Your point is well-taken, but that said, it’s funny that Kirby has explicitly cited Erie-to-Paris as illustrative of a small yet high-yield market in which United was losing business to competitors being able to sell a premium product end-to-end against a UA single-cabin RJ. Incidentally, In the book, Oscar uses SPI as his example of a service “only United can provide” when comparing to ULCCs.

Kirby’s comment was pre-COVID, and Oscar’s is an example made by a writer who is no longer affiliated with the company or its current strategy. But I think the current state of the domestic network reflects cuts just a little too deep versus what would be ideal from a connectivity perspective.