In a message dated 8/12/2003 10:42:54 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mmontano@xxxxxxxxx writes: << They are also off in the extreme south west of the country. Thanks to distorted Mercator maps, and the great-circle routing, PHX and LAS make poor connecting points for anything other than Southern/Middle California going anywhere in the east. Absolutely right. HP is a niche carrier, and has done a pretty good job in the Franke era If PHX or LAS are never weather bound, why have both? Well, they make money. LAS has a lot of O&D traffic, and PHX is the main hub. Also PHX has O&D because of all the visitors to retirees Pure geography only. I've ridden HP, and wasn't offended by their service offering. And my friends in many parts of the make frequent use of HP with happiness. >> I don't mind HP at all. Last summer, I flew them for the first time since I was a little kid. I actually know a right seat in the Airbuses for HP. I did not really feel like the A320 was going to fall apart, though I wish they served Coke products.