Alaska’s Next Move in the War With Delta Revealed!

Emceeing the Freddie Awards last month I welcomed the crowd and shared a story of my travels to Seattle.

Everyone in the audience was going to have to accept a downgrade — I was up on stage instead of Randy Petersen who has presented the awards in years past.

But of course this crowd is used to cutbacks! I mean, for my flight to Seattle I was actually charged for my emotional baggage! ::rimshot::

Alaska’s running double elite qualifying miles to Delta’s Salt Lake and Detroit hubs reminds me of something else that I told the audience.

We were in Seattle for the ceremony. Delta was in the room, including Skymiles head Jeff Robertson. And as everyone there knows, Delta has been growing like crazy. They’ve even opened a hub in Seattle.

The awards ceremony had been preceded by two days of an industry conference. And talk of the conference naturally was Alaska’s competitive response. Recognizing the big group from Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan in the audience, I noted the rumor that they would be building a hub on Mars.

Personally I’m skeptical of the idea, it rather just strikes me as a case of Venus envy.


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. A couple of groaners there, Gary; I hope you’re not planning on giving up your day job. Otherwise, I like your columns, even the “groaners”. The frequent daily additions are nice, too. Keep it up(she said).

  2. So…being based in DTW, what’s Delta going to do to entice me to make a trip to Seattle?

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