American Airlines & Bag Checking PR

The big PR “damage control” story for today is American Airlines’ decision to charge $15 for each checked bag.

BusinessWeek’s David Kiley sent this “memo” to Weber-Shandwick, American Airlines agency of record, suggesting they forward it to their client:

Dear Client: Instead of instituting a fee for checked bags, which will be a lightning rod of bad publicity, please consider burying the cost of rising fuel in across-the-board ticket price increases. Consumers understand that many consumer prices are rising because of increasing fuel costs.