American Airlines

There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets. Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees.

When it comes time to trade in your frequent-flier reward points for seats on an airplane, low-cost airlines do the best job of getting you in the air. That was the conclusion of a study released last week by IdeaWorks, a Wisconsin consultant to the airline industry. In March, IdeaWorks submitted nearly 7,000 booking requests through the frequent-flier websites of 23 airlines. Seats were requested for the airline's most popular routes in June through October. The study had a 93.5% success rate of finding available seats on low-cost airlines around the world, including U.S. carriers such as Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways.

After sitting out a recent series of airline mergers, Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Group Inc. wants to hook up with American Airlines. But American's parent company, AMR Corp., which is mired in Bankruptcy Court, said it's not interested - at least for now. American, ranked as the nation's fourth-largest airline, operates 617 planes, with an additional 281 jets operated by its regional carrier, American Eagle. US Airways ranks as the country's fifth-largest airline and operates about 340 jets.

Build-a-Bear Workshop was introducing a line of stuffed animals called smallfrys and wanted to reach moms through Facebook. One video used in the online promotion showed a woman pulling up to a fast-food window. Her young daughter requests "a smallfry. " When her mom suggests a fruit cup or celery sticks, the daughter says, "Mom, order me a curly-haired bunny in a purple sequined bathing suit. " The 45-second smallfrys spot came not from a traditional advertising agency but from Poptent Inc., a "crowdsourced" video production studio that has built a global community of 50,000 writers, directors, cinematographers and animators to create commercials for Build-a-Bear, American Airlines, Dell, Intel, Jaguar, General Mills and others.

When it comes time to trade in your frequent-flier reward points for seats on an airplane, low-cost airlines do the best job of getting you in the air. That was the conclusion of a study released last week by IdeaWorks, a Wisconsin consultant to the airline industry. In March, IdeaWorks submitted nearly 7,000 booking requests through the frequent-flier websites of 23 airlines. Seats were requested for the airline's most popular routes in June through October. The study had a 93.5% success rate of finding available seats on low-cost airlines around the world, including U.S. carriers such as Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways.

American Airlines has changed its Terminal 4 lobby at LAX from old-fashioned ticket counters to self-service kiosks, which, it says, is designed to streamline check-in and bag drop. AA agents are out in front rather than behind the counter. These agents can show passengers who aren't familiar with kiosks how to use them. The 36 machines in T4 West Lobby can check in both international and domestic passengers. Instead of taking bags over to Transportation Security Administration screening, passengers check them in at the self-service machines.

Los Angeles or New York? Under a sweeping winter airfare sale by American Airlines, you can have both, no matter which direction you’re traveling, for $99 each way ($198 round trip) . Even better, the special price applies to flights from three Southern California airports. The deal is part of a collaborative effort by American, NYC & Company and the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote tourism in both cities. The deal: The $99 fare (plus tax)

Once it seemed that every airline wanted to be just like Southwest Airlines. Now it's Southwest that wants to be more like all the rest. Southwest became a major airline on the wings of a daring business model. In 1971, air travel was a luxury business, but Southwest's founders went bargain basement.

Airfares are rising, planes are packed, and carriers are abandoning less-profitable routes. What's to blame? Climbing fuel prices. And there will be no relief in the immediate future, according to an analysis released by the Federal Aviation Administration. "Planes will remain crowded," said the report released Thursday, and "shrinking capacity will further lift fares higher in 2012. " The nation's airlines buy about 48 million gallons of fuel each day at a price that jumped nearly 40% in the last year.

Mexicana, one of the largest air carriers between the U.S. and Mexico, suspended four daily flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Mexico on Monday, following news of financial problems at the Mexico City-based airline. Officials at LAX confirmed that daily flights from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and Guadalajara were suspended at least until the end of the month. Mexicana operates 15 daily departures from LAX, carrying 1.3 million passengers annually.

There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets. Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees.

Members of American Airlines' AAdvantage frequent-flier program can now book awards travel on British Airways and Hawaiian using American's website. American's frequent fliers can redeem their points for one-way, round-trip and multi-city award travel on American, Alaska , Hawaiian and British (including a combination of the carriers).  Most award reservations can be held for five days (unless flights are scheduled within a shorter period of time). On partner airlines, only MileSAAver awards (which require fewer miles)

American Airlines has spent the week trying to persuade a bankruptcy judge to allow it to chuck all its labor contracts and put the squeeze on thousands of union employees. If things go as expected - that is, a victory for management and not for rank-and-file workers - it will be the latest blow to organized labor and yet another indication that, in the workplace of the future, most of us will be fending for ourselves. "Workers in the United States are facing a number of difficulties," said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a professor emeritus of public policy at UCLA.

Boeing Co.'s profit soared 58% in its first quarter as it built more efficient planes for airlines struggling with high fuel costs. The Chicago company earned $923 million, or $1.22 a share, compared with $586 million, or 78 cents, during the same period a year earlier. Its revenue boomed 30% to $19.4 billion. Boeing said it delivered 137 commercial planes during the quarter, and it has orders to build more than 4,000 others valued at a record $308 billion. The aircraft maker said it has more than 300 orders for its new fuel-efficient 737 Max jetliner.

The Boeing Co. raked in 58% more income in its first quarter as it builds more efficient planes for airlines struggling with high fuel costs. The company earned $923 million, or $1.22 per share, compared with $586 million, or 78 cents a share, during the same period a year earlier. Its revenue boomed 30% to $19.4 billion. During the quarter, Boeing delivered 137 commercial planes and said it has orders to build more than 4,000 others valued at a record $308 billion.

After sitting out a recent series of airline mergers, Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Group Inc. wants to hook up with American Airlines. But American's parent company, AMR Corp., which is mired in Bankruptcy Court, said it's not interested - at least for now. American, ranked as the nation's fourth-largest airline, operates 617 planes, with an additional 281 jets operated by its regional carrier, American Eagle. US Airways ranks as the country's fifth-largest airline and operates about 340 jets.

If you get a suspicious email that appears to be from American Airlines, it could be part of a scam to pilfer personal information. The airline suspects that hackers have sent out, as recently as November, what are known as "phishing" emails intended to mislead people into giving up information such as their passwords to the airline's reward program. To warn customers, American Airlines has posted several examples of the phony emails on its website. One such email says the recipient has paid $278 for a flight to New York and should download the ticket.

American Airlines, whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in November, is closing its operations at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and ending flights from Chicago to New Delhi. In addition to closing operations at those two airports, the airline said it plans to cut 150 positions. "Our objective is to make our company competitive and more efficient in an increasingly challenging industry," the airline said in a statement Monday. The flights from Bob Hope Airport will end Feb.

US Airways Group Inc., with new backing by three unions representing nearly 55,000 American Airlines employees, is angling for a merger between the two airline companies, according to statements made Friday. Combining with bankrupt American Airlines “represents a unique opportunity that we should not ignore,” said US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker in a letter to employees . The deal would “create a preeminent airline” that could “compete successfully with United, Delta and other carriers.” Though AA's parent company, AMR Corp., would have to first agree to a merger, US Airways has already signed agreements with three major AA unions laying out how collective bargaining pacts would look should a deal go through.

Bankruptcy is bringing income down at American Airlines Inc. parent AMR Corp., as restructuring costs pushed the company into a $1.7-billion loss for the first quarter. Without the $1.4-billion bankruptcy burden, AMR said its loss would have been $248 million. At least that's not quite as bad as its $405-million loss during last year's first quarter. Still, the company suffered a net loss of $4.95 a share, compared with the net $436 million, or $1.31 a share, lost last year.