This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ American Air Is Adding Seats and Cutting Legroom in Coach May 22, 2003 By EDWARD WONG American Airlines said yesterday that it would add seats to 23 percent of its planes, leaving passengers in coach class with two to three inches less legroom. The change indicates that American's effort over the last several years to increase revenue with a marketing campaign, "More Room in Coach," was a failure, at least on certain routes. American removed rows of seats in its jets to create more space between seats, called seat pitch. The pitch in coach class ranged from 33 inches to 35 inches, more than that of most rivals. But American, a unit of AMR, is now taking the opposite tack. It will add back two rows of seats to its 140 Boeing 757's and 34 Airbus A300's. The pitch between seats in coach class will be 31 to 32 inches, depending on the plane. The planes will generally be used on routes heavy with vacation or leisure travelers, said Todd Burke, a spokesman for American. "It's not always the right product in all markets," Mr. Burke said of more spacious planes. He added that though business travelers seemed to appreciate the extra legroom, leisure travelers did not seem to be as concerned about space as they were about ticket price. Consequently, he said, being able to sell more tickets on leisure routes could help American bring its ticket prices down on those flights. The addition of seats will start in the fall at a maintenance base in Tulsa, Okla., the company said. It said it planned to finish reconfiguring the A300's by winter so it can use them on routes to the Caribbean in December. Work on the Boeing 757's will be finished by mid-February. Terry Trippler, an authority on air fares at Cheapseats.com, said American might not have been aggressive enough in marketing the more spacious planes. The airline should have been able to attract more customers and increase its revenue based on the roomier seat pitch, he said. "What I'm disappointed in is they clearly had a superior product," he said. "They couldn't sell that superior product at the same price as what everyone else was selling their inferior products." In the same written announcement, American said that effective immediately, it would not charge passengers more than $299 one-way on coach and $599 one-way in first class on nonstop flights from Kennedy International Airport in New York to Long Beach, Orange County and San Jose, all in California. But Mr. Trippler noted that this was not new. On Monday, American was charging a maximum of $299 one-way on coach class on those routes. American is competing with low-cost carriers like JetBlue and Frontier Airlines between those cities, and it has been forced to keep its fares low. American also said yesterday that Gerard J. Arpey, the new chief executive, would not take a raise on his base salary this year. In March, the company said that he and other executives would take pay cuts. With a 14 percent cut, Mr. Arpey's base salary as of April 1 was about $500,000. Mr. Burke said Mr. Arpey would not take any additional compensation this year. A federal law passed in April giving financial aid to airlines prevents Mr. Arpey from taking cash compensation for the next year above the amount he received in 2002. Edward A. Brennan, the new chairman of AMR's board, will not take a fee for being chairman, Mr. Burke said yesterday. Mr. Brennan will continue receiving compensation for being a director. In April, Donald J. Carty, Mr. Arpey's predecessor, resigned as chairman and chief executive after it was reported that he had failed to disclose executive perks to unionized workers, who were voting at the time on giving concessions. Officials at the Transport Workers Union, which represents ground workers at American, said yesterday that the company was still being opaque in its disclosure of executive compensation. Robert Gless, a union leader, said the board's compensation committee failed to say in AMR's last proxy statement how much money the company had put into a trust fund last October set up to protect the pensions of executives in the event of a bankruptcy filing. The nondisclosure of the October payment fueled the rage of workers calling for Mr. Carty's resignation. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/22AMER.html?ex=1054634725&ei=1&en=3f9ff7c44ff1e884 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. 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