American wants to get the low-fare word out By Dan Reed, USA TODAY Low fares rule, and now even the nation's largest airline is conceding the point. American, which has long sought to be known as the preferred carrier of discriminating corporate travelers, will begin repositioning itself as the top provider of travel value in an ad campaign beginning today. The ads are built around the tag line "Get a great low fare. And a lot more airline." They attempt to sell the notion that for the same price charged by low-cost carriers, American's passengers get more legroom, the world's biggest service network and points in its highly regarded AAdvantage frequent-flier program. American also touts its full-service features, such as reserved seating and meals, at least on the flights where meals are still served. For the past year American executives have claimed, tongue-in-cheek, that American is "the world's largest low-fare carrier." That's because competition and economic conditions have forced it to offer millions of seats at very low prices. But American's parent, AMR, lost $5.3 billion in two years, and management is seeking to chop $4 billion a year from its operating costs. Without the savings, management warns that the carrier almost certainly will have to file for bankruptcy protection this year. Standard & Poor's cut AMR's debt rating three notches Friday to CCC, deep in junk territory. American, like most other big carriers, has seen revenue fall 20% in two years as consumers have curtailed flying and demonstrated a strong preference for low fares when they do travel. In 1998, 22.7% of all passengers were high-fare-paying business travelers who produced 36.6% of the industry's revenue, according to a recent study by LECG of Cambridge, Mass. In 2002 such travelers represented only 13.4% of the market and generated just 20% of the industry's revenue. "The reality is that people think we're expensive," says Rob Britton, American's advertising director. "So we've got to get the word out that we've got lots and lots of low fares, that we have a great product and offer great value." Still, it's far from certain that the new appeal to the price-sensitive masses will work, either in attracting a bigger share of that end of the market, or in producing profit. Consumers must jump through too many hoops to use the lowest discount fares on full-service carriers like American, says Rolfe Shellenberger, a marketing executive for American in the 1980s and now a corporate travel consultant. The new campaign, developed by Temerlin McClain of Irving, Texas, uses customer testimonials. That's a first for American, and a rarity among airlines. The ads start Monday in St. Louis and Chicago and later this month in New York and Los Angeles. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.dbombo.net/muddyangels/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************