. Otherwise without many options to get to smaller airports people are just going to have to book DL or AA or UA even departing from an AS hub to get to where they want to go.
WN spent 40 years and counting making money without any domestic partners. NK makes money without domestic partners. F9 makes money without domestic partners.
It's not easy to do it, and it won't work for everyone (there are customers you will leave by the side of the road), but it can be done.
VX adds hardly anything to their foot print or expansion network
California is the single largest geographical market adjacent to the Pacific NW. AS now has substantial operations in three of CA's largest markets; LA, SF/SJ, San Diego.