Cranky on the Web: Chicago Gates, Alaska Loyalty, and More Dorkfest


LABJ Insider: Enthusiasts Enjoy Tour at LAXLos Angeles Business Journal
If I’m going to call out the bad write-ups, then I should also call out the good ones. LABJ had a quick blurb that got all the right points.

Alaska Airlines travelers will need to choose an option to earn frequent flier points Everett Daily Herald
In a place where Alaska Airlines matters the most, people are now trying to figure out the right way to earn their points.

United Airlines gets gates at O’Hare, American loses a fewChicago Tribune
Now that American has lost its lawsuit to prevent gates at O’Hare from being reallocated, the shift has happened as planned on October 1. The Trib covered it behind a paywall, but I found another source that has it. The key question here is whether or not the gate allocation process is pro-competition as the city says. My quote on that?

Snyder agreed that “use it or lose it” provisions are pro-capacity, in the sense that they encourage the departure of as many flights as possible out of an airport.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the provision is pro-competition, he added: The provisions don’t necessarily guarantee that one airline or another, such as United, won’t continue to gain a larger and larger market share at the airport.

“Everyone would like American to keep being the sacrificial lamb to prevent United from dominating Chicago on its own,” he said.

Of course, the flip side is that to keep pace with United’s torrid growth, American has to add a lot, and that likely hurts profitability.

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