1AA,
How is it hard to disagree with your friend's note? It's about the dumbest thing I've read. Focus on the core airline? UHM, yeah...is Cartny not the CEO who sold the non-core assets (SABRE, AMR COMBS, etc.)??? What is the Arena in Miami? Well, we call it advertising. Everytime a game is played there, announcers on tv say "Welcome to the American Airlines Arena". When you read the sports section in the newspaper you read, "Last night at the American Airlines Arena...". Check out the shows on Broadway, "Now showing at the American Airlines Theatre...". Anheuser Busch did a study some years back. They stopped advertising in St. Louis. St. Louis, the company's home for years. Everybody knows AB in St. Louis. Chances are a St. Louis resident knows someone who works there. Finding a bar that serves Coors is a big deal. Guess what happened to grocery store sales in St. Louis when they stopped advertising in their backyard? Coors and Miller did better. Is that what you want for AA? Is that a good idea? No. American continues to have a need to advertise. Why do line employees think that a company's sole obligation is to give every cent earned to line employees? It proves you have no clue how to run a business, so let the people who do, do so. Now, before you go off and so it's obvious that Carty doesn't know how to run a business given current results...tell me what you would do. It damn well better include employee cutback, because that is a large problem for AA right now. To think otherwise is to ignore reality. While ignorance may be bliss, the result of such is disaster!