I hear nothing but griping from AA. I fly between DC-LA. AA advertises in the NYC market that they never charge more than $299 nonstop from JFK to SNA, LGB, or ONT. Fly from DC and it's a different story. For the IAD-LAX nonstop (LAX is the only airport served nonstop from DC), 3 weeks in advance, Sat night stay, they want $2400. HP and JB come in at ~$350, and HP will upgrade you for free if you are an elite (making the AA fare the equivalent of $2800 counting what they charge me to upgrade). To get anything approaching a decent fare you have to fly IAD-LGB with a 2 hour layover in DFW or Strandedville. HP flies direct from DCA-LAX almost like TW used to fly nonstop. And AA lays off employees and whines that they are losing money. So I will fly my 50,000 this year on HP. Boo hoo.

I really like AA. You're comparing them on a route where they have somewhat responded to low fare competition, but not 100%. That's a very small sample size. I'm glad that HP works for you, especially on this route but I'm sticking with AA since they are my best choice on most of the various routes I fly.

What difference do the fares make if the planes are filthy and the employees are bitter and angry?

I really like AA too. It's frustrating to me that they might go out of business 'cause they can't find enough people willing to pay $2800 for a ticket instead of $350 like their competitors charge. If I didn't really like 'em, I would just walk away and I wouldn't waste my time posting here. I wouldn't have bothered to earn Plat. Do airline executives read this stuff?

Excuse me, but what the hell are you talking about? I just priced IAD-LAX nonstop at the end of July and it came back with $569. Maybe your AA.com was set to business or first class pricing, Sure it's still more than HP, but it is NOT $2800 you are talking avout.

You may want to post this in the AA forum... sure there are some strong opinions there...

William