As has been posted in the previous threads on this topic in the past 3 years, the primary reason the J seats have not yet been replaced is that for the past 3 years, AA's management has determined that it did not have sufficient extra cash to buy new seats. 18 months ago, AA nearly ran out of cash and almost filed Ch 11.

I had to laugh when FlyerTalkers asked this sort of question in late 2002 and early 2003. The company was teetering on bankruptcy and frequent flyers were asking when the company would buy new furniture (to replace fairly new furniture).

In the past 18 months, AA has attempted to rebuild its cash position in the hope (however misguided) that it could weather the storm and get back to generating lots of positive cash flow. And until oil jumped from the low $30s to the mid-$50s per bbl this year, AA's management probably saw that improvement happening.

But next week, AA will report yet another staggering loss, according to most predictions. Buying new seats will probably have to wait, since AA's executives are no doubt preoccupied with whether AA's cash balance will carry it thru this winter.

When (and if) AA's cash flow begins covering all of its expenses and then some, you can be certain that AA will probably replace its deficient J seats with some other product.

Even if AA's financial position had not come so close to bankruptcy, another factor must be remembered: At the time of the September 11 attacks, AA had just finished spending several hundred million dollars on the new blue seats (that includes all the new seats, not just the crappy J seats on the 777s and 767s). And although I didn't like them from the start, apparently enough people at AA did like them enough to buy them.

Purchasing mistakes in the airline industry aren't corrected quickly, but eventually they are corrected. The F-100s only stayed in the fleet for a decade. An obvious mistake. The tenure of AA's MD-11s was even shorter. Another obvious mistake.

Some claim (perhaps correctly) that an improved J seat will improve AA's fortunes, as more people will abandon other airlines and switch to AA for paid business travel.

One possible problem with that claim is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about: Even with nicer seats, AA's cabin staff will still be the same old people. Although I generally experience satisfactory service on AA long-hauls, AA's worldwide reputation is sub-par. It's politically incorrect to talk about it - but Singapore and Cathay feature young, attractive women who still adhere to a stereotype of the ideal flight attendant (at least in the minds of too many traditional business passengers).

It may not be right - but that is the unfortunate reality in this world. There are people on this planet with lots of money who may not subscribe to our notions of sexism and political correctness. And there are airlines out there willing to take their money where the position of Flight Attendant is not yet a lifelong career position.

BA and other European airlines generally have a reputation for better service, even though their FAs tend to look more like AA's FAs and not like those at CX or SQ.

So will improved seats really make a difference to AA's finances? It's not guaranteed. AA buys better J class seats and UA matches. Will AA pick up UA flyers? Will better J seats cause defections from NW, CO or DL? Will people abandon CX, SQ, BA and other airlines to fly AA's improved J class? Maybe, but I doubt it.