyway, that glass hallway is where I think a strange flight might become possible.

Does SAN-KOA on Southwest even run outside Christmas and Spring Break? Because I took it in December and looked in January and it didn't appear to be running that month (same with SMF-KOA). Outside of HNL, Southwest doesn't look very consistent with their SAN-Hawaii schedules.

maps4ltd wrote:

Does SAN-KOA on Southwest even run outside Christmas and Spring Break? Because I took it in December and looked in January and it didn't appear to be running that month (same with SMF-KOA). Outside of HNL, Southwest doesn't look very consistent with their SAN-Hawaii schedules.

SAN-KOA was running in September. Not sure if it was a daily route though. Some of the neighbor island to mainland have been 3 or 4 times a week.

Seems to me I've seen many traffic stats posted on A.net showing that the outer island flights from SAN on WN were not doing well at all - IIRC, LFs often were in centered around 30% for all 3 routes! HNL was much more respectable.

Of course AS has trimmed their flights to LIH and KOA as well during the winter and that was never the case before covid; according to current skeds, the summer on AS will retain flights to all 4 islands at least daily, with HNL going daily-double during the peak summer season - starting 6/16 (and using a 739 and a MAX9 a/c!) and currently running thru 9/6! Two of their largest capacity aircraft twice a day for the entire summer says AS is pretty darned optimistic about SAN-HNL business!

I can imagine that fuel prices, the mess that is T1 at SAN now and going forward for a couple of years, and the fact that perhaps folks are very happy with the service on AS and HA and will stay with them until WN cuts their fares to Hawaii in half, will not help WN develop their Hawaii markets from SAN. Also, I really think WN is going to have a hard time of the next 2 years working out of both T1W and T1E, and heaven help anybody having to connect between the 2 rotundas... This also will undoubtedly
rule out the probability of WN selling network connections to/from Hawaii over SAN, further dropping traffic on the outer island routes.

It's interesting that lots of A.netters were predicting that WN would perhaps wipe out AS's Hawaii business from the west coast but it doesn't seem to happening that way. I do think once things hopefully return to a more normal environment, there will certainly be enough business for our 3 current cx on SAN-HI.

bb

SANFan wrote:

It's interesting that lots of A.netters were predicting that WN would perhaps wipe out AS's Hawaii business from the west coast but it doesn't seem to happening that way. I do think once things hopefully return to a more normal environment, there will certainly be enough business for our 3 current cx on SAN-HI.

bb

I have a hard time taking Hawaii load stats so seriously over the past two years considering how many factors have impacted travel to/from the islands. Safe travels ends in a couple weeks so finally a return to normal that can give us a more accurate picture going forward.

Silver1SWA wrote:

SANFan wrote:

It's interesting that lots of A.netters were predicting that WN would perhaps wipe out AS's Hawaii business from the west coast but it doesn't seem to happening that way. I do think once things hopefully return to a more normal environment, there will certainly be enough business for our 3 current cx on SAN-HI.

bb

I have a hard time taking Hawaii load stats so seriously over the past two years considering how many factors have impacted travel to/from the islands. Safe travels ends in a couple weeks so finally a return to normal that can give us a more accurate picture going forward.

Thats true, but WN's relative performance is concerning.

Andrew Watterson was recently interviewed on local news in Hawaii. 1:20 mark probably relevant to the cuts we saw.

Video here:
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/video/202 ... ssian-oil/

bummer on losing some island flights!!! but the $99 and $129 fares throughout this winter and spring was a warning sign....

At around 5:45pm this afternoon I caught a glimpse of a Qantas plane flying in the South Bay.

It was flying very low! It was hard not to notice. Checking flightradar, it didn't fly much higher than 1800ft.

It was shown as flight QQ9810. Here's a link to the flightradar replay: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 0#2b241261

Supposedly it was heading to Honolulu but then it turned around. I don't know if there was an issue with the plane itself. The registration is shown as N961UW. It had come in from Los Mochis (also weird).

Anyway, it was exciting to see something that rare here.

This is a picture of the plane: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10472146

vedatil4 wrote:

At around 5:45pm this afternoon I caught a glimpse of a Qantas plane flying in the South Bay. It was flying very low! It was hard not to notice. Checking flightradar it didn't fly much higher than 1800ft.

It was shown as flight QQ9810. Here's a link to the flightradar replay: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 0#2b241261

Supposedly it was heading to Honolulu but then it turned around. I don't know if there was an issue with the plane itself. The registration is shown as N961UW. It had come in from Los Mochis (also weird).

Anyway, it was exciting to see something that rare here.

This is a picture of the plane. https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10472146

That’s an E-175 bound for Alliance Air in Australia. Probably had some sort of mechanical issue which warranted the return to SDM. They usually pass though SDM (to clear customs I think) after paint at SJO and then continue to HNL-MAJ-BNE.

LindyFlight wrote:

vedatil4 wrote:

At around 5:45pm this afternoon I caught a glimpse of a Qantas plane flying in the South Bay. It was flying very low! It was hard not to notice. Checking flightradar it didn't fly much higher than 1800ft.

It was shown as flight QQ9810. Here's a link to the flightradar replay: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 0#2b241261

Supposedly it was heading to Honolulu but then it turned around. I don't know if there was an issue with the plane itself. The registration is shown as N961UW. It had come in from Los Mochis (also weird).

Anyway, it was exciting to see something that rare here.

This is a picture of the plane. https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10472146

That’s an E-175 bound for Alliance Air in Australia. Probably had some sort of mechanical issue which warranted the return to SDM. They usually pass though SDM (to clear customs I think) after paint at SJO and then continue to HNL-MAJ-BNE.

Thanks for clarifying.

I see how the Marshall Islands airport divides crossing the Pacific into three similar kangaroo hops, pun intended, to get to Australia.

I was hoping Qantas people had come to take a look at the CBX. But then the Los Mochis segment wouldn't make sense.

Looks to me like it was headed to SDM all along. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UTY9 ... /MMLM/KSDM

The second leg out of SDM seems to be where the trouble was. Based on the timing it should be halfway to HNL as I post this, but the tracking log shows it turned around and went back to SDM. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UTY9 ... /KSDM/PHNL

LindyFlight wrote:

vedatil4 wrote:

At around 5:45pm this afternoon I caught a glimpse of a Qantas plane flying in the South Bay. It was flying very low! It was hard not to notice. Checking flightradar it didn't fly much higher than 1800ft.

It was shown as flight QQ9810. Here's a link to the flightradar replay: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 0#2b241261

Supposedly it was heading to Honolulu but then it turned around. I don't know if there was an issue with the plane itself. The registration is shown as N961UW. It had come in from Los Mochis (also weird).

Anyway, it was exciting to see something that rare here.

This is a picture of the plane. https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10472146

That’s an E-175 bound for Alliance Air in Australia. Probably had some sort of mechanical issue which warranted the return to SDM. They usually pass though SDM (to clear customs I think) after paint at SJO and then continue to HNL-MAJ-BNE.

*Correction E-190

Just a reminder for spotters and other interested parties, 2 weeks from today LH will re-start service at SAN! According to the LH website, the sked will be:

LH 466 on 3/30, Wed, A350-900 sked to arrive SAN at 15:35 from Munich;
LH 467 is sked to depart SAN at 17:25.

LH is returning after a 2 year suspension of service, with a new destination in Germany and a new aircraft type for us!

I don't expect to be able to be at SAN that day but I'm hopeful that many of our spotters and great photographers will be there!

We've missed you, Lufthansa, and are glad to have you back.

bb

Noticed a GlobalX A320 climbing out of SAN a few minutes ago. Currently heading to SLC and it looks like it arrived from EWR this morning at 12:01am.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/GXA1 ... /KSAN/KSLC

SANFan wrote:

We've missed you, Lufthansa, and are glad to have you back.

bb

I don't know if I'll be there to see "Lufty's" return, but I hope to see plenty of pics of
the A350 when it makes it's debut in SAN!

will this be the first a350 landing at SAN?

ajlombardi2 wrote:

will this be the first a350 landing at SAN?

BA is bringing in their A350-1000 starting March 27th which is just three days before LH.

I am fully planning on being on 6th Avenue, in the median at Juniper Street, to get video of LH's triumphant return. If you see a guy on a bike, that'll probably be me!!

LindyFlight wrote:

BA is bringing in their A350-1000 starting March 27th which is just three days before LH.

Wow! Two A350s!

True, BA will actually be the first carrier to operate the A350 at SAN on a regular basis!

I just wanted to point out that for a while now, (last week at least?) BA has been operating DAILY to SAN, still using the 789.

Some of the other cities that have seen BA service being restored along a similar timeline as SAN, such as AUS, are remaining less than daily for a while longer - at least thru mid-April! This tells me that SAN must be recovering its international travel levels very nicely.

Checking the summer peak travel season -- late June, July -- the daily A350-900 appears to be staying in place; this is expected of course as March 27 is officially this year's beginning of intercontinental cx "summer." I'm just wondering if the long-term plans for SAN will be year-round 350-service or if there could be some sort of seasonal aircraft change for the winter or next year? (Or perhaps someday, added frequencies, especially if no other carrier decides to jump into the LON-SAN market?)

Very exciting and meaningful to me to see BA and LH back at pre-covid levels!

bb

Not to slight Asia service, I'd like to mention Japan Airline's most recent flight information.

JL is currently operating 4x weekly (with flights NOT operating Mo-Th-Sa) with the 788. Effective June 1, their service increases to Daily which of course matches the pre-covid frequency and equipment! I am assuming this will remain the schedule going forward.

I know Japan has been running cargo-only fights since service was resumed last year. Does anyone know for a fact if they are still operating and how frequently?

bb

SANFan wrote:

True, BA will actually be the first carrier to operate the A350 at SAN on a regular basis!

I just wanted to point out that for a while now, (last week at least?) BA has been operating DAILY to SAN, still using the 789.

Some of the other cities that have seen BA service being restored along a similar timeline as SAN, such as AUS, are remaining less than daily for a while longer - at least thru mid-April! This tells me that SAN must be recovering its international travel levels very nicely.

Checking the summer peak travel season -- late June, July -- the daily A350-900 appears to be staying in place; this is expected of course as March 27 is officially this year's beginning of intercontinental cx "summer." I'm just wondering if the long-term plans for SAN will be year-round 350-service or if there could be some sort of seasonal aircraft change for the winter or next year? (Or perhaps someday, added frequencies, especially if no other carrier decides to jump into the LON-SAN market?)

Very exciting and meaningful to me to see BA and LH back at pre-covid levels!

bb

Looks like BA opts for the 787-9 for the Winter rotation and the flight will remain daily (ofc that is subject to change). So it appears it’ll be A350-1000 for the Summer then 787-9 for the Winter.

Just a little FYI. The A350-1000 will be the 7th aircraft type BA has used since they initiated their on again, off again, on again, off again, and on again service to SAN since 1988. Below is a rundown.

1988-1990 - 747-200, DC-10-30 (via LAX)
1996-1998 - DC10-30 (via PHX)
1998-2001 - 744 (via PHX)
2001-2003 - 772 (now N/S)
2011-2016 - 772 (occasional 773 substitution)
2016-2020 - 773, 744
2021-currrent - 772,789, and starting soon, 351

On another note, on certain days, there will be about a 5 minute overlap at T2 that will have the LH350 and the BA351. Would make for a great photo opportunity for anyone inside the terminal.

Samfam1000 wrote:

Just a little FYI. The A350-1000 will be the 7th aircraft type BA has used since they initiated their on again, off again, on again, off again, and on again service to SAN since 1988. Below is a rundown.

1988-1990 - 747-200, DC-10-30 (via LAX)
1996-1998 - DC10-30 (via PHX)
1998-2001 - 744 (via PHX)
2001-2003 - 772 (now N/S)
2011-2016 - 772 (occasional 773 substitution)
2016-2020 - 773, 744
2021-currrent - 772,789, and starting soon, 351

On another note, on certain days, there will be about a 5 minute overlap at T2 that will have the LH350 and the BA351. Would make for a great photo opportunity for anyone inside the terminal.

Would someone fill us in on the why BA stopped flying here for a six then eight year periods? San Diego has always been a great tourism destination.

I remember snagging a $290 round trip ticket in November 2002. That's incuding taxes and without any baggage fees too.

vedatil4 wrote:

Samfam1000 wrote:

Just a little FYI. The A350-1000 will be the 7th aircraft type BA has used since they initiated their on again, off again, on again, off again, and on again service to SAN since 1988. Below is a rundown.

1988-1990 - 747-200, DC-10-30 (via LAX)
1996-1998 - DC10-30 (via PHX)
1998-2001 - 744 (via PHX)
2001-2003 - 772 (now N/S)
2011-2016 - 772 (occasional 773 substitution)
2016-2020 - 773, 744
2021-currrent - 772,789, and starting soon, 351

On another note, on certain days, there will be about a 5 minute overlap at T2 that will have the LH350 and the BA351. Would make for a great photo opportunity for anyone inside the terminal.

Would someone fill us in on the why BA stopped flying here for a six then eight year periods? San Diego has always been a great tourism destination.

I remember snagging a $290 round trip ticket in November 2002. That's incuding taxes and without any baggage fees too.

This UT article from 2011 (https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/sdut-british-airways-gives-non-stop-service-london-anot-2011jun02-htmlstory.html) states this in their timeline:
“October 2003: Direct flights to London from San Diego are dropped, due to poor financial performance after 9/11, especially in business class.”
Very well consistent with San Diego always being a great tourism destination.
And for 1990 it says:
“November 1990: British Airways discontinues service to San Diego, when Iraq's invasion of Kuwait causes a worldwide spike in fuel costs.”

Since San Diego used to support a 747-400 in the winter, I expect that we’ll eventually see service with more capacity than the 787-9.

vedatil4 wrote:

Samfam1000 wrote:

Just a little FYI. The A350-1000 will be the 7th aircraft type BA has used since they initiated their on again, off again, on again, off again, and on again service to SAN since 1988. Below is a rundown.

1988-1990 - 747-200, DC-10-30 (via LAX)
1996-1998 - DC10-30 (via PHX)
1998-2001 - 744 (via PHX)
2001-2003 - 772 (now N/S)
2011-2016 - 772 (occasional 773 substitution)
2016-2020 - 773, 744
2021-currrent - 772,789, and starting soon, 351

On another note, on certain days, there will be about a 5 minute overlap at T2 that will have the LH350 and the BA351. Would make for a great photo opportunity for anyone inside the terminal.

Would someone fill us in on the why BA stopped flying here for a six then eight year periods? San Diego has always been a great tourism destination.

I remember snagging a $290 round trip ticket in November 2002. That's incuding taxes and without any baggage fees too.

BA was in a tough spot in the early noughties with high costs and LCCs eating their lunch. That's about the time Willy Walsh got in and whipped them back into shape.

santam wrote:

This UT article from 2011 (https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/sdut-british-airways-gives-non-stop-service-london-anot-2011jun02-htmlstory.html) states this in their timeline:
“October 2003: Direct flights to London from San Diego are dropped, due to poor financial performance after 9/11, especially in business class.”
Very well consistent with San Diego always being a great tourism destination.
And for 1990 it says:
“November 1990: British Airways discontinues service to San Diego, when Iraq's invasion of Kuwait causes a worldwide spike in fuel costs.”

Since San Diego used to support a 747-400 in the winter, I expect that we’ll eventually see service with more capacity than the 787-9.

Most definitely. I would be surprised if we don't see the 350-1000 flying year-round from SAN, perhaps as early as this winter. The 789 is currently on the skeds but that is just, IMO, a placeholder that will most certainly be upgraded to at least a 777 of some flavor. It may come down to what BA's fleet count and makeup are this winter. And, of course, what fuel prices are like later this year... (I am assuming and hoping desperately that covid will be a horrible memory by then.)

I do remember that BA was planning to start using "The Queen" (744) year-round at SAN beginning with the 2020 Summer schedule (on March 29) when covid messed everything up; March 2020 was in fact when BA suspended most US service.

Also, pertaining to the timeline of BA's discontinuance and re-starting SAN's service. a very important factor that BA was waiting for in order to re-start service here was the approval of the JV between AA/BA/IB which happened in Oct of 2010; BA began flying to SAN on 6/1/2011!

bb

vedatil4 wrote:

Would someone fill us in on the why BA stopped flying here for a six then eight year periods? San Diego has always been a great tourism destination.

I remember snagging a $290 round trip ticket in November 2002. That's incuding taxes and without any baggage fees too.

To add to those who have already commented: do not forget the oft-discussed Bermuda II treaty which prevented flights from Heathrow to many cities BA would have liked to have served directly.

For many years, LHR was restricted to the U.S. to two British carriers and two carriers from the United States. At the time, these were obviously Pan Am and TWA. However, this quickly-outmoded treaty prohibited flights from most airports, including SAN. Only certain airports had the status of "allowable to LHR", while all others had to use LGW. Even ATL was on the LGW-only list for many years.

Along with this confusion, AA and BA Frequent Flyers could not use their miles on each other's airplanes if it involved Heathrow, or something like that. Then came 9/11, the decline in air travel, then the dissolution of Bermuda II, and BA found SAN could be profitable again.

I remember, It was both British Airways and British Caledonian that flew on alternate days SAN-LAX-LGW
(during the late 80s) with a mix of 747s and DC-10s.

SANMAN66 wrote:

I remember, It was both British Airways and British Caledonian that flew on alternate days SAN-LAX-LGW
(during the late 80s) with a mix of 747s and DC-10s.

Actually, it was British Caledonian that applied for the service to SAN to LGW via LAX. By the time the service was set to begin, BA had acquired BCal. I recall when the service started, the D10s were painted in BA colors and the 747-200s were still in the old BCal colors. I read an article that stated that the BCal 747's were not compatible with BA's 747s (something about the engines IIRC). BA decided to keep the D10 and get rid of BCals 747 as well as BA's L1011s. The D10s stayed in BA's fleet till the late 90s.

SANFan wrote:

JL is currently operating 4x weekly (with flights NOT operating Mo-Th-Sa) with the 788. Effective June 1, their service increases to Daily which of course matches the pre-covid frequency and equipment! I am assuming this will remain the schedule going forward.

JL's international schedule is only published for until end of May and what's in the schedule from June onwards is not reliable. I would assume current 4x weekly to be the status quo going forward until entry requirements change for tourists.

mentaisupa wrote:

JL's international schedule is only published for until end of May and what's in the schedule from June onwards is not reliable. I would assume current 4x weekly to be the status quo going forward until entry requirements change for tourists.

Oh, thanks for that. I was thinking (and hoping) that June was correct at this point -- a little over 2 months out -- even given covid.

bb

A note of disappointment.

Today AS held a big Investor's Day presentation where they made lots of announcements, including getting rid of all their AirBi and Q400s by the end of next year, etc.
One of their big bragging topics was that they are going to spend $2.3 billion on new infrastructure at their "key hub airports along the west coast."

They had lots to say about their plans for SEA, PDX, SFO & LAX. Included was the fact that they are moving in SFO from T2 to T1 in 2 years and are going to build a whole new lounge in the new terminal; note: they just opened a brand-new lounge last August in T2 at SFO... (Yes, I am aware that these 4 important cities are the carrier's Lower-48 hubs.)

Not mentioned at all: anything (in the entire presentation) about SAN, especially regarding a lounge. Couldn't possibly spend a few dollars to spruce of your lovely digs in T2E, destined to be the next SDIA Dungeon once T1 is rebuilt? Still no AS lounge for an airport scheduled to see at least 70-some daily departures in just a few months (and about 55 flights a day right now, in March?) Nothing at all for an airport that is one of your most popular network destinations for Mileage Plan travel? No need to spend any of that $2.3 billion at your largest network focus city where you are the #2 carrier?

Big plans, lots of spending, plenty of talk! Nice to hear, Alaska, thank you.

bb

Who uses the previously used international gates?

sea13 wrote:

Who uses the previously used international gates?

Alaska

Just noticed, the Airspace Lounge is now the Aspire Lounge. Free access still available to Amex Platinum and Centurion, as well as select AA, BA, JL, and WK passengers. Also accepts Priority Pass. https://www.executivelounges.com/airpor ... ire-lounge

There is also going to be a new multi-use lounge built in the Green Build area (T2W.) I can't recall the details but the operator may have already have been found, and it might open even later this year? That makes what, 2 or 3 generic lounges at SDIA plus the DL & UA ones?

bb

Just a quick reminder! Sunday 3/27/2002, BA will be bringing the first A350 to SAN!
(According to Flightaware.) Get those cameras ready!

SANFan wrote:

A note of disappointment.

Today AS held a big Investor's Day presentation where they made lots of announcements, including getting rid of all their AirBi and Q400s by the end of next year, etc.
One of their big bragging topics was that they are going to spend $2.3 billion on new infrastructure at their "key hub airports along the west coast."

They had lots to say about their plans for SEA, PDX, SFO & LAX. Included was the fact that they are moving in SFO from T2 to T1 in 2 years and are going to build a whole new lounge in the new terminal; note: they just opened a brand-new lounge last August in T2 at SFO... (Yes, I am aware that these 4 important cities are the carrier's Lower-48 hubs.)

Not mentioned at all: anything (in the entire presentation) about SAN, especially regarding a lounge. Couldn't possibly spend a few dollars to spruce of your lovely digs in T2E, destined to be the next SDIA Dungeon once T1 is rebuilt? Still no AS lounge for an airport scheduled to see at least 70-some daily departures in just a few months (and about 55 flights a day right now, in March?) Nothing at all for an airport that is one of your most popular network destinations for Mileage Plan travel? No need to spend any of that $2.3 billion at your largest network focus city where you are the #2 carrier?

Big plans, lots of spending, plenty of talk! Nice to hear, Alaska, thank you.

bb

I agree it is strange that they're building a whole new lounge just after opening the one in T2 at SFO. It seems like they could've just moved AS into T1 when it was completed last year. But long term I'm just not sure how AS plans to compete with UA at SFO given their relatively small network.

And for SAN I agree they need some kind of AS lounge. But given the history of T1 with PSA, Southwest, Alaska, etc., even a subpar terminal experience has never kept people away from San Diego;)

Per the airport’s Facebook, yesterday was the first day since the start of the pandemic that 70,000 passengers flew through the airport.

psa1011 wrote:

I agree it is strange that they're building a whole new lounge just after opening the one in T2 at SFO. It seems like they could've just moved AS into T1 when it was completed last year. But long term I'm just not sure how AS plans to compete with UA at SFO given their relatively small network.

By the time T1 move in 2024 they will have gotten 3 years of use out of the current T2 lounge which does not seem too bad. Current lounge was a renovation job of the former AAdmirals Club space.

The Airspace Lounge is now the Aspire Lounge. There has been a minor renovation, including much needed new furniture and carpet as well as mildly upgraded comp food (e.g. soup, salad, cold cuts). Overall a nice improvement. Some pics below plus a bonus pic from the hell that is a T2E “gate area” for good measure

AAtakeMeAway wrote:

a bonus pic from the hell that is a T2E “gate area” for good measure

Thanks for the reminder look at T2E, AA'.

Yup, AS must be very satisfied with their half of the concourse that is their home at SDIA! (That's the eastern half of the T2E concourse -- the one with no holding rooms, hardly even a window, or much of anything until you get down to the north end where there are a couple areas with chairs!) Looks Awsome! Plenty of nice comfortable space for all those pax flying on those 55-75 daily AS departures leaving from San Diego's airport.

That's okay. No need to use any of that $2.3 billion going to SEA, PDX, SFO and LAX when you have beautiful, roomy, state of the art accommodations here...

bb

The OneWorld concourse of misery… yes I’m sure AS is thrilled… it’s so bad.
… and AA … well they’re used to it I guess since they’ve been at those same gates for decades and decades.

BA's "Speedbird" A350 just took off from LHR! She is scheduled to grace our skies for the first time
at 4:50pm! Lufthansa's A350 from Munich will be making her SAN debut three days later!