Whoa....!! you guys can be tough.... Just saying that if planes go out half empty that's inventory that is lost; AND, if consistently so from one destination (say BOS) would seem to indicate some shortcomings in yield management and/or scheduling.

As another data point, whenever I fly US Air (which is as infrequently as possible) -- the planes are always full. A pilot friend points out that US has gotten yields up by cutting capacity (and thus expense). Anecdotal sure -- but I'll bet the stats bear this out.

Selfishly, I would hate to see Boston get dumped for not fitting into the grand Cornerstone strategy. While my OP is a small sample it was offered as a starting point for discussion and FWIW. Not saying it's always like that, i.e. I took a VDB late last year on the 7:15am BOS-LAX, which was oversold by 4 that day. And the ORD connection that was my replacement was probably 85% or 90% both legs.

As others have noted, if planes go out half empty it is not a great sign in this competitive environment. Good to hear that others are seeing AA filling seats elsewhere. And the trans-pac looked pretty robust from my very limited exposure.

N.B. I tend to agree that while cargo may be a good gig, and contributing to profits, the primary business of AA is moving people.