Portland International Airport (PDX) News

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Yeah I think Seattle is quite a bit larger than Vancouver for international flights, and Alaska and Delta both have hubs in Seattle that pdx passengers often feed into. Air Canada might still have daily to Vancouver after the Alaska flight ends.. but i suppose that doesn’t help you use points.

Yeah, my points aren't getting me to Asia.... Was more just curious to see it noted on Wikipedia. Air Canada still has the route. I'm assuming Alaska is able to send more connections through Seattle now that that airport has almost doubled in passengers in 20 years.

[Bigtimecharlie]

I’m still, and will be forever more, perplexed about the use of PDX. I get Portland is smaller than Seattle and won’t have the diversity and scope of available flights. What I don’t understand is why Portland only has one or maybe 2 non-stop flights to most destinations - typically scheduled at the worst possible times and at higher fares - with the rest requiring a stop in Seattle. Everyone say’s Seattle is over crowded and looking for different airport options -Boeing field, Everett, etc. One thing that might help is not requiring almost every flight out of Portland to connect through Seattle. I’d certainly appreciate not having to deal with a 1 to 2 hour layover in Seattle to get pretty much anywhere else in the country - particularly destinations in California. I just can’t believe the market is so weak in Portland that airlines need Seattle customers to fill flights. Very frustrating.

[uncommon.name]

Originally Posted by Bigtimecharlie

I’m still, and will be forever more, perplexed about the use of PDX. I get Portland is smaller than Seattle and won’t have the diversity and scope of available flights. What I don’t understand is why Portland only has one or maybe 2 non-stop flights to most destinations - typically scheduled at the worst possible times and at higher fares - with the rest requiring a stop in Seattle. Everyone say’s Seattle is over crowded and looking for different airport options -Boeing field, Everett, etc. One thing that might help is not requiring almost every flight out of Portland to connect through Seattle. I’d certainly appreciate not having to deal with a 1 to 2 hour layover in Seattle to get pretty much anywhere else in the country - particularly destinations in California. I just can’t believe the market is so weak in Portland that airlines need Seattle customers to fill flights. Very frustrating.

Well, if you're flying Alaska, Seattle is their hub so most flights will route through Seattle. Just like if you fly cross country with United, you're likely going to have a layover in Denver. Delta-Atlanta, etc. Airlines choose hub cities to route most of their flights through so they can send most of their regional flights to the hub to transfer passengers to planes already headed to other cities. It makes sense operationally for an airline to consolidate to a hub, but is frustrating for us travellers who just want to take a direct flight somewhere. As Portland finished up the new terminal and travellers increase, I feel we will see an increase in direct flights to other cities.

[Bigtimecharlie]

Isn’t Portland an Alaska hub? 🤷

[sopdx]

Yes, but SEA is their main hub. They have 102 nonstops, and PDX has 56

[Bigtimecharlie]

I guess my point is that if Alaska spread a few more of those non-stops to Portland, folks in Portland wouldn’t have to fly to Seattle, which would increase the convenience for Portland fliers and decrease the traffic in Seattle.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by Bigtimecharlie

I guess my point is that if Alaska spread a few more of those non-stops to Portland, folks in Portland wouldn’t have to fly to Seattle, which would increase the convenience for Portland fliers and decrease the traffic in Seattle.

Totally agree. It’s a frustrating situation for pdx because Alaska has long had its hub in Seattle, then Delta established one there a decade ago also. So now Alaska has to defend its turf and saturate the airport with enough frequency etc to keep Delta at bay. So Portland likely loses out on some of these nonstops not because the local market is weak but simply because Seattle needs to keep its Alaska hub dominant.

[downtownpdx]

I remember hearing like 5 years back, that pdx was the smallest market in the nation to support both nonstop European and Asian service. Hopefully we regain that title again soon!

[Bigtimecharlie]

I hadn’t thought of the Delta competition angle. That makes sense. I guess we’ll just have to be patient.

[downtownpdx]

I can’t believe it’ll be long before we get an Asian nonstop. We had one in the 80s… when Portland metro was like half the size (granted only 1x/week to start). I keep hearing how biz travel is picking up and leisure travel is booming. And unlike similar sized airports on the East coast or Great Lakes area, we’re not surrounded by major hubs within driving distance, only Seattle. Hopefully the port’s next project is to improve the international terminal experience at pdx.

[babs]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

I can’t believe it’ll be long before we get an Asian nonstop. We had one in the 80s… when Portland metro was like half the size (granted only 1x/week to start). I keep hearing how biz travel is picking up and leisure travel is booming. And unlike similar sized airports on the East coast or Great Lakes area, we’re not surrounded by major hubs within driving distance, only Seattle. Hopefully the port’s next project is to improve the international terminal experience at pdx.

People are over reacting to the international terminal experience. You have to walk forever to get out of Heathrow, I don't know how someone with disabilities does it. I've had to take long bus rides at CDG. Portland is generally a breeze and the bus ride is no big deal. Could it be better? Yes but I'll take what we have.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by babs

People are over reacting to the international terminal experience. You have to walk forever to get out of Heathrow, I don't know how someone with disabilities does it. I've had to take long bus rides at CDG. Portland is generally a breeze and the bus ride is no big deal. Could it be better? Yes but I'll take what we have.

OK good to hear that, I’ve never used it so I really don’t know, I just hear complaints on airliners.net from airport geeks But I would like to see more windows on the D gates at the end, not sure why it’s so closed off. Nice tarmac views there.

[babs]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

OK good to hear that, I’ve never used it so I really don’t know, I just hear complaints on airliners.net from airport geeks But I would like to see more windows on the D gates at the end, not sure why it’s so closed off. Nice tarmac views there.

The end of D was built quickly for Delta when they decided to have their Asian hub in Portland. They took their time on the rest of D a few years later. I'm guessing the quick speed to put it up meant design took a back seat.

[downtownpdx]

Oh interesting, never realized that - but I swear many years ago there were more windows at the end of the concourse. It’s certainly not a bad space, especially one from 1987, but I bet that would be the next renovation project since it’s the oldest part of the terminal now.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by babs

People are over reacting to the international terminal experience. You have to walk forever to get out of Heathrow, I don't know how someone with disabilities does it. I've had to take long bus rides at CDG. Portland is generally a breeze and the bus ride is no big deal. Could it be better? Yes but I'll take what we have.

The last two times I flew into LHR from PDX on BA I was able to get to the customs kiosks and clear customs within 15 minutes.