The problem still comes back to the fact that if they are going to rebrand, it has to be with a new on board product. I also heard about AS's reliability and customer service and rarely had a chance to fly them as they didn't go anywhere from SFO that I needed to go. When I did fly them once or twice a year, I was transported back to the 1990s. Sure the flight attendants were nice enough but the experience was arguably worse than even UA. Once you are used to on board entertainment, free Wifi, a range of snacks, etc. it was a bit of a shock to be faced with AS's on board offering. In SEA, pre-DL build up, literally every carrier aside from AS could have simply left the market and not had a huge impact on any of those airlines. It made sense for people in SEA to support the local carrier as without them, people would be able to just get to hubs and would have to do a lot more connecting.

From the Bay Area, every add AS makes is going to face at least one and probably more competitors. Mint is coming to SFO/LAX-FLL in just a few months which will trash VX's yields on yet another set of transcon routes. SAN/SEA/LAS to BOS/JFK are coming soon thereafter. All those routes will lose money if seats are not being sold in the front cabins. B6 knows this as they went through many years of losses on transcon routes before realizing that they needed Mint.

Honestly it does not matter what AS calls itself. If there is a reason to fly them, people will do so. Wizz Air is not the greatest name for a European airline but they differentiated themselves by offering low prices and people flew them.

If AS is just another option among many, then they will be only on the minds of those that want to avoid a competitor. Once that person gives them a try, if the on-board product is not going to wow them, the chances of them sticking with the carrier they know is much greater. The potential for good word of mouth advertising also goes down the drain.