The Wright Amendment Compromise that took effect in October of 2006 was supposed to make air travel cheaper for all of us in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unfortunately, rising fuel prices and continuing trends of increased airfares have significantly reduced (or eliminated) those savings on a range of major routes out of DFW and Love Field.

Scott Friedman of NBC 5 Dallas/Ft. Worth spent some time with me as we dove into the numbers related to the rising costs for air travel in the DFW area and the disappearance of the savings we all hoped would stem from the Wright Compromise.

You can get Scott’s insight (and my graphs) on the subject at The Friedman Files. Also, checkout the TV news spot (3+ minutes) that ran at 10pm last night which includes an interview with me (on the NBC5i.com website). They also have comments from American Airlines’ and Southwest Airlines’ representatives on how their competition and the Wright Compromise affect air travelers flying to/from DFW.

It’s taken a few weeks, but American Airlines is letting loose its attacks on the FAA. You’ll recall that during the week of April 8th, American Airlines canceled thousands of flights and disrupted travel for close to 300,000 travelers. The groundings were due to required maintenance of American’s M-80 aircraft.

When the groundings began, American Airlines was actually pretty quiet on the matter, making it difficult for passengers to get information on which and how many flights would be affected. When American finally returned to the skies in full force, apologies were made, and American Airlines reached out to its frequent fliers with bonus miles options and travel deals.

Now, it seems, American Airlines has put the apologies behind them and turned the blame on the FAA…

Oh, how the dominoes are falling.

First, longtime hold-out American Airlines decides to join the other airlines by instituting a $25 charge for checking a second bag.

Now comes word that US Airways is upping its “change fee” on non-refundable tickets — bringing it to a whopping $150!

Well, maybe it’s not all that “whopping” — after all, United already charges $150.

Just last week, I wrote an ABCNews.com column on how airlines have begun to nickel and dime us. Beyond the fuel surcharges and the airfare increases, carriers have managed to raise fees on just about every aspect of travel.

At the time I wrote the column, American Airlines was one of the few carriers left that wouldn’t charge you to check a second bag. That all changed today. American Airlines has announced that it will follow the majority of other major carriers and start charging $25 for a second checked bag.

The charges will kick in for tickets purchased on or after May 12th. However, American Airlines has said that the fee should only affect 4% of their passengers. Keep reading to see which travelers will be exempt from American Airlines’ second bag fee…

Well, it sure took awhile, didn’t it? But now, they’re back.

All American Airlines’ MD 80’s are back in the skies, and after a few more cancellations Saturday morning, the schedule is finally back to normal.

All the FAA manadated repairshave been completed.

And we — and many, many passengers — are relieved.

Talk about understatements. On the American Airlines’ site it suggests that aircraft inspections may affect “some AA travel.” Sure, if by “some AA Travel” they mean nearly half. After canceling 460 flights on Tuesday, American Airlines has canceled over 1,000 of its 2,300 daily flights on Wednesday, and continues with major cancellations today (about 900) because of the need to re-inspect wiring on a range of MD-80 aircraft.

Safety, of course, is paramount in these situations, but what gets me is that American Airlines still isn’t “getting the word out” to passengers effectively. If you clicked the link they provide on their website’s homepage yesterday, you wouldn’t have even see a mention of the day’s events. This lack of communication had Joe Brancatelli up in arms on Tuesday, and I’m sure it has many feeling the same way yesterday, as once again we saw how passengers are the biggest loser in the battle between the FAA and the Airlines.

If you are affected by the cancellations today or anyday, take a look at our list of “8 Tips on What to do When Stranded at the Airport”. Keep reading, the tips are next.

There is plenty of egg to go around for all the faces of the officials with the FAA and the airlines, after the past month’s revelations on lackadaisical compliance with “air worthiness directives”.

Neither side has had a very proud month; and now we have the FAA trying to “save face” and re-instill confidence in the safety of air travel, by swinging from one extreme to the other. One day, it seems, the agency tells the airlines, “No problem, we’ll catch that inspection later…” But now, the agency has completely changed its tune: “Ground the entire fleet of MD-80’s immediately!”

And stuck in the middle is you…and me. Keep reading!

American Airlines began canceling hundreds of flights this evening (and thanks, JoeSentMe for the tip). More cancellations are expected tomorrow (Wednesday).

It took awhile, but American finally put an advisory up on its website.

If you have tickets, check with American’s website NOW. The sooner you can do so, the more quickly you’ll get to your destination. You’ll have a lot of company, trying to make new reservations.

The reason for the cancellations: apparent concerns by the FAA that American did not properly complete previously mandated re-inspections on its MD-80 aircraft.

Question: When is a “fee” a “tip”? Answer: When you’re in Massachusetts.

Here’s the story, as reported by the Boston Herald: it involves that $2 per-bag curbside-handling fee that American Airlines began slapping on luggage awhile back, to bring in some extra revenue.

Well, a Boston jury has ruled (to the delight of a lot of skycaps) the $2 fee IS a tip, at least under Massachusetts law, and that all of that money should go to the curbside bag wranglers.

But what about the signs that say, “Fee Does Not Include Gratuity”? So is this right? Keep reading…

There’s a new “application” on Facebook: American Airline’s “Travel Bag”.

Presumably, American wants to reach out to the youth market (of course, Facebook started out just for college kids, but is now open to anyone of any age — even me!).

So what does Travel Bag do? A number of things, including a “count-down” to upcoming events or flights. (”Oh, really?” said one of my more pessimistic acquaintances, “And will it count the hours I’ve been stuck on this plane, sitting out here on the tarmac?!”).

Now, now. I’ll tell you what else Travel Bag does, if you just keep reading…

American Airlines has canceled 200 flights today. That’s about 9% of their daily flights. Is yours among them? Mine from San Jose to Dallas was … Better click here to check.

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, the carrier took its planes out of service when questions arose about the installation of some wires.

American says their planes will be returned to service today on a “rolling basis.”

Meanwhile…what the heck is going on?? Keep reading…

We’re quick to tell you when airlines don’t live up to our expectations, so I feel it’s my duty to tell you when they exceed them.

On Tuesday, during incredible storms in Northern Texas, American had the good sense to cancel their flights — with the result that about 100,000 passengers were stuck or diverted at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. But, by the next day, most were on their way home.

Good sense? To cancel flights? Yes. Let me tell you about it.

According to the latest figures on U.S. airlines from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Southwest Airlines is now officially Number One.

Yes, the scrappy, no-frills airline has finally dethroned American Airlines: in 2007, Southwest carried more passengers than any other airline (101.9 million passengers, compared to American’s 98.1 million).

American had topped the list for the past 5-years.

Unlike American, Southwest clawed its way to the top with no international flights, only domestic runs (America still ranks first among U.S. airlines for international passengers).

Meantime, 2007 was a record breaking year all around, as you’ll see if you keep reading…

This afternoon in the 12:30pm EST domestic U.S. airfare distribution the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide airfare increase by American Airlines.

This past week the legacy airlines began matching and subsequently rolled back an attempt to raise fuel surcharges to 50$ roundtrip by United Airlines…

This morning in the 10:00am EST domestic U.S. airfare distribution the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide airfare increase rollback and matching activity related to the United Airlines $50 roundtrip fuel surcharge increase attempt this past Friday.

The fuel surcharge increase price roller coaster continues this morning as both American Airlines and United Airlines (the initiator of the increase) have both rolled back their fuel surcharges to pre-increase levels — meanwhile Delta Air Lines who rolled back last night has reinstated the increase this morning.

UPDATE: We did get a comment from United spokesperson Robin Urbanski, who said only, “We rescinded the move to keep our fares competitive with other airlines.” Pretty self-explanatory. American Airlines rep Tim Wagner echoed those sentiments, saying his carrier rolled back because “We weren’t competitive.”

This afternoon in the 5:00pm EST domestic U.S. airfare distribution the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide airfare increase matching activity by American Airlines.

United Airlines initiated the new $50 roundtrip fuel surcharge increase at 12:30pm EST Friday afternoon and was quickly matched at 8:00pm EST Friday by Delta Air Lines. In addition at 8:00pm EST Friday Continental Airlines began matching the increase on about 40% of its route system only for leisure airfares (the cheapest airfares with 14 or more days advance purchase).