The local media is reporting that US carrier Delta Airlines is planning to exit the Taiwan market in May 2017. Some details posted here:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/americas/2017/01/13/489284/Delta-Air.htm
If this is indeed the case, it’s unfortunate as Delta seems to have upped their game lately.
Guy
And . . . apparently Delta will be back, pending government approval, in June 2024. Why a SEA-TPE route would be a priority to them is a mystery to me.
Guy
It’s a pretty good spot for linking to other points in the US. United covers San Fran already.
SEA connects nicely with the Alaska Airlines network, right?
But Alaska is part of One World, and Delta is part of Sky Team.
I am still struggling to understand this route.
Guy
ADDENDUM: It appears I am not alone in wondering what is up here, as this thread’s title indicates.
Guy
I doubt Alaska is a priority 
What about the rest of the US?
You may be confusing the state with this company and its network:
Guy
I see. Does Delta not run domestic flights to Seattle?
Yes they do. BUT the network is not as extensive as United getting people to SFO, or any number of airlines getting people to LAX. That’s one of the reasons it’s been challenging to see SEA develop as a transpacific hub in recent years (of course it was back in the day when Northwest Airlines existed, and before United expanded its transpacific network out of SFO).
Some more speculation I’m seeing: now that EVA and Starlux will be flying TPE-SEA, there will—if Delta goes forward with this plan—be three players on this route. Are they trying to kneecap Starlux here?
Guy
If I didn’t want to take EVA ($$) and Delta could connect to NY from there, it could be a good option.
How do these scheduled flight times look to you?
DL69 Seattle to Taipei departing 11:15AM arriving 3:15PM (+1 day)
DL68 Taipei to Seattle departing 5:25PM arriving 2:05PM
Source: https://onemileatatime.com/news/delta-taipei-flights/
Guy
I can work around times assuming there’s convenient connections and a competitive price.
Let’s assume you can get a connecting flight out of SEA at around 4:30 or 5:00 pm (after you clear immigration). That’s already 7:30 pm or 8:00 pm on the east coast. I dunno about you, but that looks . . . less than ideal for a NYC arrival time.
Maybe you don’t care about this, and all will be fine. But for me, I generally dislike arriving around midnight after a long transpacific then a long transcontinental flight. 
Guy
It’s not a big deal. Less traffic
Personally, I’m more inclined to fly Delta and its connected services since there’s more direct flights to places I’m more interested in going to from Boise, and you can earn more direct airline miles than alliance miles, and flying from Seattle is a somewhat shorter flight than from LAX… But the only thing is that Starlux is 11h20m to LAX then a 1h40m flight to BOI, but Seattle is estimated to be 12h40m based on a calculator I’ve used and 54m to BOI, so it’s actually adding 34m for me. Sure, there are other factors that may change the in-air and layover time, but just throwing it out there.
Also, arriving during the day is subtly less hectic than late night since there’s a bigger abundance of travel options; I can take care of going home without staying in LA or Seattle without having to book a hotel, there’s plenty of ground transportation options, and it’ll be nice and dark by the time I’m actually home so that it’s easier to adjust to jet lag, so the arrival time isn’t bad.
Seattle is closer to us than Los Angeles. One other variable to consider would be the different aircraft: Starlux is using its new A350s for its long-haul flights, while Delta is apparently mulling using older A330s.
Guy
If you’re open to being creative, how about Turkish Airlines going the other way, with a transfer in Istanbul? A friend of mine did this, and I salute his ingenuity. 
Guy
And TK’s food way better!
It’s a pretty good hub location for the US to Asia - look at the great circle mapped routes.
I think business travel between these two tech hubs has been picking up over the course of last year and I believe there’s a fairly large Taiwanese community in SeaTac. Fellow Sky Team member CI doesn’t fly there currently, correct? If so, that might bring some connection traffic from some of the CI flights from SE Asia and vice versa from the US. My guesses… not sure if there’s enough to carry it though. 