Mark Cuban is a Genius!!!!!!
04/20/2006
By DAVID KOENIG / Associated Press
American Airlines took a page out of Oprah Winfrey's playbook Wednesday night and gave vouchers for free flights to everyone at the Dallas Mavericks' final game of the regular season.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and American executive Dan Garton announced the giveaway to an estimated 19,000 fans between the first and second quarters. Fans jumped to their feet and cheered.
Garton, American's executive vice president of marketing, declined to say how much the promotion will cost the airline. Its parent company reported Wednesday that it lost $92 million in the first three months of the year.
A television contest also gave home viewers the chance to win an additional 1,000 vouchers. If every fan at the game plus those at home redeem the vouchers, they could have a face value of more than $3 million, based on the average $79 one-way fare on American's Love Field service.
Garton, however, said the cost would be much less, partly because not everyone will use the vouchers. He also said some people with vouchers will bring along a paying companion.
The gesture came on "Fan Appreciation Night" at the American Airlines Center, but it had more to do with American's fight with Southwest Airlines Co. for supremacy in local air travel.
Southwest has long dominated Love Field in Dallas. American resumed service there last month, flying to Austin, San Antonio, St. Louis and Kansas City, but the planes are flying only 50 to 60 percent full.
The free roundtrip tickets are restricted to flights that depart or arrive at Love Field. There are no blackout dates, but reservations are required seven days in advance and the tickets must be used by November.
"It's a big promotion for us," Garton said. "It's worth a lot if we get 20,000 people to fly on those flights."
Garton said some of Wednesday night's fans might have been planning to fly on Southwest but will use the American vouchers instead.
"This is not desperation," he said. "It's just aggressive competition."
Cuban was asked how the giveaway by American, a unit of AMR Corp., compared to Winfrey's gift of automobiles to the studio audience at one of her shows.
"How many did she give away?" he asked. "This is 20,000 people."
A spokesman for Southwest Airlines could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night.
By DAVID KOENIG / Associated Press
American Airlines took a page out of Oprah Winfrey's playbook Wednesday night and gave vouchers for free flights to everyone at the Dallas Mavericks' final game of the regular season.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and American executive Dan Garton announced the giveaway to an estimated 19,000 fans between the first and second quarters. Fans jumped to their feet and cheered.
Garton, American's executive vice president of marketing, declined to say how much the promotion will cost the airline. Its parent company reported Wednesday that it lost $92 million in the first three months of the year.
A television contest also gave home viewers the chance to win an additional 1,000 vouchers. If every fan at the game plus those at home redeem the vouchers, they could have a face value of more than $3 million, based on the average $79 one-way fare on American's Love Field service.
Garton, however, said the cost would be much less, partly because not everyone will use the vouchers. He also said some people with vouchers will bring along a paying companion.
The gesture came on "Fan Appreciation Night" at the American Airlines Center, but it had more to do with American's fight with Southwest Airlines Co. for supremacy in local air travel.
Southwest has long dominated Love Field in Dallas. American resumed service there last month, flying to Austin, San Antonio, St. Louis and Kansas City, but the planes are flying only 50 to 60 percent full.
The free roundtrip tickets are restricted to flights that depart or arrive at Love Field. There are no blackout dates, but reservations are required seven days in advance and the tickets must be used by November.
"It's a big promotion for us," Garton said. "It's worth a lot if we get 20,000 people to fly on those flights."
Garton said some of Wednesday night's fans might have been planning to fly on Southwest but will use the American vouchers instead.
"This is not desperation," he said. "It's just aggressive competition."
Cuban was asked how the giveaway by American, a unit of AMR Corp., compared to Winfrey's gift of automobiles to the studio audience at one of her shows.
"How many did she give away?" he asked. "This is 20,000 people."
A spokesman for Southwest Airlines could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night.
posted by Colin at 3:27 PM
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