FlyerTalk Forums - SFO-LAX on the new American

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When I lived at L.A. I remember seeing a lot of connecting passengers from OneWorld partners at LAX, yes, looking at boarding pass and passport passengers were holding.

I do think it is a business decision of each airlines. Specifically on LAX-SFO route, will AA focus more on connecting passengers from OneWorld partners? Will AA focus more on O/D passengers? Will AA focus on both? I think it is not right or wrong decision by AA, it is more of a business decision.

As I posted before, if AA decide not to put intra-California market on their top priority then it is understandable that AA may focus more on connecting passengers from partner airlines rather than O/D passengers on LAX-SFO route. Also, it can be demand and supply. Let say under the current schedule, seat availability, and fare model AA is providing on LAX-SFO is doing just fine as far as load and profit is concerned, then there is no motivation for AA to provide lower fare or increase frequency on LAX-SFO route even if competitors are providing lower fare and more frequency.

To go along with the fare data I posted above, here are the O&D numbers for SFO-LAX and vv. Total O&D in the third quarter of 2014 was 5,240 daily or 2,620 PDEW. That O&D would fit on just 18 mainline UA/AA/VX 737s or A320s. The vast majority of the passengers flying between LAX and SFO are connecting at one end or the the other.

Specifically, AA was getting 8.5% of that O&D, or an average of 223 PDEW. To compare, VX was getting the largest market share at 28% of the O&D, or 734 PDEW. Obviously, VX doesn't offer the range of connections at either SFO or LAX compared to AA, UA and DL. The rest of the O&D was split between UA, DL and WN.

Most of AA's passengers on this route are connecting, not O&D.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle (Post 24679244)

AA moved into intra-California market by acquiring AirCal, remember back then?

AA got a lot larger (temporarily) in the intra-CA market when it bought AirCal, but don't forget that AA was flying LAX-SAN before deregulation (with a mix of DC-10s and 707s).

Immediately after deregulation, AA began flying LAX-SFO. By 1987, when AA bought AirCal, AA's frequencies between LAX and SFO/SAN had diminished thanks to low-fare competition from AirCal and PSA.