The word is reserve staffing. Ladner and Day believe removing a base helps solve that problem. Not much more SFO flying planned in the mainline structure and at the level it is now it is not above what pre-merger Alaska was doing with no base ever planned….Those are the numbers and arguments that are in play in the staffing and network arena right now. To close a nearly 90% commuter base is dirt cheap. No one is moving their principal residence. If they open a new SFO/Bay Area base in a year or two they have lost nothing. Alaska flight operations also believes that driving off east coast commuters is a positive thing. Remember, this is a Seattle company and that kind of a move is common strategy in this soulless city.