No MRTC is a disaster for AA, if our sample has any relevance to the market as a whole. To sum up, many of us fly them for MRTC alone; others steer our business heavily in their direction for the combination of upgrades/preferred seating choice/MRTC (and not necessarily in that order).

They won't EVER lose the people they have captive because of particular airport schedules, at least until JetBlue or someone with near-MRTC shows on the scene. But that could be tomorrow!

I find it interesting that no one here said "Oh I'd stick with AA; their people are just too professional/nice", "AA is reliable and others are not", or "AA has the best fares for me". And only honorable mention for AAdvantage. These are the reasons that their latest round of commercials are selling, aren't they?

Given the rule that you put your money where it makes the most effect, that's what AA thinks the larger market of heavy users wants.

I think if they de-emphasize MRTC, they're missing the most radical differentiation they can use to put themselves ahead of the competition........ but there's no fighting the beancounters when it comes to these types of issues. They just see the possibility of a tighter-packed sardine can and can't help themselves.