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Arpey eyes customer rights, open skies.

Article Excerpt
American Airlines chairman, president and CEO Gerard Arpey this month met with Business Travel News airline editor Jay Boehmer in Tokyo during a Oneworld event to discuss customer service issues, plans for the Asian market, cooperation among its alliance partners and government regulation of the airline business.

BTN: Do you feel compelled to follow JetBlue in issuing a customer bill of rights?

Gerard Arpey: Obviously, we're all in a customer service business and so we all want to do the very best that we can. In these very severe weather situations, it becomes very difficult because you find yourself trying to manage the unmanageable. All of us are going back and looking at how we manage severe weather. As you know, we've put in place a four-hour limit in terms of how long we will keep folks on the airplane waiting for the weather to clear. Of course, we have to look at what JetBlue is doing and what the others are doing and respond accordingly, which we will.

BTN: Are you concerned that the government will get involved if the airlines don't act quickly enough?

Arpey: The government plays an important role...

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