I don't know how much they really care about Seattle. I've had Seattle flights canceled twice in the past half year. Once because of the strike and once because of the typhoon a couple weeks ago. I can see why they prioritized other cities for the strike, but I think only Seattle and Houston (in NA) were canceled for the typhoon. Seems like NA flights should be equally safe or unsafe to fly during the storm.

Anecdotally, loading in SEA doesn't seem that great (though I can only compare with JFK). Aside from what I see on the plane, the check-in counter told me there were only 75 pax in EY on a recent flight.