Of course it does. No matter who the recipient of the tax money, people are going to be pissed at AA (and all other airlines charging the fee). It's certainly in AA's best interest not to piss people off. Furthermore, the snafu that this will cause at the airport will require more AA personnel (and I'm sure they are planning that), so it will end up costing them. They have a lot of incentive to have the rule apply only to tickers purchased after the tax was announced. Falling on deaf ears.

I know that we will have a thread starting in a couple of days as FTers describe the experiences that this additional tax brings with it. I, for one, will definitely welcome that thread ^. I expect bedlam and mayhem

Cheers.