I must say I do find the JFK cutback strategy a bit surprising. I get the whole argument that it's tough to build a competitive TATL network at JFK against DL and UA (EWR), so if you can't compete at scale then cut back.

However, it's clear that NYC-based premium O&D is crucial to both AA and the AA/BA joint business. That's why so much effort is put into JFK-LHR and JFK-LAX/SFO. But those crucial NYC premium flyers/firms don't just use those routes, they also do business in other key points in Europe such as AMS, FRA, ZRH. Now if they can't get to such places direct from NYC with AA and instead have to faff with connections, why put their NYC-LHR/LAX/SFO eggs in the AA basket at all? Why not just stick them in the much broader DL basket?

I realise this point has been made many times on this forum. I also appreciate AA has thought long and hard about it and knows an awful lot more about its markets than I do. And yet intuitively, it still feels like a questionable strategy.