American Airlines is under fire, but not
for anything the carrier did in the air. No, this is about money.

A group of investors in American Airlines
has sued the carrier over what it perceives as fraudulent and deceptive
practices involving sales and distribution strategies between late
January and late May of this year.

The shareholders want whatever money they
invested during that time back.

American’s stock price has dropped 26
percent in the year to date.

The investors claim in the lawsuit that
airline management painted a rosy picture of its new sales and distribution
strategy. In reality, they say, after Executive Vice-President and Chief
Commercial Officer Vasu S. Raja surprisingly left the company on May 28, Americans stock price fell more than 13 percent the next day.

The investors who filed the lawsuit claim
that at least three members of the airline management made false and deceptive
claims about sales and strategy. They say that CEO Robert Isom said he was
encouraged by the change in philosophy.

Raja also apparently said during a
quarterly conference call earlier this year that some initiatives were “not
really creating value for the customer nor creating profit for American
Airlines.”

Part of the strategy was to bring
all bookings online.

The lawsuit was filed in July. There has
been no further comment.

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