Originally Posted by
texaspropguy
There's a penalty. Not sure what it is for AWA. Varies by contract... It's debilitating at XJT because it has roots in what was negotiated back in the Continental days where hub/outstation performance was much better, and cx/delays barely ever happened. The UA way puts much more onus on crews to make up for lack of ground support competency to the point it appears setup to cause penalizing delays.
And yet that's the market these days. You don't need to outrun the bear, just the other guy. And if United is really trying to expand, until they get scope relief for larger jets their options too are limited.
Almost anyone in any industry could design a better more efficient system, if existing infrastructure and sunk expense were no issues. Successful business is sort of like being a professional surfer. You can't control the waves you get, just how much you can successfully work each of those waves.