US and Japan Open Skies Good and Bad for US Airlines – BNET
Now that the US and Japan have signed an Open Skies treaty, is it good for bad for US airlines? Well, there is some good and some bad depending upon the airline here.

American Airlines and the OJ Incident PR Fail – BNET
First there was Mr X, and now we have the OJ incident. American once again is missing an opportunity.

how cranky concierge can help you get to your wedding on time – BNET
Antibride liked my Cranky Concierge story, so I repurposed it for them this week.

Recent US Airways Route Restructuring Opens Opportunities for New Flying – BNET
Looks like all the canceled European flying is opening up new opportunities here. US Airways will start Philly to Anchorage next summer.

Port Columbus Airports Turn to Profit Sharing to Woo Airlines – BNET
Will profit sharing get airlines to add more flights? We’re about to find out.

Southwest Loses Its Social Media Guru, All Eyes on the Transition -BNET
Paula Berg has left Southwest, and now the airline faces a social media transition. This is something that many companies will be watching closely.

United Aggressively Responds to “United Breaks Guitars Part 2″ – BNET
Part 2 of Dave Carroll’s musical crusade against United is out, but this time, United responded well.

NBTA Day One Wrap-up – BNET
It was a busy first day at the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) annual conference, so here’s a wrap of what happened.

Frommers.com Podcast: A Conversation with the Cranky Flier – Frommers.com Podcast
David Lytle invited me back for another podcast to talk about fees, decreasing demand, and finding a deal. This was a fun one.

NBTA Day Two: Bag Fees, Business Opportunity Grants, and Biofuels – BNET
Day two was even busier than the first, so I just picked out a few of the highlights here including some fun-filled goings on with BA, Boeing, and the airline CEO panel.

NBTA Day Three: Virgins, Travel Trends, and President Clinton – BNET
The final day saw things wind down, but most people stuck around to see President Clinton talk about the importance of travel.

NBTA’s Airline CEO Panel on Travel Outlook and Bag Fees – BNET
As always, the NBTA Airline CEO panel was the most anticipated event for me. This year Southwest and Continental CEOs got together to talk shop.

Have you ever heard of comedian Mark Malkoff? Neither have I, and I’m guessing that’s why he was willing to subject himself to some of the worst torture ever invented. Waterboarding? Nay. He’s spending 30 days on an airplane. And this isn’t on some fancy corporate jet. It’s on AirTran. And now I’ve got a challenge for him.

This is actually a great promotion. AirTran wants to promote their new plan to outfit their entire fleet with wifi by the summer, and Mark, well, he gets to be the guinea pig. He’s been posting videos from the plane (many of which are actually funny), sending tweets, blogging, and more. It’s actually pretty clever.

Now, why Mark would subject himself to this, I have no idea. He says he’s afraid to fly and this will help him get over it, but I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If he’s spending 30 days in coach, that might send him into the fetal position for life.

Here’s how it works. He’s not sticking with one single airplane but rather moving around from plane to plane in order to keep himself flying. Sometimes he flies on redeyes, but on other days, he sleeps in an airplane in the hangar at night. Either way, he’s not leaving an airplane for longer than it takes to walk to another one. He did, however, get himself a shower the other day . . . from the fire department at Flint Airport.

Some of the other videos show him washing his hair with a bottle of water over the toilet in the lav. He borrows shaving cream from a passenger in another clip. I personally liked the video clip where they presented him with elite status after only three days in the air. Pretty impressive, and hopefully that means he gets free upgrades.

The only thing that makes me bitter? I was contacted about the promotion by a PR agency for AirTran trying to get me to write about it, so I asked if he would be coming to LA. He was, but after I asked for a short interview while he was there they said they’d look into it and I never heard another peep. According to his blog, he was busy hanging out with Lisa Loeb. Booo on you.

So I’m not above resorting to bribery. Mark – If you come back to LA again on this trip, I’ll bring you an In ‘n Out Burger, no, make it a Double Double. Look at that burger. You know you want one. I’m out of town June 24 – 28, so you don’t have many days left to take me up on this offer.

[Update 6/22 @ 9a: Hmm, so I understand he's a vegetarian. This Double Double bribe clearly won't work. Fortunately, In 'n Out makes a mean Grilled Cheese that is loved by vegetarians the world over. How 'bout that, Mark?]

[Photo courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid via Flickr]

Hmm, that title sounds rather Seinfeld-y, doesn’t it? But seriously, what is the deal? Maybe I should back up. How many of you even knew that American had a blog? Take my quick poll below. (I haven’t done a poll in awhile, so I thought I’d break it out again.)

Who would you fly from LA to Denver?

• American
• Frontier
• Southwest
• United

View Results

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Now, I’m going to guess that a ton of people know about Southwest’s blog, fewer know about Delta’s, and just about nobody knows about American’s. And really, why should they?

Since the blog was first rolled out on April 11, there have been a whopping 5 posts. The last one? On April 25 – more than a month ago. Last we heard:

It’s time for us to officially join the mighty blogosphere, and that’s just what we have done. We’re going to take this “starter” blog and beef it up. And make sure our readers know that this is real folks at American blogging …and not someone’s nephew.

But while we get things rolling, we want to keep the dialogue moving. So, we’ll make some changes to spruce up the look of this space. In the meantime, keep checking in as I work to develop my voice on this blog and find others within American that can give new insight to our company.

Hmm. Since that time, nothing has changed. They certainly haven’t kept the dialogue moving. It still has the generic look and feel and nothing has changed. So, I sent a note over to Billy S, the man behind the blog, asking what was happening. The response? “Yes, we have been a little too quite. [sic]” That’s it.

I’m sure someone at AA reads Cranky. So, what’s the story? Are you guys in or are you out?