U.S. airlines spruce up their luxury offerings

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Barbara De Lollis

Business traveler Jim Anderson of San Francisco flies only foreign airlines when leaving the USA.

The IBM consultant lost respect for American, United and other domestic airlines after 9/11, when four of the six U.S.-based big international carriers filed for bankruptcy protection and slashed costs. He watched their business-class cabins deteriorate while foreign carriers who could deliver him to the same places started spoiling him with bedlike seating, high-tech entertainment and other frills.

"When you fly as much as I do, it's all about (premium) level," says Anderson, who flies about 250,000 miles each year.

Now that they're again earning profits after five yeas of industry losses, American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental and US Airways...