American Airlines recently announced the addition of new daily nonstop flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport starting on March 5, 2015. This new route will be served by their Boeing 737-800 aircraft three times a day.American Airlines will launch new service between LA and Atlanta on board their 737-800 aircraft.The new Los Angeles-Atlanta flight times are:Depart LAX at 12:15 am PT, Arrive at ATL at 7:40 am ETDepart LAX at 10:30 am PT, Arrive at ATL at 5:55 pm ETDepart LAX at 3:20 pm PT Arrive at ATL at 10:45 pm ETThe return Atlanta-Los Angeles flight times are:Depart ATL at 7 am ET, Arrive at LAX at 8:40 am PTDepart ATL at 12:50 pm ET, Arrive at LAX at 2:30 pm PTDepart ATL at 6:55 pm ET, Arrive at LAX at 8:35 pm PTAmerican is adding new service to Atlanta (Shutterstock)My ThoughtsThis isn’t the first time American seems to be encroaching on Delta’s territory, since they recently announced non-stop Miami-Salt Lake City service as part of their new routes from Miami. Adding three daily flights between Los Angeles and Atlanta doesn’t really seem to make sense for American from a network perspective, so it will be interesting to see how long they can sustain this route.When it comes to Atlanta, Delta Air Lines has built a fortress there with over 1,000 daily flights, including 10 non-stop flights daily to Los Angeles. Clearly, American added this route to compete with Delta and try to win over some of their business, but there’s one problem: American customers can’t really connect anywhere from Atlanta that they couldn’t fly non-stop from Los Angeles, since American only flies from Atlanta to Dallas-Ft. Worth, Miami, Chicago O’Hare, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and New York (LGA).Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.With the exception of New York (LGA), I don’t see why any Los Angeles based American flyers would want to fly through Atlanta, so then it comes down to American banking on local traffic to the Atlanta area. Alaska Airlines goes head to head with Delta on many routes to and from Seattle, so it seems like Delta is spending a lot of time fending off the competition lately.What are your thoughts on American encroaching on Delta’s territory?[card card-name=‘Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express’ card-id=‘22034414’ type=‘javascript’ bullet-id=‘1’]
