Delta Seattle base: the Pacific Northwest, the Asia flying from SEA, the Alaska Airlines town and why Delta crew bid it over the big hubs
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#1 Alaska Airlines, Seattle, and the Delta Seattle base is the other cabin crew base at my airport and the Delta crew there are my neighbours and friends, so here is Delta Seattle from the next gate, with what the Delta crew tell me, because the Delta threads on here are Atlanta and New York.
The base
Delta's Seattle base, built up over the last decade as Delta made Seattle its Pacific gateway, smaller than Atlanta or the New York bases, with a domestic network to the West and the hubs, and the Asia and Pacific flying from Seattle: Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, and the Pacific routes as they come and go. Plus the Europe from Seattle (London, Paris, Amsterdam).
Why Delta crew bid it
The Asia flying from a base that is not SFO or LAX: a mid seniority Delta crew member holds Tokyo from Seattle sooner than from the California bases because the Seattle list is shorter. The Pacific Northwest for the crew who want the mountains and the water. And the smaller base feel in a Delta system that is mostly giant hubs.
The Seattle life
Expensive, as the Alaska threads say, with the crew in the suburbs or commuting from Spokane and Portland and Boise. The Delta crew and the Alaska crew live in the same neighbourhoods and know each other, and the two crew rooms at Sea Tac are a shared community in a way that the big hubs do not have. The rain is real. The summer is the reward.
The Asia flying from SEA
Tokyo on the A350, Seoul, Shanghai, the long sectors with the jet lag Renee described from SFO. The Delta Seattle Asia crew are the route regulars Josh wrote about: the Tokyo crews with the ramen lists, the Seoul crews with the barbecue lists. A Delta Seattle line at mid seniority is Asia and the West and a Europe, which is a good line.
Versus Alaska at the same airport
Alaska: the West Coast, Hawaii, the state of Alaska, the shorter seniority, the smaller airline, the union contract. Delta Seattle: the Asia and Europe, the Delta system and pay, the non union structure, the longer reserve. The crew who want the world choose Delta Seattle. The crew who want the West choose us. We share the airport and the mountains.
The honest view
Delta Seattle is a good base for a Delta crew member who wants Asia without the California cost and the California list, and who likes rain. It is smaller, it is friendlier, and the Asia flying is the reason. The Delta crew I know there would not transfer to Atlanta for anything.
For Delta new hires
Atlanta for the line fast, New York for the Europe, Seattle for the Asia and the mountains. Seattle is the quiet good base in the Delta system and the Delta crew there want it kept quiet. I have just failed them.
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#2 Delta Atlanta, and the Seattle base is the one the Atlanta crew who want Asia talk about transferring to: the shorter list, Tokyo at mid seniority. Jen has written our Seattle base better than the Seattle crew would. They wanted it quiet.
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#3 United SFO, and the Delta Seattle Asia flying is the thing United SFO crew notice: the same Tokyo and Seoul with a shorter list from Seattle. The Pacific Northwest base is the quiet Asia base at both airlines' systems.
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#4 Delta Atlanta, year one, and Seattle is now on my transfer list for year three. Asia and the mountains. Thank you for failing the Seattle crew.
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#5 United LAX, and the Pacific Northwest base being friendlier than the California ones is true at both airlines. The Seattle crew rooms are a community. The LAX crew room is a parking lot.
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#6 JFK, and 'would not transfer to Atlanta for anything' is the Seattle crew's position and I understand it from here. Asia from a shorter list in a city with mountains. The New York Europe is the only argument I have.
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#7 JAL Tokyo, and the Delta Seattle Tokyo crews are regulars at the Shinagawa hotel and they have the ramen list. The Seattle to Tokyo route has a crew culture on both ends. Jen's description of them is accurate from Tokyo.
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#8 @cassieatl the Seattle Delta crew will forgive me when the transfer list fills with Atlanta crew who want the mountains. Probably.
