American Airlines to Begin Dallas/Fort Worth to Beijing, China, March '07

[seafan]

(Title shortened because of length)


American Airlines Receives Overwhelming Support to Begin Dallas/Fort Worth to Beijing, China, Service in March 2007

September 25, 12:31 pm ET

FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines, the world's largest airline, today announced that it has received strong support for its application filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate daily nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Beijing, China, starting March 25, 2007.

American's proposal has the endorsement of 28 U.S. senators, 68 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 9 governors, more than 100 mayors and other elected officials, scores of aviation and transportation directors, universities, and more than 400 companies. To date, more than 82,000 individuals have also submitted letters on behalf of American via its http://www.FlytoChinaonAA.com Web site.

"We are grateful that so many government officials, business leaders and the traveling public support our application because they believe that American Airlines will provide the greatest benefits to the most U.S. passengers and shippers," said Will Ris, American's Senior Vice President - Government Affairs. "This new route will deepen the important cultural and economic ties between China and North Texas while providing convenient on-line connections for 95 airports in 32 states and the District of Columbia -- approximately 80 percent of the total U.S. population."

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[seafan]

1. Quite heavily touted by republicans, I might add. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

2. wonder how many of those routes came from TWA?

You know, that airline AA bought and disappeared?

[chelsea0011]

3. China. The land of democracy and human rights freedoms?

That China?:sarcasm:

[Canuckistanian]

4. Ah, the Outsource Express

You can stand at the gates and wave goodbye to American jobs in comfort....

[mikelgb]

5. olympics?

[smirkymonkey]

15. Christianity?

I'll bet that's it. :shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Eh.

Why shouldn't American Airlines fly from one of the busiest American airports to a city of 15 million?

:shrug:

[Bacchus39]

7. yeah, I don't see the issue here

n/t

[Ezlivin]

8. No problem. Just let Southwest Airlines fly where it wants, too.

We've got the horrible Wright Amendment that prohibits Southwest Airlines from flying direct routes from Love Field. This law was enacted to keep D/FW Airport from real competition from surrounding airports and to keep American Airlines in the black.

[davidinalameda]

9. Southwest is a bus line with wings

I hate Southwest and won't fly it

[Ezlivin]

10. I don't fly at all

But Southwest Airlines is much, much cheaper over the same routes as American Airlines flies. If Southwest was allowed to compete fairly (Free Market, anyone?), then AA would lose a lot of business.

Hell, flying nowadays is such a pain in the ass that unless you're in First Class it's all like riding a bus.

[davidinalameda]

12. I prefer to fly American

they do have the most leg room and the most comfortable coach section

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

11. Sure would be nice if everyone could make that choice

But DFW has Southwest locked down tight for the direct benefit of American Airlines.

[MsKandice01]

13. I will never fly American Airlines in or out of DFW again...

I had a terrible experience a couple years ago. What was supposed to be a 2-hour layover on the way from San Francisco to Orlando turned into an 18-hour ordeal. Our flight out of DFW was delayed due to bad weather. Fine, you can't control that. BUT once the weather lifted, they told us that the flight attendants had been on their shift for too long and had to be let go. Okay, fine. We waited and a couple of hours later, they showed up. As SOON as the flight attendants showed up, we were told that the flight crew had not been working too long and needed to be relieved. Hours later, after all of the area hotels had been booked for the night, they told us that they were not able to get a new flight crew to come in and we were stuck there for the night.

My husband and I were traveling with our 14-month-old baby at the time who, by this time, was almost out of diapers and milk (most of that stuff had been packed away in our suitcases, which we were not able to access). They had also closed up all of the airport stores for the night. They threw us a stack of cots and told us goodnight.

When we did finally get into Orlando the next morning (which we were lucky to do because they were insisting on sticking us on a flight that wouldn't be leaving out until 7:00PM the next day), we discovered that our bags had been left out on the runway in the rain all night long and many brand new outfits that my husband had just bought specifically for our trip were completely ruined.

After much bitching, they provided my husband and I with a $150 travel voucher for us to SHARE. How generous of them.

[Algorem]

14. texas/china axis of evil

[peacebuzzard]

16. It is the Shanghai route that the airlines are squabbling over

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14914966/