Steve

I think that we need to bear in mind that AA isn't primarily an international airline. It is the biggest airline in the world solely due to its operation within the US. Yes, it does have a good few international routes but compared to say, BA, it is tiny in international terms. Its business strategy is driven by domestic issues and the international routes fall into line.

The 'More Room Through Coach' strategy simply failed in the US because passengers were happy to sacrifice a couple of inches of legroom on shorter domestic flights for the cheaper fares offered by other legacy carriers and low-cost airlines. In fact the MRTC approach was only fully in place for a couple of years.

My frequent flyer account tells me that I flew on 37 AA flights in the last 12 months. Virtually all the domestic flights had been returned to the old seating configuration and were more or less full.