Originally Posted by HkCaGu
Last time I flew 128/129 it was part of a GSA contract fare for NRT-LAX. I guess the lack of people actually terminating at NRT or SJC and high number of connecting passengers (SJC to/from LAX, SAN, LAS, etc.) made the route unprofitable despite good load factor. The start of NRT-LAX (after losing the GSA contract) further enhanced the SJC disadvantage, I believe.
What doomed the flight (over time) was AA de-focus hubbing SJC. When the feeder traffic from BOS, JFK, PDX, SEA, SMF, ect; stopped SJC area did not have enough high revenue trafiic to support the flight. Plus with JAL coming on board to Oneworld, at lower fares then AA, out of SFO the finance people pulled the plug. This is just part of AA strategy of reducing capacity and parking old planes in the desert. Allows them to move the plane somewhere else and in theory get more revenue/margin.