Originally Posted by
golfingboy
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Side note - flying between PIT/JFK to connect to TATL flight is very frustrating. AA charges more to fly PIT-JFK to connect to a TATL flight even though the flight loads are very poor on this route. For our upcoming trip to LHR, we are connecting in DCA on the outbound to JFK
I suppose this is what happens when you lose economics of scale necessitating to charge a premium to make the "hub" profitable.
Side note 2 - AA is now definitely feeling the squeeze at PHL operationally after rebanking PHL (eliminated two banks and made the remaining ones bigger) and trying to make PHL the main TATL hub where there are severe infrastructure limitations. On our PIT-PHL flights its becoming more common that we have to sit on the tarmac at PIT because there is no gate or space to park at PHL if we arrive early.
If you force a routing (PIT-JFK-LHR), which is not available as a thru fare, you're going to have to pay for each segment separately. Why would you do that rather than accepting one of the plethora of thru fare routings offered : PIT-PHL/ORD/CLT-LHR ??
The statement : " AA is definitely feeling the squeeze at PHL operationally after rebanking" is a personal and refutable opinion.
If there were "severe infrastructure limitations" at PHL, AA would have abandoned it, not bulked it up into its now "main TATL Hub".
Delaying the departure of a flight that would arrive earlier than scheduled and tie up a gate that was scheduled for an on-time arrival is very typical at most Hubs, such as JFK, LAX, ORD, etc.. It's called schedule/gate management.