American Says Do Without!
 

The pillows have to go, nada, just crumple up your jacket and sleep if you can. It's a money saving idea, and passenger comfort is just irrelevant. When does the maintenance cut-back get underway? One pilot? No FAs? No baggage service? Is this for real!

It is for real, and as I heard it, was intended for domestic flights only. At least if you bring your own pillow, you know where it's been! It's estimated to save something like $385,000 a year, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the money American Airlines is "short" these days!

BC

"At least if you bring your own pillow you know where it's been..." the least of your worries...if that sort of thing "worries" you....imagine what has been on the seat upholstery before you showed up, much less on the tray table, the armrest,...the list goes on and on.

They could probably make a lot more money if they had a separate section that did not allow any children (screaming) or any cellphones...

Ah, the inevitability of profit-taking.

Well the customer is always right. From what I can determine the only thing that matters to the vast majority of customers is cheap airfare. That certainly applies to me.

Maybe they need to make a separate part of the airplane where people pay a little more. They can have "free" everything: booze, wine, pillows, blankets, nicer food maybe after dinner mints too, their own lavatories, more FA's per passenger, bigger seats spaced farther apart, etc.

Wait a minute maybe they do have that already and it's called something like "Business Class" or maybe it's "First Class."

Too bad they don't charge just "a little more" though. All those things do add up. :-)

I can live with no pillows - they just take up valuable real estate that could otherwise be used for my carry-on.

I always wondered about their policy to not paint the airplanes, though. It may save weight and therefore fuel, but doesn't paint somehow help prevent corrosion?

And AA doesn't seem any cheaper than any other airline - so the company saves $$, but the savings aren't passed on to the passengers anyway.

bennyb,

AA lost 761Million last year. Any savings, even 375K, go to reducing the losses the airline continue to suffer.

Check out the air fares.....lowest in years. That, my friend, is your savings.

Curious

Actually, I fly a lot and always compare fares. American has not been noticably cheaper than any other airline - yet they've been "saving" money but not painting their planes for years. So where did the money go? I don't know, I'm not an auditor.

>So where did the money go? <

Bank accounts in Switzerland and the Bahamas?

((I))

After watching countless passengers take one of those pillows, turn their head on it sideways, fall asleep and proceed to drool all over it, trust me, I'm not going to miss those pillows at all!!

The absence of a pillow is scarcely the issue, folks. It's simply an oddity in the media. LOL, what is actually of interest is the irony that these corporate minds also make life and death decisions about operational matters. By the way, we apparently still will find ratty blankets in the overhead. Ah, the glass is half full.

Where did the money go? OPEC.

Avg. price for a barrel of oil in 2003 $31.14.

Average price in 2004 $41.45.

Fuel accounts for about 15% of an airlines expenses.

Has anyone purchased a meal on American? How much does one cost? Meals used to be free, and now you pay for them. Is this another American money maker? ((b))