Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

This isn't how AS runs SEA (as a connecting hub for everywhere). Outside of Alaska and some PNW locations it's terribly geographically inefficient to force everyone to go 1000 miles out of the way north to then proceed south to HNL. Generally their pricing on those isn't even competitive (and why would they expect it to be when AA, UA, DL and WN can all route a passenger more efficiently though DFW/PHX/LAX, IAH/DEN/SFO/LAX, SLC/LAX and SJC/SAN/LAS).

Conversely AS is very happy to run routes that don't touch SEA; they've been expanding in SAN, in recent years trying routes like LAS-PVR/SJD. SEA as a market is very tapped out (and this was AS's desire to buy VX, because expansion in CA was really the only way to feed the market share beast Wall Street demands).

Generally AS is going to just run the route or cough up the pax flow, rather than try to use a PNW hub that's not in good geographic position like a midcon or Sun Belt connecting hub.