HP tried this before. They were doing really well on the route, but...

As graham said the competition from UA and AA was fierce as they matched all of HP's fares. Now there is DL operating some of these routes as well.

Next, HP service from BOS, JFK, IAD, SFO was minimal. 0 connections.

At LAX, all they had was PHX, LAS, YVR, PVR, Acapulco(mind you, I forgot the airport code) and SJD. They also had Hawiann Airlines codeshare to the islands as well as EVA and QF. Oh ya, Royal Jordanian codeshare at JFK.

Delta is the 5th wheel, sort of to speak, on the LAX-JFK route, but they have a major intl hub in JFK and a developin secondary hub in LAX offering numerous connections.

UA, AA and DL all offer the big plane feel with narrowbody premium or widebody service that US would not offer w/ the A319/320/321. The only option that would possibly appeal to Biz folks would be the Envoy 757 or the 767(the a330 is too big).

Also edited to add: think about the UA-US relationship. While we would feed UA in LAX, SFO and IAD, UA would hate us even more and this could possibly lead to a scenario where US leaves STAR and ends up alone. Much worse that offering coast to coast flights. US does not need this stress. US needs to focus on more Europe service and new Asia service.