Buying VX and then “downgrading” the service is odd to me, but it is entirely possible that short haul west coast routes make more money than transcons, given that a plane might be able to make 3 trips up and down the west coast in the time it can make one transcon trip; if airfares fall a certain way it’s just a more efficient use of the asset.
How odd is it? Even B6 doesn’t run Mint fleetwide. Did you think AS was going to install 8 F recliners to serve the massive market for ultra-premium F for SAN-PDX or ANC-JNU? Most of AS’s markets aren’t even transcon- let alone premium transcon. How many 789s with Polaris is UA flying on EWR-SEA? Does AS need to run a premium F cabin everywhere when literally nobody does this in an industry where everyone copycats if it makes them 25 cents more profit?
Yay, we’re still rehashing the VX acquisition!