Thanks for the report on this... I know AS has had to do interesting routings before due to headwind issues... including ANC-SEA-HNL (vs. ANC-HNL) and ANC-AKN-OGG last winter...

Wonder if a routing change with a fuel stop would have made that much of a difference- probably biggest issue (guessing) was the flight timing- [AS853 Flightmemory]

Adding a stop in SFO or OAK for fuel would have created a delay on the aircraft arriving... so pax would miss renting cars/ gaining access to rooms/ etc...