American Airlines Takes Aim At Delta – Resumes Washington Reagan – Atlanta Route

I love it when airlines have a falling out. Not only is it often fun to watch (ME3 vs US3) but, often, it has the knock on effect of being good for the consumer.

Delta is particularly adept at getting into arguments with others in the travel industry.

• Their “partnership” with Alaska Airlines is only a partnership in name after Delta tried to muscle in on Alaska’s home-turf in Seattle.
• They got into a confrontation with some online travel sites when they restricted access to their data
• Most recently, they had a disagreement with American Airlines which resulted in the cancellation of the Interline agreement between the two airlines.

Just as Alaska didn’t take things lying down when Delta overstepped the mark, it looks like American is fighting back against Delta too.

Just last week American announced 3 new routes from New York’s LaGuardia airport (3 flights/day on each route) and all three were aimed squarely at Delta.

The routes in question will all start on 5 January 2016 and all involve cities where Delta is the dominant airline (info from airline route.net):

New York La Guardia – Cincinnati
AA4724 LGA 10:05 – 12:15 CVG
AA4731 LGA 14:35 – 16:45 CVG
AA4734 LGA 20:00 – 22:11 CVG

AA4730 CVG 06:30 – 08:39 LGA
AA4724 CVG 12:45 – 14:44 LGA
AA4731 CVG 17:15 – 19:19 LGA

New York La Guardia – Indianapolis
AA4727 LGA 09:10 – 11:20 IND
AA4732 LGA 14:30 – 16:40 IND
AA4671 LGA 19:55 – 22:16 IND

AA4715 IND 07:15 – 09:24 LGA
AA4727 IND 11:50 – 13:49 LGA
AA4732 IND 17:10 – 19:14 LGA

New York La Guardia – Minneapolis (this is a resumption in service and not a wholly new route)
AA4726 LGA 06:45 – 08:46 MSP
AA4725 LGA 12:25 – 14:25 MSP
AA4733 LGA 19:45 – 21:52 MSP

AA4721 MSP 06:30 – 10:30 LGA
AA4726 MSP 09:30 – 13:30 LGA
AA4725 MSP 15:00 – 19:05 LGA

The flights will all be serviced by regional jest – specifically Embraer 170 aircraft operated by Republic Airline flying as American Eagle.

Image courtesy of Jerry Landers via Flickr

Now it looks like American is making doubly sure that Delta gets the message – they’ve announced the resumption of their service between Washington Reagan airport and Delta’s home and fortress hub, Atlanta.

Just as with the new routes from LaGuardia the Washington Reagan – Atlanta flights will commence on 5 January 2016 and will be serviced by Embraer 170 regional jets.

The proposed schedule (according to airline route.net) is as follows:

All flights are daily.

AA4171 DCA 06:22 – 08:25 ATL
AA4184 DCA 08:52 – 10:55 ATL
AA4414 DCA 13:52 – 15:55 ATL
AA4422 DCA 16:52 – 18:55 ATL
AA4571 DCA 19:30 – 21:25 ATL

AA4487 ATL 06:20 – 08:15 DCA
AA4171 ATL 09:00 – 11:03 DCA
AA4184 ATL 11:35 – 13:38 DCA
AA4414 ATL 16:45 – 18:48 DCA
AA4422 ATL 19:35 – 21:38 DCA

As an American Airlines flyer I’m always happy to see new routes added and, as a consumer, I’m delighted to see American taking Delta on in any shape or form.

I’ve no idea how successful these routes will be for American Airlines – they will be up against the odds on all of them – but, with the US having been reduced to just 3 large legacy airlines, it’s good to see infighting and competition between them. Competition means lower prices and I’m always in favour of those!

What do you think of the new routes? Any Delta flyers out there tempted to try out the opposition or are things too comfortable where you are?

Featured image courtesy of InSapphoWeTrust via Flickr