Originally Posted by
ajc1970
he may be from illinois, but he's running for president of the USA. AA qualifies as "buying american."
but the concept is antiquated afaic. when ford is making vehicles overseas, toyota is making them here, and hordes of US companies shipping their support, manufacturing and even engineering overseas, there's really not much reason to loyally pay more for a US product.
Technically, though, you're still supporting our GNP if you "buy American" in the old fashioned sense. Even if that company is offshoring production or service employees. Buying a Toyota Camry may support manufacturing jobs here in the U.S., but it's also contributing to Japan's GNP, not ours.
That aside, I wouldn't fault anyone with ties to Illinois for flying American Airlines. They have a major presence at ORD which, in addition to transporting pax and cargo, employs thousands of Chicagoans.
Does anyone have insight into UA's charter ops? Are they competitive and service-oriented in the charter arena?