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American sweeps all Corp. negotiating categories.

Article Excerpt
American Airlines scored the strongest performance among the mainline hub-and-spoke carriers the ninth Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey, with a 3.24 ranking on an ascending scale of one to five--just a fraction of a point below Southwest Airlines' winning 3.27 score (see story, page 1). While Southwest won the survey largely because of its overall price value and quality of customer service, American led the other categories in the survey.

American Airlines took first in all categories relating to negotiating, leading in flexibility to negotiate meeting and transient pricing as well as services and amenities.

Furthermore, the carrier led in areas of relationships, from the high ranking of its account managers to the quality of its communications. American Airlines vice president Frank Morogiello said the carrier's relationships with corporate travel buyers have driven its performance. "We still believe, if we're calling on the customer, that the relationship--the big 'R' relationship--is what matters and makes the difference," Morogiello said. "Even when things go wrong, that's when your true colors come out. You have to get value included: How our clients have been treated in the good and the bad times, how we account manage, how we cover the globe with our customers. If you have an issue anywhere in the world, you can find out what's going on and move on it. That's the stuff we've worked hardest on."

American also posted the highest score in the availability of contract performance data, representing the carrier's recent shift...

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