Saver fares hurt against AA/DL/UA as well. People figure--well, if I am going to get a saver fare anyway, why not take the best schedule/price and that is rarely going to be on AS for California transcons. Even something as simple as getting back from JFK to SFO after 5 is no longer possible with AS and BOS has been trimmed a lot to LAX/SFO. SFO-FLL operates for a few weeks a year, etc. The product is not light years ahead of the competition so the only thing they have left is the FF program. Once people disengage from the FF program, AS is in serious trouble on these routes so they are probably figuring it is best to try to keep people engaged in Mileage Plan or risk losing them completely to competitors. If on the other hand, they are only attracting already loyal people from the PNW that end of paying the same fare but connect in CA for the miles, that would not benefit them at all financially as people will be taking up two or more flights for the same amount of revenue and gaining lots of miles which adds to AS liabilities. It seems they still have no quite figured out what to do with California to make it work as well as their pre-merger network did from the stand point of profitability.

A carrier that is doing well does not need to offer such promos during the peak summer season--especially if the 737MAXs stay grounded through the summer which would limit capacity growth for several of their competitors.