How to handle upcoming cancellations

At a press conference this afternoon, Gerard Arpey, the CEO of American Airlines's parent company AMR, apologized to his customers for the disruptions. American has canceled 922 flights today. "As of this moment, we have 123 aircraft in service, 10 awaiting FAA inspection," said Arpey. "We have had to make adjustments on most of the aircraft [to be in technical compliance with the FAA directive]....But our mechanics never found chafing of wires, which was the core issue. We believe our planes were always being flown safely. But because our planes were not in technical compliance, we had to [ground them]." By Friday night, American plans to have approximately 180 aircraft in service. By Saturday night, all 300 MD-80s are expected to be in service. A reporter asks: Who's fault is it? "It's my fault," says Arpey. "I run the company, so it's my fault...It's a complicated story that can't be reduced to a soundbite...But I take full personal responsibility....Our mechanics are absolutely not to blame....We're one of the few airlines that does all of its maintenance here in the U.S. (instead of outsourcing overseas)....Our mechanics have done exactly what they've been asked to do...We're going to hire a third-party to come in to [make sure our process is sound]." Arpey also said he did not fault the FAA. "The FAA has stepped up surveillance in the past month," says Arpey. "Their audit was something we didn't anticipate a month ago....I think they've always held the airlines to a very high standard. But we set a very high standard ourselves and we work with the FAA in a partnership with the manufacturer. We were the ones who went to the FAA and brought this issue to their attention and to the manufacturer's attention initially." Arpey says, "We're the largest operator of MD-80s in the world. The FAA came to us and Boeing and we came up with a service bulletin to address these issues. When the FAA began inspecting our aircraft, we raised some issues regarding this wire bundle in the wheel wells. The FAA then raised subsequent issues and so [our mechanics had to do the second inspection.]" Will you continue to fly MD-80s? Arpey responds that he has no qualms about the safety of the planes. But they guzzle more fuel than some other airplanes, and that might affect future purchase decisions. "This 38-page air-worthiness directive is quite complicated. The actual configuration in the wheel wells of these planes is different in different planes....In this latest review, in looking at the precise requirements of the FAA, we have brought in a third-party to identify if there have been any process problems. It's not black and white...People working in good faith can come to different conclusions about how to reach safety goals, and in this case, we failed to get it right [in the view of FAA auditors]." UPDATED at 2:37 ET: A reporter from the Washington Post disputes the CEO's claim that the document is 38 pages long, contending that the FAA document is only about 5 pages long, and that the "translation" by AA and Boeing is 38-pages long. The CEO admits that he misspoke and that the reporter is correct. [NOTE: A day earlier, another American Airlines official provided a correct, detailed explanation of the process. See a transcript at the Airline Biz blog. The CEO seems to have merely mispoken. A reporter from CNN asks, If the directive was ambiguous, why didn't you get clear instructions from the FAA first, so as not to have to do it a second time? "That was a failure on my part," says Arpey. "In this second round, there were issues about the direction of clips, the material that protects the wires, and related issues." A reporter asks, Can the traveler feel safe about how American interprets FAA requirements? "Yes, absolutely....We have a team of 1,000 of mechanicals, a robust aviation staff, ... and no one would put an airplane into service that they didn't think wasn't 100% absolutely safe."

I just saved $99 on a car rental. How? On March 23, through Hertz, I reserved a midsize car at Raleigh-Durham airport for this weekend; the total cost for the three days was $209. It seemed expensive, but other companies were charging the same. Then I remembered a piece of advice a former editor here, Brad Tuttle, had once given readers (and which I myself have spouted from time to time). You should always keep looking for a better deal on car rentals, even after you've made a reservation--if you find one, just cancel your first reservation. I looked last night, and Hertz was offering the same car model, for the same time frame, for $110.

Europe experienced a record year for U.S. tourists in 2007, which is remarkable when you consider that the dollar is weak and fuel costs are high. Europe hosted 13,251,785 Americans last year, breaking the record set in 2000, says the European Travel Commission. Spain was apparently the biggest gainer last year among the largest Western European countries. About 1,123,000 Americans visited the country—a 22 percent jump from the previous year. Spain's neighbor Portugal also shone, with 244,000 American visitors, an increase of 20 percent—thanks partly to more flights from the U.S. France broke a record, with 3.27 million American visitors last year, an increase of 3 percent over 2006. Germany recorded its second best year for U.S. tourism, after 2000, with 4.6 million hotel stays. Austria and the Netherlands both reported slight decreases in American visitors last year. However, 2006 was the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth in Austria and the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth in Holland, two huge boons for tourism in those countries, so the drop was not a surprise to tourism officials. Figuring out which country was the most popular is a tricky thing. Here's why: Ireland displays its data right on its tourism website, but Britain won't release its official numbers until July. Italy only gives estimates, while Holland merely provides numbers for the first nine months of the year. And Germany and Belgium have a different system for counting tourists altogether—they go by the number of nights that U.S. visitors spend in their hotels rather than the number of American visitors who pass through customs. From the other side of things, the Travel Industry Association keeps track of the number of international visitors to the U.S. on its website. The number of tourists was up across the board in last year compared with 2006. China made the biggest jump, with tourism to that country jumping 10 percent, to 350,600 visitors. Despite the ever-worsening U.S. economy, most European officials whom I spoke with were confident that their countries would continue to draw high numbers of American tourists this year. —Liz Webber

American Airlines has canceled more than 900 flights today. It's the latest carrier to fail technical compliance with FAA rules for its MD-80 jets. (Inspectors are checking the wiring in the wheel wells.) This comes on the heels of grounding 460 flights on Tuesday, followed by the canceling of more than 1,000 flights yesterday [Wednesday April 9]. That’s the equivalent of yanking its 300 MD-80 jets, or about one third of its fleet, out of service."A quarter-million people have been inconvenienced this week," says USA Today. Passengers stranded overnight were offered vouchers worth $500 in future travel. Frustratingly, many passengers whose first flights were canceled have just discovered—after going through the effort of rebooking a flight—that their new flight is canceled, too! Need to rebook a flight? You’ll likely be put on hold if you call reservations (800/433-7300). On one call this morning, a reader of this blog reported a wait time of 42 minutes. A follow-up call didn't even go through, as the caller heard a recorded message saying the airline's phone lines were overloaded. I talked to an American Airlines spokesperson for tips on re-booking: For passengers scheduled to travel on an MD-80 through Friday [April 11], American is waiving its change fee and will rebook you to start traveling up until Thursday, April 17—as long as you bought the ticket before April 8. [UPDATE: Apr. 11 at 3:10 p.m. ET: American has extended the deadline since this posting. See the latest rules on American's website.] American has also set up a Website form to help reimburse stranded passengers for overnight accommodations. Have your record locator number handy before you call the reservations line. The spokesperson recommended that you use your time waiting on hold to check flight availability at aa.com. It’s helpful if you can tell the reservations agent which flight you want to get on. If nothing turns up, ask if you can rebook on a partner airline. (While the spokesperson didn't say this, it should be noted that you may be rebooked on a flight that is not at an ideal time, or may have more than a desirable number of layovers. Your alternative is to pay a change fee, which is typically $100 per ticket.) If your flight has already been canceled, there’s no need to go to the airport unless you want to talk to someone in person. If you must speak to someone face to face, there are alternatives to the airport gridlock. In New York City, for example, American’s Travel Centers at 360 Lexington Avenue and 1843 Broadway in Columbus Circle will probably have shorter lines. If you’re flying next week, check aa.com over the weekend for updates. I know I will. Next Thursday, I’m set to fly out of LaGuardia with a layover in Dallas/Fort Worth, two of the airports that have been hit the hardest, according to the New York Times. Wish me luck. Have you been stranded by the recent spate of flight cancellations?