Originally Posted by
cieligne
Why not bring back LAX-CDG, where did ORD AMS never get off the ground dispite open skies. so we have have yet one more flight so some backwater C-Am or So-Am city. Don't get me wrong, I think these can and should work, but lets be realistic, they can't run every latin flight through chaotic MIA. Absolutely NO ON wants to transfer through there EVER.
I can't possibly disagree with you more on this point. Is MIA the best place to go through customs? Hardly. You have a long walk and depending on your arrival time the lines can be fairly long. However, I've had far worse experiences using TBIT at LAX and in IAH. I haven't been through IAD internationally in about 7 years but waiting for the moon buggy to take me landside was far worse than my average MIA experience.
Now, I do agree with you that some additional LAX - Latin American country might be beneficial. But not because MIA sucks... but it's because LAX has a large Latino population and it seems to make sense that there's an intrinsic demand for flights like LAX-GYE.
Other destinations like ORD-Europe make a little less sense. AMS, ARN, FRA, MUC, CDG, ROM are all covered by competitors... why start a route swimming against the current when there's non-competitive flights that can be made? Also remember that UA at ORD is bigger than AA... they have a better feeder route structure to support thinner flights that AA might want to go head-to-head on.