WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF AA BANKRUPTCY ON ITS CUSTOMERS

With today's announcement of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by American Airlines, travelers who fly them are asking what impact it will have.

USA Today tries to answer the question.

For the 240,000 passengers who fly American Airlines each day, the airline's bankruptcy filing should have little noticeable impact.

AMR Corp., the airline's parent company, said that it will continue normal flight operations as it heads to federal court to restructure. The move is aimed at reducing AMR's hefty costs, including for labor.

Delta, United, Continental and US Airways have all gone through Chapter 11. Travelers continued to book tickets. Planes still took off and landed and frequent flier miles were still earned and redeemed.

It is going to be a interesting couple of months. 

AMERICAN AIRLINES DECLARES CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY

From Yahoo news.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines' parent company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to unload massive debt built up by years of accelerating jet fuel prices and labor struggles.

The nation's third largest airline also said its CEO Gerard Arpey will step down. He's being replaced by Thomas Horton, currently the company's president.

Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp., along with its regional affiliate AMR Eagle Holding Corp. said Tuesday that they filed voluntary petitions to reorganize.

American says it sought protection to reduce its costs and debt to remain competitive.

The airline says it will continue normal flight operations during the reorganization.

American was the only major U.S. airline that didn't file for bankruptcy protection after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The last major airline to file for bankruptcy protection was Delta in 2005.

American says labor-contract rules force it to spend at least $600 million more than other airlines.

As many of you know I'm a elite level frequent flyer on AA and this e-mail was in my inbox this morning.

Dear AAdvantage^® Member,

As you may know, on Tuesday, November 29, American Airlines filed for reorganization under Chapter 11. We took this action as part of our efforts to secure our long-term success in delivering the highest standards in air travel. We are committed to meeting your travel needs with outstanding customer service and safety, and it will be business as usual at American throughout our reorganization process. More than 80,000 people at American appreciate your loyalty and look forward to continuing to serve you.

We want to assure you that your AAdvantage^® miles are secure. The AAdvantage miles that you've earned are yours and will stay yours, subject to usual policies, until you choose to redeem them for a great award with us. Likewise, your elite qualifying miles and your elite status, including lifetime status granted under the Million Miler^SM program is secure and remains intact. You will continue to earn miles through all our existing AAdvantage participating companies and you will be able to redeem those miles for the same great awards — flights, upgrades, car rentals and hotels just to name a few. And, throughout the coming year, we will be adding even more opportunities to earn miles, as well as new ways to redeem those miles.

American is honoring all tickets and reservations as usual, and making normal refunds and exchanges. And, we intend to maintain a strong presence in domestic and international markets. As we and all airlines routinely do, we will continue to evaluate our operations and service, assuring that our network is as efficient and productive as possible. Additionally, relationships with our oneworld Alliance and other codeshare partners are continuing to provide you with opportunities to earn and redeem miles for travel to hundreds of destinations worldwide, and we are honoring all tickets and reservations for travel on our partner airlines as usual. For information about American's reorganization process, please visit AA.com/restructuring.

Even more importantly, we remain committed to providing a superior customer experience with a focus on delivering what our customers value most — the newest fleet with our upcoming aircraft deliveries, network strength in the important cities of the world and world-class products, service and technology.

American Airlines has a proud history, and we will have a successful future. All of us on the American team thank you for your loyalty and we look forward to welcoming you aboard soon.

Sincerely,


Maya Leibman
President — AAdvantage Loyalty Program 

 Using AA to travel all around the world my thoughts are with the airline hard working employees 
who often went way above and beyond the call of duty to get me where I needed to go. In many ways they are unsung heroes of the Bank of Kev  since the I use  AA as my primary carrier.

FlyerTalk has a must read thread here.

I will be following this story very closely. 

RED DAWN REMAKE HAS A NEW RELEASE DATE

It looks like we now have a endgame.

Following a steady series of setbacks, Red Dawn finally has a release date. The remake is now set to arrive on November 2, 2012.

In the film, an American city awakens to the surreal sight of foreign paratroopers dropping from the sky – shockingly, the U.S. has been invaded and their hometown is the initial target. Quickly and without warning, the citizens find themselves prisoners and their town under enemy occupation. Determined to fight back, a group of young patriots seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters. Taking inspiration from their high school mascot, they call themselves the Wolverines, banding together to protect one another, liberate their town from its captors, and take back their freedom.

Shot in 2009, the production fell victim to financial troubles at MGM, putting the release on hold. A major update came earlier this year when it was reported that the invaders in the film were being re-edited to be portrayed as North Korean rather than Chinese in order to appeal to a broader international market.

 

A TWISTED CHRISTMAS - COME ALL YE FATIHFUL

LARRY O'CONNOR'S TOP POLITICAL TURKEYS OF 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

THE BUTTERBALL THNANKSGIVING HOTLINE

PETER SCHWEIZER GOES ON CNN TO DISCUSS THE STOCK ACT

Breitbart Editor and author Peter Schweizer appeared on CNN's "Newsroom" to discuss the latest developments in the STOCK Act introduced in Congress last week. Schweizer says that a major problem with the STOCK Act is that it does not deal with IPOs and that he has doubts the bill will get very far.

OWS HAS A FEVER AND THE CURE IS MORE COWBELL

PETER SCHWEIZER ENTERS THE NO SPIN ZONE

Peter Schweizer: Main Factor In TARP Vote Was Ownership Of Bank Stocks

PETER SCHWEIZER TO APPEAR ON THE O'REILLY FACTOR MONDAY NIGHT

It is confirmed that Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes and BigPeace.com editor Peter Schweizer will be on the #1 cable news show, The O’Reilly Factor!

From the mighty website known as Big Journalism 

In less than a week, Schweizer’s book–which documents suspicious trades by members and leaders of both parties has upended Washington, DC, prompting hearings to be scheduled in both the Senate and House and shining public scrutiny on a previously hidden avenue of potential corruption and political self-enrichment.

Schweizer’s book is currently among the top ten bestsellers on Amazon.com.

Peter Schweizer has been everywhere discussing this book and I cant recall when a 60 Minutes Reporter would appear with one of thier interview subjects on a rival cable channel.

This will be a interview not to be missed.

Bachus Tries To Spin Insider Trading Allegations; Schweizer Hammers Back With Devastating Facts

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

THIS IS WHY I HAVE FAITH IN THE FUTURE!

 From left to right Big Hollywood Editor-In-Chief John Nolte, Big Journalism Editor-In-Chief Dana Loesh, Breitbart.Tv Editor-In-Chief Larry O'Connor and Breitbart.com Associate Editor Meredith Dake host a panel at BlogCon 2011 in Denver, CO.

 

PETER SCHWEIZER TALKS ABOUT HIS EXPLOSIVE NEW BOOK ON HANNITY

You can purchase the book here.

STAR TREK PUSHED BACK TO 2013

News of this comes from The Hollywood Reporter.

Paramount Pictures is "developing ideas for Paranormal Activity 4" and a fourth Transformers movie, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Thursday in highlighting a continued focus on franchise fare. Plus, he said that a Star Trek sequel could hit theaters in 2013.

J.J. Abrams is "focused on developing the next installment of our Star Trek franchise" for a potential release in 2013, the CEO said during his company's quarterly earnings call. 



Which directly contradicts the information provided to us back in Jan. 2010.

June 29, 2012 – Star Trek returns (again)
The decision to set the release of the Star Trek sequel to mid Summer 2012 was made today and TrekMovie learned of it only moments ago. FirstShowing.com’s Alex Billington has also just Tweeted the June 29th date, and today the date has also been set on the Box Office Mojo release schedule.

Originally the hope was that the Star Trek sequel would arrive in the Summer of 2011. In March 2009 Paramount tried to jump the gun by signing on the writers (Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof). However in the ensuing months the Summer of 2011 has become very crowded, and the schedules for the Star Trek team (especially JJ Abrams) has got even more crowded.

This yet another example of how you can go to any film/TV production company and find projects delayed or cancelled after that company makes a public announcement. People who actually work in this business will tell you this type of thing happens often in Hollywood. If you do not believe me here is an example of it happening before. 

THE BRIDGE IN YOUR MIND

Explosive ‘60 Minutes’ Report Reveals Widespread Washington Corruption

THE SAMENESS OF MARKETING

Do you think film/tv marketing suffers from a sameness then Joblo.com has a interesting artilce you must read. 

HT: Big Hollywood Daily Call Sheet

TOPLESS ROBOT LOOKS AT THE 10 BEST DEEP SPACE NINE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Topless Robot has a outstanding article on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. If you love the show its a must read.

VIDEO OF THE USS IOWA UNDER TOW

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS TO 9 %

From HotAir.com

Unemployment dropped a tenth of a point in October but the number of jobs added provided less than needed for population growth, according to the latest report from the BLS:

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in the private sector rose, with modest job growth continuing in professional and businesses services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to trend down. …
Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000). Over the past 12 months, payroll employment has increased by an average of 125,000 per month. In October, private-sector employment increased by 104,000, with continued job growth in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to contract in October.

Analysts expected an overall job growth number around 95,000, so this falls short of predictions. Even with just the private-sector growth taken into consideration, the number isn’t enough to keep up with population growth. I suspect the topline number fell because the workforce may still be shrinking, although the civilian participation rate and employment-population ratios remained the same as last month.
Looking a little deeper into the year-on-year numbers for people not in the work force (and therefore not counted in the jobless rate), those numbers (not seasonally adjusted) increased from October 2010, from 84.878 million to 86.181 million.  People who want work but remain outside the labor force rose from 5.867 million to 5.969 million, although the category of “discouraged workers” dropped from 1.219 million to 967,000.  The seasonally-adjusted numbers show a one-month increase in people who want a job but don’t have one from 6.241 million to 6.403 million — a bad sign after last month’s decrease in this figure.

Since unemployment dropped you get a GregALogue!

 

CARTOON OF THE DAY

Nearly 300,000 customers are still without power from the late October NorEaster. 

IT'S A END OF AN ERA...

Five years ago in the fall of 2006, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles screened at the Lammle Sunset 5 as part of the LA Korean Film Festival.  The theatre has long been king of the LA indie film scene and often the competiion to get films booked into the theater was fierce. Five years later the LA Times is reporting that a 20 year reign is ending.

It's the end of an era for a West Hollywood movie house that has been a mainstay of the independent cinema scene for the last 20 years.

Laemmle Theatres will stop operating the Sunset 5 at the end of the month after being unable to come to terms with the landlord on a new lease.

Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas will take over the five-screen complex Dec. 1 and will temporarily close it for renovations, with plans to reopen in late spring. This marks the entry of Westlake Village-based exhibitor into the Los Angeles area. Sundance Cinemas operates theaters in Madison, Wis., San Francisco and Houston.

         Fans line up for the screening of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles in the fall of 2006.

Although the Sunset 5 will remain operational, the loss of Laemmle as its programmer marks a significant shift for the independent film business in the Los Angeles area. Filmmakers such as Catherine Hardwicke  ("Thirteen"), Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") and Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters") had their films premiere at the movie house on Sunset Boulevard near Crescent Heights.

"I've seen so many inspiring films at the Sunset 5 -- movies you couldn't see anywhere else," Hardwicke said. "Then I got lucky and my directorial debut, 'Thirteen,' screened there. It was a real honor to do a Q&A in this iconic indie theatre. I even had a heckler in a fake beard and mustache and a stalker chick that made her own fliers for the screening. I'll miss the Laemmle vibe, but I'm glad to hear that the theater will reopen in the spring."

                                                             Inside one of the theatres!

Over the years, the programming for the theater became more of a challenge as first-rate art house titles were attracted to higher-end cinemas in the area, specifically Pacific Theatres at the Grove, which took over the location in late 2002; the Arclight Hollywood, which opened in 2003; and the Landmark Theatres on Pico Boulevard, which launched in 2007.

“Ever since the Arclight and the Grove opened, we lost some attendance,"

said Greg Laemmle, president of Laemmle Theatres. “We still had hit films such as ‘Monster’ [starring Charlize Theron] and ‘Half Nelson’ [starring Ryan Gosling] along the way. But we started seeing fewer and fewer of them. Distributors were under pressure to get into the Arclight.”

While its a good thing Sundance is taking over it is a downer to see this era end. At least we can say Robotech was part of this great era of indie film in Los Angeles!

A LOOK BACK AT TITAN A.E.

HT: Big Hollywood

The website Ink&Pixel has posted a look back at the animated film Titan A.E. here is an excerpt.

Despite the film being nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (it’s chances then destroyed by the release of Disney Pixar’s Toy Story 2), it was considered a box-office flop and was deemed as being solely responsible for the closing of Fox Studios’ animation department. When it only garnered $36,754,634 worldwide after several weeks into its release, many had blamed the film’s odd marketing campaign for its failure. The seriousness of the plot, coupled with the zany cast of cartoon characters, seemed to be something that, at the time, just did not speak to those that would have otherwise been happy to climb aboard The Valkyrie with Cale and the rest of the strange crew.

While I do not agree with everything that is said in the article it is worth the read. 

MISFIT POLITICS LAUNCHES TODAY

A new site run by my friend Ezra Dulis is up and its called Misfit Politics. 

Yes the name perfectly describes who these people are. 



 


Click on the logo below to check out the new site that launched today! 

the new site that launched today!