Originally Posted by
dogcanyon
Here are the great circle mileages from major airports in SA to ICN routing via DFW and LAX:
ICN-DFW-EZE 12127
ICN-LAX-EZE 12109
ICN-DFW-SCL 11710
ICN-LAX-SCL 11563
ICN-DFW-GRU 11952
ICN-LAX-GRU 12150
ICN-DFW-LIM 10198
ICN-LAX-LIM 10161
ICN-DFW-BOG 9279
ICN-LAX-BOG 9473
ICN-DFW-CCS 9291
ICN-LAX-CCS 9611
In the cases of EZE, SCL and LIM, the LAX route is actually shorter. In all these cases it seems to me that the mileage difference is so minimal that for most business travelers choosing one route over the other is really going to boil down to the connection times of the particular flights they need at DFW vs LAX. For example, for the traveler flying EZE-ICN, going via DFW vs LAX means 18 miles less of flying. What is that at 550 miles per hour, maybe 2 minutes of flight time saved? Even in the most extreme case above, CCS, the 320 extra miles routing via LAX would take maybe 35 minutes of flight time.
Other than mileage accrual and elite status perks, I'm not sure what real advantage there is for travelers originating in SA and connecting in the US
to use a single airline for the entire trip. Isn't everybody forced to deplane at either LAX or DFW, go through US Immigration and Customs, reclaim and recheck their bags, both directions? If that's the case, it's no more trouble to fly "Airline X" EZE-LAX, deplane for Immigration, Customs and bag re-check, then board "Airline Y" for LAX-ICN than it is to fly AA EZE-DFW, deplane for Immigration, Customs and bag re-check, then board a different AA flight for DFW-ICN.
In my mind I was thinking mostly of GRU, due to KE's ICN-LAX-GRU service. There is no LAX-CCS service on any carrier at the current time as a note. Also, not all airlines would sell a through fare for the route that involved another carrier if they weren't in the same alliance, and splitting a fare would generally be more expensive. Plus, DFW is much, much better than LAX for arriving internationally, no matter from which airline or to which airline. Also, as a note, if flying AA through DFW at least, your bag can be tagged through to the final destination. At Customs, you pick the bag up, but put it on a carousel that will go right to the next flight as it is already tagged for the proper destination, rather than having to go to a ticket counter and retag it and check it again.
DFW simply has more connecting options than LAX has on AA. That is the main point I'm trying to make. I want AA to fly from everywhere to everywhere, but it doesn't mean it makes sense. I'd love nothing more than for AA to start BOS-(all the semi-random places I want to fly nonstop, like ICN) but it doesn't mean it makes sense. I want LAX-ICN as much as anyone else, but I feel DFW-ICN makes more sense for AA to start first at this point in time. Obviously the folks down in Fort Worth think likewise, and they have access to far more statistics about all of this than any of us do and probably ever will. There's such an obsession on this forum about why AA or some other airline should fly to a particular destination. They will fly to every place that it is remotely profitable to fly to. Anything short of that is a failure to provide value to the shareholders that should result in removals in the executive offices and the board of directors (though it could be argued that airlines have never provided value to any shareholders
).