Originally Posted by
Quintious
What would a "connection" network on AS even look like? They've (stupidly, in my opinion) based all of their routing locations along the I-5 corridor. Like, if you are ANYWHERE but that I-5 corridor trying to get someplace that's also not on that corridor, the route map looks positively moronic to do so (and will look 50 times worse when AA finishes kicking AS to the curb).
By a "connection" network, I mean a more hub-and-spoke focused network, ie something like AA in which essentially every single flight touches one of their hubs. AS has a much larger fraction of flights that don't touch one of ANC, SEA, PDX, SFO, and LAX than does AA, UA, or (to a lesser extent now) DL for their hubs. I assert (without checking!) that AS more focuses on, as you say, the I-5 corridor as their core market rather than particular hub airports plus connections over those airports which serve most city pairs in the US with one stop.