Originally Posted by
Adelphos
The thing is that AA still runs a solid schedule out of LGA, and they are not giving up slots at either airline - so despite their weakening positioning, they really aren't cutting net capacity, or so it seems. On Saturdays especially, all of these airlines (and especially American) are flying flights that are half full. I've been on plenty of Delta flights in and out of NYC that are lightly loaded. Are airlines OK with this situation long term?
Those routes may be profitable overall (although I tend to think AA makes very little, if anything, on its domestic operation). If they cut out flights for Saturday afternoon and evening they have to find a place to park those a/c. Then there is the issue of getting a/c back online to cover the heavy Sunday afternoon flow. For work I often book last minute travel and can't get a Sunday afternoon flight out without going way over policy (a just booked a Sunday MIA/ORD flight and if I had left in the afternoon it would have cost over $1,300). So there's more to it than airlines willing to fly half empty flights. Often it's a better option.