While working on an itinerary for my PHL-based girlfriend to join me at the beginning of October, I noticed our usual (for either of us) 8:35 PM PHL-LAX nonstop (AA 717) wasn't appearing. Looking day-by-day, it looks like the last day for this flight is the day after Labor Day; AA goes from 6x PHL-LAX to 5x daily, and only 3x on Saturdays. Now, the last two nonstops leave within 2 hours of each other, at 4:05 and 5:55 PM.
Why would they scrap a flight which was almost always packed to the gills, and allowed you to get a full day in Philadelphia before flying to LAX? The plane would turn around and go as a red-eye to either CLT or back to PHL. Now, you have no way to get between 2 major AA hubs after 6 PM ET. I get they had to right-size the schedule after this summer's operational disaster, but why cut a popular and constantly full flight? What kind of idiots are running this airline? (I know, that's a juicy softball for many on this forum...)
JonNYC, any idea/insight you can provide?