Speculation has grown about what American Airlines (AAL) -) is suggesting with a new video.
The clip, posted to Instagram, shows several passengers handing off boarding passes to each other, with each of them running to the next person.
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The video conjures up images of a relay race as American Airlines asks viewers of the video to guess what it is hinting at.
"Relaying the excitement: Unveiling an announcement that is sure to place gold in a feed near you tomorrow!" wrote @americanair. "Grab your passports, pass on the news by tagging a friend and leave your guesses below."
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Because of the relay race theme, speculation in the comments turned to the Olympics, which will be held in Paris in 2024.
"Sorta feels like there are some attempts of hinting at the Olympics, which will be in Paris, but there's already several nonstops every week," wrote commenter @mr_coffield. "So maybe reduced PHL>CDG flights for the games?"
The conjecture continued on X (formerly Twitter). User @IshrionA noticed that the five boarding passes featured in the video revealed some clues. They suggested changes involving three flights leaving from Philadelphia, one from Dallas/Fort Worth and one from Chicago.
The destination cities were disguised as clues as well.
American Airlines will be announcing new international routes tomorrow.
— Ishrion Aviation (@IshrionA) August 16, 2023
- DFW to "Somewhere Hot"
- PHL to "Somewhere Fun"
- PHL to "Somewhere New"
- PHL to "Somewhere Glitzy"
- ORD to "Somewhere Classic"
From there, X users got serious about trying to figure out what American Airlines was implying.
One, with the handle of @CPHtraveller, noticed a point in the video where the number 22,391 was written down.
Taking the leap of faith that this referred to the total number of miles for the five flights, the user checked flights from the three cities to five international destinations and managed to come up with a pretty good guess.
"I believe I've nailed this one," @CPHtraveller wrote.
I believe I’ve nailed this one 😎
— CPHtraveller (@CPHtraveller) August 16, 2023
PHL-CPH
PHL-NCE
PHL-NAP
ORD-VCE
DFW-BCN pic.twitter.com/AZs2k0pBe5
View From the Wing's Gary Leff credited X user @JonNYC for predicting the announcement last week.
"American Airlines retired too many planes during the pandemic that l could fly long distances (their Boeing 757s, 767s, and Airbus A330 fleets) and Boeing has faced delays delivering new aircraft," wrote Leff. "So JonNYC says the current thinking at American is that any new route needs to be accomplished with a single plane. Roughly speaking that means flights no longer than 10 hours."
"JonNYC anticipated the announcement would be heavy Philadelphia, with Chicago O’Hare thrown in, and that there’d be a focus on 'premium 787-8 vacation routes, Eastern Europe + one possible wild card.'" Leff continued. "American’s 787-8s don’t have enough business class seats, so need to be mass market leisure-focused."
Another travel expert weighs in
One Mile at a Time's Ben Schlappig also added some thoughts about the announcement, which is expected to be made sometime Aug. 17.
"There’s a sticker with both the Italian flag and the French flag," Schlappig wrote. "While there's a sticker with the Spanish and Swiss flags, I wouldn’t necessarily assume those are direct clues, as the American flag also shows."
Schlappig picked up the same total mileage clue as did others who saw the video.
"The number 22,391 is written on a piece of paper, and I’m guessing that’s the combined distance of all of these routes," he wrote.
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