Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
No, IAD isn't DCA. For one thing, it's a hub (on both ends of the route), which would make it even easier from an operational standpoint to do p.s. on that route than JFK. Between flying three class international planes and p.s., they could easily run all p.s. service.
The fact that they don't should tell you something.
The fact that they don't run p.s. on BOS-SFO should also tell you something.
I have the opposite viewpoint. p.s. has been successful exactly because JFK is
not a hub, not in spite of it. By 2004, UA's JFK was like an outstation not unlike Rapid City or Portland, Me. (in terms of routes to some but not all hubs, and obviously not in terms of customer demographics). With the EWR hub now absorbed into the network, JFK's role as a niche outstation is more important than ever. DCA, in the shadows of IAD, has a lot in common with JFK in that respect for UA. The heavy O-D traffic on one end only (either originating or terminating at JFK but not necessarily so at LAX or SFO) made p.s. work. It might work for DCA as well.
By contrast, BOS is the only game in town. Also, there is likely no viable market for 3-class service on BOS-LAX/SFO, so I agree with you that p.s. simply doesn't belong there. But let's not forget that p.s. will soon convert to 2-class. That's where I see the inroad for it on DCA-SFO. I am, however, still somewhat on the fence on the idea, being 51/49 for/against it.