Originally Posted by HKG_Flyer1
American Airlines would
never try to use political influence.
Here's some interesting excerpts from an article in the
National Journal, detailing the lobbying efforts of each party:
[*]
Last year, American shelled out $1.95 million on lobbying, while Southwest spent just $100,000, according to the Center for Public Integrity's LobbyWatch project.
[/list]
I wish I had time to put some of your comments in context, but I have a day job.
Using those figures and 2004 revenues from their respective annual reports, American spent about 1/100 of 1% of its revenue on lobbying efforts while Southwest spent about 1/1000 of 1%.
Now consider that American has a far more complicated operation and a significant international presence. I'd be willing to bet a sizable portion of that $1.95MM was spent on efforts to secure access to Shanghai and Delhi.