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As is well known now, American Airlines filed for bankruptcy toward the end of last year. In one certain sense this shouldn’t surprise us given how its legacy competitors did much the same earlier in the new millennium. After that, the origins of our best-known and oldest air carriers perhaps foretold their modern problems in ways most don’t understand today. As T.A. Heppenheimer put it in his 1994 book Turbulent Skies, “Government actions brought forth the first air carriers in both Europe and the United States.” Rather than creations of the private sector, politicians formed notable carriers such as American...

US Airways is reportedly drawing up plans to merge with AMR, the bankrupt holding company of American Airlines, Bloomberg reports. The move would fill a revenue gap for US Airways, while also helping fuel American's weakened hub system, which has been drained as it cut money-losing flights over the past several months. The Tempe, Arizona, based airline has already hired Barclays Capital and Millstein & Co. to advise it before bidding on American. However, it could be more than a year away from officially announcing an agreement, as it waits for AMR to navigate bankruptcy proceedings. The rumor follows speculation...

American Airlines flight attendants want the carrier to strike back at angry actor Alec Baldwin by removing the star’s hit NBC show “30 Rock” from all in-flight entertainment. The peeved flight attendants, backed by their union, also want Baldwin’s bold-faced name to be added to the carrier’s no-fly list for his door-slamming, profanity-laced temper tantrum Tuesday. “We’re very upset. He was very malicious and slanderous toward crew members in his comments,” American flight attendant Lonny Glover, the safety and security spokesman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, told the Daily News Thursday. The union will not be asking the...

BREAKING: American Airlines Releases Statement: Alec Baldwin Rude to Crew, Used ‘Offensive Language’ *UPDATED* by John Nolte **UPDATE: “He was beating the walls of the lavatory to the point that the captain called us to see what that was about. They heard it in the cockpit,” said one crew member on the JFK-bound flight who had to deal with the “30 Rock” actor. “He was asked five times. Everybody is the same. Everyone has to follow the rules, it doesn’t matter who you are,” the employee told The Post. “He was violent, abusive and aggressive.” Though they originally declined to...

Greyhound Bus Lines has no idea how they got caught in the crossfire between Alec Baldwin and American Airlines -- but they're not taking it sitting down ... telling TMZ, Alec is woefully ignorant when it comes to bus travel. In case you haven't been keeping up -- Alec just wrote a diatribe online, blasting American Airlines for kicking him off one of their planes ... calling the whole ordeal a "Greyhound bus experience." snip The rep adds, "I don’t know why he’s mentioning Greyhound, but we take pride in our safe and enjoyable service."

EXCERPT AA says, "Since an extremely vocal customer has publicly identified himself as being removed from an American Airlines flight on Tuesday, Dec. 6, we have elected to provide the actual facts of the matter as well as the FAA regulations which American, and all airlines, must enforce. Cell phones and electronic devices are allowed to be used while the aircraft is at the gate and the door is open for boarding." "When the door is closed for departure and the seat belt light is turned on, all cell phones and electronic devices must be turned off for taxi-out and...

Actor Alec Baldwin was removed from an American Airlines flight leaving Los Angeles for New York on Tuesday when he was apparently too engrossed in a game of Zynga's "Words With Friends" to power down his iPad.... The incident caused a one-hour delay in the flight and kicked off a flurry of Internet chatter.

Alec Baldwin was booted from an American Airlines flight Tuesday after some turbulence with a flight attendant. “Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving,” the actor said in a Twitter message after the incident. The “30 Rock” star added a hashtag saying it was “no wonder” the airline recently declared bankruptcy. “But, oddly, 30 Rock plays in-flight on American,” he said in a later tweet, this time promoting competing airline United with the hashtag “#theresalwaysunited.” The cabin confrontation started when a flight staffer scolded Baldwin for playing...

Actor Alec Baldwin was reportedly removed from an American Airlines flight out of Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday afternoon. “On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait,” Michael J. Wolf tweeted around 1:20 p.m. Wolf is the former President and COO of MTV and author. Twitter user Grant Cardone added,”Alec Baldwin is getting kicked off of AA flight as I tweet this! . . . . Abusive to attendant is what I was told by AA authority.”

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines' parent company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to unload massive debt built up by years of accelerating jet fuel prices and labor struggles. The nation's third largest airline also said its CEO Gerard Arpey will step down. He's being replaced by Thomas Horton, currently the company's president....

American Airlines went bust this morning, which should have come as a surprise to no one who has followed the company and airline industry over the years. (The company recently denied bankruptcy rumors by stating that bankruptcy was "certainly not our goal or preference," which is about as close as a corporation will ever come to saying "Of course we're going to declare bankruptcy, you idiots, why are you even bothering to ask?") But the bankruptcy WILL come as a surprise to the millions of Americans who have repeatedly been exposed to one of the consensual hallucinations that bullish investors...

<p>INDIANAPOLIS -- A Saudi Arabian passenger who tried to get into the cockpit of an American Airlines flight from New York to Indianapolis didn't appear on any terror-related watch lists, authorities said.</p> <p>Indianapolis airport police said another passenger grabbed the 20-year-old man's arm and directed him back to his seat on the flight before 10 p.m. Wednesday.</p>

Fears that the holding company for American Airlines, the fourth-biggest US carrier by passenger miles, will file for bankruptcy sent shares in AMR Corporation tumbling as much as 35 per cent on Monday. Management at Fort Worth-based AMR, which owns the regional airline American Eagle as well as American strongly denied the claims. American is the only big US carrier not to have passed through a Chapter 11 in the past decade. That has led to suggestions the company will voluntarily file for bankruptcy in order to renegotiate labour – and in particular pilot costs – despite holding a cash...

FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines is buying at least 460 new planes over the next five years in what it calls the biggest airline order in history. And in a victory for Airbus, it's splitting the work between the European plane maker and Boeing. American said Wednesday it will buy 260 planes from Airbus and 200 from Boeing Co. It expects the new, better-mileage planes to provide much-needed savings on fuel costs. American's current fleet is among the least fuel-efficient in the industry.

NEW YORK – Expedia Inc. has stopped selling tickets on American Airlines flights, the latest twist in a simmering pricing dispute between American and travel websites. "Expedia has chosen to no longer offer American Airlines fares on its website," American said in an statement posted on its website. "Customers looking to compare flights or fares online should visit other travel sites such as Kayak.com or Priceline.com for the most accurate and up-to-date information." The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline has said that it would like to sell more tickets through its own website, as paying to have its flights listed on...

The California airline pilot punished by the Transportation Security Administration for posting videos critical of airport security has revealed his identity. Chris Liu, who calls himself the "Patriot Pilot," says he was just trying to improve airport security when he released a recorded and posted online footage of San Francisco International Airport in which he criticized a number of procedures. Liu had been part of a federal security program allowing him to carry a gun in the cockpit. But after he posted the video, federal agents showed up at his house Dec. 2 to confiscate his weapon and suspend his...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/harrison.ind.htm JULY 9, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BLACK MARKET TRAVEL AGENTS 38 DEFENDANTS INDICTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD LOCAL INVESTIGATION EXPOSES NATIONWIDE NETWORK THAT USED STOLEN IDENTITIES, CREDIT CARDS TO PURCHASE AIRLINE TICKETS KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that 38 defendants from across the United States have been charged in a series of indictments that allege an extensive network of black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme...

See link for video.

An American Airlines flight with 145 people on board made an emergency landing Tuesday in Iceland after five crew members became ill following reports of chemical fumes in the cabin. American Airlines Flight 49 traveling from Paris to Dallas-Ft. Worth landed safely just after 1345 GMT (9:45 a.m. EDT). The source of the fumes was being investigated, Keflavik Airport spokesman Fridthor Eydal said.

Snips: At least six people on the no-fly list were denied boarding in a 48-hour period between Saturday and Monday this week, according to the officials. Two of the six were stopped at London's Heathrow Airport.M. On Saturday, an Egyptian man on the no-fly list was stopped from flying on American Airlines flight 113 from London to Miami. The next day, Sunday, a Saudi Arabian passenger was stopped from boarding United Airlines flight 929 to Chicago. Officials said the man was sent back to Saudi Arabia by the British. In two other overseas cases involving people on the no-fly list,...

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday disclosed it is stepping up oversight of American Airlines in the wake of three botched landings by the carrier over an 11 day period. The latest incident, which prompted heightened FAA scrutiny of American's operations, involved a jetliner whose wingtip struck the ground while landing in Austin, Texas, on Christmas Eve. There were no injuries and the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft was inspected and returned to service. But the incident raised concern inside the FAA, according to people familiar with the matter, because it followed two more-serious landing mistakes on aircraft operated ...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica's Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport. Preliminary reports indicate there are no critical injuries. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six. "The care of our passengers and crew members is our highest priority and we will offer all the assistance necessary," said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman...

An American Airlines plane crashed and broke in two after landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to local reports. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Details were not immediately available, however, passengers on the plane told local media that flight 331 had just arrived from Miami in pouring rain when the accident occurred. The flight apparently originated in Washington, D.C.

As to the flight attendant in question, American has taken specific action related to that employee. Because this is a private personnel matter, we cannot disclose the nature of those actions.

John Reed keeps flying, but he wonders if an incident on board an American Airlines flight to Dallas will ground him — or even lead to federal charges. "I have this hanging over my head for an indefinite period of time," he said. "I just need some closure." Reed, who lives in California, received a federal warning for his alleged behavior on December 6 aboard Flight 614 from Sacramento to Dallas. The warning accused him of threatening, intimidating and/or interfering with a flight. Reed was sitting in the first class section when he asked for a glass of orange juice...

There's been much debate about how to handle overweight passengers on flights. While some airlines may charge for an extra seat, not all do — and now a flight attendant allegedly snapped a photo on an American Airlines flight (destination and take-off point unknown), which of course has been leaked to the press. A Flight Global blog got a hold of the photo, which they say the attendant took to "show her manager what was happening on the aircraft and why she was unhappy about it. Seems the guy paid for only one seat and the gate staff let him...

I would greatly appreciate a larger or better version of this: The original was done by CNN. I had a couple stored on my hard drive, but they were lost during a computer crash last year... Thanks!

Federal agents have searched several Western Washington locations in an expanding investigation of two Pakistani men arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday after their names appeared on terrorism watch lists. Agents also have scrutinized passenger lists for possible associates of the men on the American Airlines and JetBlue flights for which they tried to buy tickets. The men, who bought one-way tickets with cash, have not been charged with a crime and have not been publicly identified. One, a 29-year-old with a New York driver's license, had been detained and released at an unnamed airport once before and had...

A group of family members, survivors and first responders shared their thoughts about 9/11 while visiting the nearly completed Pentagon Memorial here on Aug. 28. Pentagon Memorial Fund manager Jim Laychak visits the Pentagon Memorial, Aug. 28, 2008. Laychak lost his younger brother, David, an Army civilian employee, during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The $22 million memorial, Laychak said, is a culmination of years of effort and hard work. “It is a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. Everybody has worked together on this over the past five and a half years,” he said. Tom Heidenberger, 62, lost...

Tue, Aug. 12, 2008 American Airlines has truth on its side, still gets beaten up By TREBOR BANSTETTER tbanstetter@star-telegram.com It sounds like another of those "greedy airline" stories that are always so popular around the water cooler: American Airlines is forcing soldiers heading to combat duty in Iraq to pay baggage fees for checking duffel bags loaded with military equipment. It’s a great story, except that it’s largely untrue. (snip)

Israel's national airline, El Al, and American Airlines said Tuesday they will begin selling tickets on each other's connecting flights beginning in September. The agreement replaces a code-share deal that El Al had with Delta Air Lines Inc. until late last year, when Delta began its own direct flights from the United States to Tel Aviv. The agreement with American will begin Sept. 2. American will sell tickets on El Al flights from the US to Tel Aviv as if they were American jets. El Al will sell seats, or place its "code" on tickets, on some American domestic flights...

LOS ANGELES -- American Airlines Flight 725, scheduled to fly nonstop from Boston to Los Angeles on Friday, was diverted to Oklahoma City after a disruptive passenger took his clothes off and had to be subdued.

MIAMI (CBS) ― Savvy travelers who think they can get around an airline's new fees for checked bags by just bringing a big carry on may have to come up with a 'plan B' American Airlines has started cracking down on the size of the bags passengers stuff into the overhead bins. "I'm very frustrated because I travel a lot," said Corrine Celestine. Air passengers like Celestine say they're upset that American is now scrutinizing the size of carry on bags and charging an extra fee if the bags are over the stated limit. "It's really frustrating, the airlines are...

US Airways is imposing new passenger fees in the face of rising jet fuel prices, but it's going even further than some other airlines have recently. The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier (NYSE: LCC), which has a large presence at Reagan National Airport, will start charging $2 for nonalcoholic beverages in coach class on all domestic flights. The fee covers sodas, juices, bottled water and coffee. The charge for alcoholic beverages in coach will increase to $7. Following the lead of several other airlines, US Airways also will charge $15 for the first checked bag for tickets purchased beginning July 9 for...

The aging planes of United, American, and Delta guzzle more gas and make the U.S. carriers more vulnerable to soaring oil prices—and to their global competitors For a look at one of the biggest headaches facing U.S. airlines, head out to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport any day and watch the big jets taking off for the U.S. There goes United Airlines to Chicago, American Airlines to Boston, Delta Air Lines to Atlanta, and Air France to New York's John F. Kennedy airport. What's the big deal? Many of the U.S. carriers' planes are Boeing 767s, a model that dates...

American Airlines’ new bag policy discriminates against women, because most women will have to check their bag while men will not. As an example, here are the non-solid products my husband and I take when traveling: My List: Shampoo, Cream Rinse, Body Wash, Body Lotion, Spray Perfume, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Contact Lens Solution, Glasses Cleaner, Face Cleanser, Toner, Facial Night Cream, Moisturizer, Sunscreen, Vaseline Lip Therapy, Hand Cream, Mascara, Lipgloss My Husband’s List: Shampoo, Cream Rinse, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Glasses Lens Cleaner Since we are required to put our lotions in a quart bag if we want to carry them on board,...

The Federal Aviation Administration is going to begin alerting its top headquarters officials when field inspectors miss airline safety inspections, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced Friday. Peters also demanded that the FAA and American Airlines explain to her within 14 days why 250,000 U.S. air travelers endured canceled flights last week. American grounded its MD-80 jetliners and canceled 3,100 flights in order to inspect or redo wiring that was supposed to have been completed between Sept. 5, 2006, and March 5, 2008....

As luck would have it, AMR Corp. couldn't have picked a worse time to reward its top people with company stock. American Airlines Inc., its principal subsidiary, is coming off a week with 3,300 flights canceled due to inadequate inspections and modifications. And Wall Street analysts expect AMR to report a quarterly loss of around $300 million Wednesday, the parent company's worst first quarter in five years. On top of all that, the company's stock price is trading near four-year lows – less than one-fourth the price 15 months ago. Still, the company this week is set to distribute around...

ATLANTA - Air traveler angst was sure to continue Friday as American Airlines grounded hundreds more flights. The financial toll and loss of goodwill likely would grow as well, as the inspection-related mess spread further to other carriers and hurt an industry already bleeding cash thanks to high fuel costs. Lawmakers were asking questions and some fed-up air travelers headed for trains. Others gave the airlines a pass, saying the companies were doing the best they could. "If somebody's got a choice between being in a plane crash and being late, is there a choice?" Jane Bernard, a writer from...

DALLAS - American Airlines canceled 850 flights Wednesday — more than one-third of its schedule — as it spent a second straight day inspecting the wiring on some of its jets, the same issue that caused the nation's biggest airline to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago. American canceled nearly 500 flights on Tuesday, stranding hundreds of passengers. Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says safety was never jeopardized. Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said cancellations could continue beyond Wednesday as the airline works on its MD-80 jets. American uses...

March 24, 2008, 5:00 a.m. Chilling ConfirmationYes, Saddam Hussein was an Islamofascist threat. By Deroy Murdock As Operation Iraqi Freedom is now five years old, a new study confirms that ousting Saddam Hussein was justified and vital to U.S. national security. Though war critics hate to admit it, the Baathist dictator was up to his mustache in aid for Islamofascist terrorism. As a report from the Institute for Defense Analyses explains, “captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism.� IDA’s review of some 600,000 documents discovered in Iraq since...

Lawsuit: Staff Did Not Help Woman After Man Ejaculated On Her A 21-year-old Harris County woman filed a lawsuit against American Airlines Monday, alleging her trip to visit family and friends in Los Angeles last spring break turned X-rated.

A major airline is under fire from environmentalists for flying an aircraft across the Atlantic with only five passengers on board. American Airlines has been accused of reckless behaviour It led to American Airlines being accused of reckless behaviour by green lobby groups. The latest “eco- scandal” flight took place on February 9 after American was forced to cancel one of its four daily services from Chicago to London. While it was able to find places for nearly all the passengers on the fully-booked flight, five still had to be accommodated. Those who did fly were upgraded to the business...

NEW YORK — An American Airlines passenger died after a flight attendant told her he couldn't give her any oxygen and then tried to help her with faulty equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, a relative said. The airline confirmed the flight death and said medical professionals had tried to save the passenger, Carine Desir, who was returning home to Brooklyn from Haiti. Desir, who had heart disease, died of natural causes, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Sunday. Desir had complained of not feeling well and being very thirsty on the Friday flight from Port-au-Prince after she ate...

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Smoke filled the cockpit of an American Airlines flight from Puerto Rico, forcing an emergency landing, an airport official said. Seven people — the pilot, co-pilot, three flight attendants and two passengers — were taken to a hospital Wednesday, but none of the injuries was life threatening, The Palm Beach Post reported. A windshield was also broken, but the reason was unclear.

Although admitting he wasn't "very effective" as a spy, a federal judge today sentenced a Des Plaines man to four years in prison for his role as an Iraqi "sleeper" secretly placed in Chicago for Saddam Hussein's spy service. Sami Khoshaba Latchin, 61, was convicted by a federal jury in April. Latchin, who worked for American Airlines at O'Hare Airport, had lied about his intelligence links with the former government in Iraq and made false statements to U.S. immigration officials when he applied for naturalization in 1998. Now Latchin faces deportation - which the federal government wants - and Judge...

American Airline Employees' Honor Fallen SoldiersPOSTED: 4:07 pm EDT October 8, 2007 UPDATED: 7:25 pm EDT October 8, 2007 DETROIT -- A group of American Airlines employees’ at Metro Airport used their free time to design a military transportation cart for fallen Michigan soldiers. “Well, we created the military cart to honor the fallen soldier and we thought it was fitting to raise the bar,” said American Airlines ground crew Dan Howard. The employees solicited local businesses to design the military transportation cart. “It has been a combined effort from all. It was not an issue that American Airlines said...

ORONO, Maine -- Charles Frank Burlingame III was the pilot flying American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon with 64 people onboard. It is believed Burlingame helped divert the plane from its original destination -- the White House -- by literally fighting off the terrorists in the cockpit. In an FBI report released after the crash, it was revealed that the pilot died of injuries sustained before the plane hit the ground. Burlingame's family has requested that he be buried in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, an honor bestowed only on soldiers and their families. ...

In a lawsuit similar to many others that preceded it, American Airlines is taking on Google's keyword-based AdWords business by alleging the practice is a blatant example of trademark infringement. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, makes the same argument presented by a number of other companies that have sued the search giant during the past five years: Google has no right to sell company trademarks for use as keyword triggers that elicit paid advertisements. In addition to the assertions of trademark infringement and other claims, the lawsuit alleges Google engages in false advertising when it...

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - AMR Corp. (AMR.N: Quote, Profile , Research) , parent company of American Airlines, might be a buyout target of a group including Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and British Airways (BAY.L: Quote, Profile , Research), say people familiar with the matter, according to the Feb. 26 edition of BusinessWeek magazine. The proposed bid is said to be between $9.8 billion, or $46 a share, and $11.1 billion, or $52 a share, according to the magazine. Sources say it is uncertain that a bid for the company will materialize, BusinessWeek said. Neither Goldman...