Originally Posted by
PanHam
UA (more UX now, sadly), has a huge presence on the west coast, and uses San Francisco as their hub through which to connect passengers on the West Coast. If there existed no SF hub, how would you get to Medord Oregon from Santa Barbara? SBA-LAX-DEN-MFD?
Or, how would you connect to international flights? DEN has a few to Europe, but not such a strong schedule, or any schedule, for that matter to the Pacific.
I'm not saying SFO isn't a hub - clearly it is, and the variety of destinations served (especially on the West coast) is substantial, with AS being the only alternative in the northwest for bay area-based flyers (UA could conceivably route anyone else through DEN or LAX). But that still leaves the question of how AA has been able to maintain such as strong presence there, and why UA seems so weak into competitors' markets from the area.