<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IndustrialPatent:
I'm certain there's strategy invloved in NW's decision - for example, NW may want the extra bodies from AUS/SAT/DFW to fill up planes, but may not have that problem at IAH.</font>
Remember the CO/NW codeshare rules prohibit selling non-stop partner flights. NW cannot sell SFO-IAH or IAH-AUS, but they can sell SFO-IAH-AUS. So, not offering service West Coast-IAH makes sense from that perspective.