Open Letter to Alaska Air: “Stop Removing the Early Flight Out of Yakima.”

Dear Alaska Air,

I love to travel. I find myself flying out of YKM several times a year. Yes, the flight is early but landing in Seattle gives me enough time to catch any connecting flight I need. Nice and convenient! I don't have to drive to Seattle and, better yet, I don't have to drive home from Seattle after flying across the country.

What concerns me is the lack of early morning flights recently. For years, as long as I can remember, there have been two flights daily I could rely on. There is one that flies out around 6 a.m. and another at 2 p.m. I almost exclusively fly out at 6 a.m. as I might have a connecting flight to New York or Philadelphia or Milwaukee or St. Louis - plenty of options once I'm in Seattle early in the morning.

My issue is flying out at 2 p.m. doesn't give me those options. If I'm flying to Los Angeles or Sacramento it's no problem as they have connecting options after 2 p.m. for same-day flights. For all other flights, if I fly out of Yakima at 2 p.m. it won't have me arriving until the next day with an overnight layover.

There are specific cities on specific weekends I need to travel to for work. So it's not like if one weekend doesn't work I can just go the next weekend. There are business events I need to attend on those specific weekends in those specific cities. I've had to miss out on 5 events so far this year based solely on that morning flight not being an option.

I also understand that this isn't for every day's flights. There are still several times throughout the year that have that early morning flight option. It almost seems random as sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't. I can't rely on it being there so always have to check first.

There is another option in driving to Tri-Cities. However, if I'm flying out of PSC there are a few other options including Delta and United. Though I'm MVP with Alaska Air if it means not having to fly to Seattle first and can fly more direct out of Pasco I'd opt for that route.

If you must cut back on flights, I'd implore you to eliminate the afternoon flight as the afternoon flight so that others can get to our connecting flight. Not many fly to Seattle just to be in Seattle. I want to keep flying Alaska Air but you're making it hard for me and many others with that early morning flight and late-night returning flights removed.

Not to mention jobs or hours lost on our local employees at our Yakima airport. C'mon, don't do this to us.