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American adds more … and it could make things better for you

American Airlines dominates Miami International Airport. They’ve made it a concentrated connecting point for flights between the rest of its route system and Latin America. That’s why this move is so interesting: American is beefing up its presence at nearby Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, just a few miles up the coast from MIA.

The biggest news concerns the West Coast. American intends to launch nonstop Fort Lauderdale flights to Los Angeles Nov. 17. It will be a once-daily affair, with westbound Fort Lauderdale flights to Los Angeles departing at 11:15am and getting to the gate at LAX at 2:10pm. Eastbound Los Angeles flights to Fort Lauderdale flights are red-eyes. They push back at 9:50pm and get to FLL at 5:25am the following day.

American’s move means there will be a quartet – count ‘em – of carriers ferrying flyers from SoCal to Lauderdale nonstop. Discount airlines JetBlue, Virgin America, and Spirit already make the 2,336-mile sojourn at least one time each day.

FLL – LAX is the headline, but American is also beefing up a pair of already existing routes out of Fort Lauderdale. The carrier is increasing service to its two main hubs, laying on additional Fort Lauderdale flights to Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth. The Chicago O’Hare addition also clicks in Nov. 17. American adds another Fort Lauderdale flight to Dallas/Fort Worth Feb. 9, 2012.

Sum it all up and American is boosting its daily Fort Lauderdale departures by 30 percent this coming winter – almost a full third. That’s good news for flyers looking for more competition into what’s already a very price-competitive airport.

Story by Jerry Chandler

(Image: slasher-fun)

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