**AA PRESS RELEASE**
STORY DISTORTS AIRLINE'S SAFETY COMMITMENT

Fort Worth,  Texas  - American Airlines today said a USA Today story about federal Air Marshals created a distorted impression of  the  airline 's commitment to safety. American said: "Safety and  security  are  of  utmost  importance  at American and we would  never  take  any  actions  that  would  compromise  the effectiveness of the federal Air Marshal Program. We think it is unfortunate  that  the Air Marshals were booked into the wrong seats  by their agency, but American did everything possible to accommodate  them  in  seats  near  the  front of the cabin, in fact, rows 9 and 10 on the aisle."

We  will  work  more closely in the future with the Air Marshals Program  to  ensure that their agency books them in the proper seats.

American  said  the  marshals  were  booked by their agency in coach  only one day before the flight. They were assigned aisle seats  in  rows  9  and  10,  which are well forward in the main cabin,  only  a  few  feet  from  where  they  would  have  been seated  in  first  class,  which  was  already  full. The marshals arrived  at  the gate only 35 minutes prior to departure in Palm Springs, making any problem resolution difficult.

When  they requested first class seating, they were advised all first  class  seats had been sold and all passengers checked in. They then asked to be seated by a window in first class, rather than  remaining  in an aisle seat in coach. They also requested that  they  be  assigned  first  class  seats  on  the Dallas Fort Worth-Charlotte  leg  of their trip. American advised them that it  would  try  to accommodate them. After the flight departed, American  Airlines  contacted  the Air Marshals headquarters to apprise them of the situation that occurred in Palm Springs. An administrator   apologized   to   American   and  indicated  the marshals   would   not  continue  on  the  Dallas  Fort  Worth - Charlotte leg of the trip.