Sometimes you just have to wonder if the right hand is talking to the left hand. The other day I received an email from American Airlines announcing the following:
Today American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia signed a Joint Business Agreement (JBA) to cooperate on flights between North America and Europe, and announced that we plan to expand our global cooperation. We will cooperate more closely to improve travel choices, offer more convenient schedules and give customers more opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles.
Today's announcement represents good news for travelers. Our customers will be able to travel more easily on a oneworld network that includes nearly 9,000 daily departures to 663 destinations in 134 countries via flight schedules that will be coordinated to deliver more conveniences and choices. As an example, here in the U.S., customers and communities will gain improved access to 207 new international destinations just by our ability to link our networks.
This was just a few days after the following appeared in the local paper:
American Airlines and Delta announced this week that they are cutting all flights from San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. American will also close a maintenance base there for its American Eagle operation.
American Eagle currently operates four daily departures from the airport. The move will eliminiate about 100 jobs as the nation’s largest air carrier moves to curb capacity by more than 10 percent in the face of soaring fuel prices and a weakening economy.
So... I now have "improved access to 207 new international destinations"... if I could get a flight out of my own nearby airport. Which I won't be able to now. Interesting strategy. I've got the United Mileage Plus "golden handcuffs" so I don't fly American very often anyway.