American Airlines Again Underwrites Rick Steves' Europe Television Series on 300 Public Broadcasting Stations

American Airlines Again Underwrites Rick Steves' Europe Television Series on 300 Public Broadcasting Stations

Popular Series Returns This Fall to Encourage Americans to Travel as 'Temporary Locals' When Abroad

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rick Steves' Europe, the popular travel TV series, is being re-launched on public television this fall with renewed underwriting support from American Airlines. The 70-episode series regularly airs on 300 public television stations covering 95 percent of U.S. media markets. Some stations could begin running the series as early as Oct. 7.

"Great travel experiences are at the core of American Airlines' mission, and ours, so we feel like natural partners," said Steves. "And having had two years of great underwriting support from AA -- now extended through 2008 -- means more than the success of one travel series. It's also a strong vote of confidence in the value of public broadcasting in our society today. We're very thankful to American Airlines on both counts."

The series follows host/producer/writer Rick Steves' travel philosophy, encouraging Americans to delve deep into Europe and become "temporary locals," learning not only about major cities but also about cozy, "back door" villages away from tourist-trampled routes. As in Steves' 30 best-selling travel books, Rick Steves' Europe helps U.S. travelers connect much more intimately with Europe, and Europeans, for a fraction of what mainstream tourists pay. The series is filled with visually and historically rich and entertaining adventures that are unique to Steves' style for teaching travel. As part of a two-year continuation of their ongoing partnership, American Airlines messages will appear at the beginning and end of each Rick Steves' Europe episode.

"Europe is an important market to American's customers, and we believe that Rick Steves offers viewers great travel information, insights and tips that enables our customers to make the most of their next vacation trip to Europe," said Dan Garton, American's Executive Vice President - Marketing. "We're proud to continue our long-time relationship with public broadcasting and its audience of frequent travelers."

American Airlines, a founding member of the oneworld(R) Alliance, has more flights than any other airline from Chicago to Europe and also has flights to Europe from Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Boston and Raleigh. In addition, the company has recently made investments in its first and business class menus and in its Next Generation Business Class, with lie- flat seats, to enhance the customer's travel experience. American recently launched a European fare sale making it a great time to travel to Europe on American Airlines. To take advantage of these special fares, purchase tickets on AA.com by Oct. 31, 2006.

Rick Steves debuted on public television 16 years ago with 52 episodes of Travels In Europe with Rick Steves. Since 1990, he has become a top pledge- drive host for public television, raising over $1 million dollars for them annually. A best-selling author, Steves self-published the first edition of his travel-skills book Europe Through the Back Door in 1980 (now in its 26th edition/Avalon Travel Publishing). Among his other books are: 13 country guidebooks, nine city and regional guides, and six phrase books. His Italy guidebook is the best-selling international guidebook in the U.S. Steves also hosts the weekly public radio show Travel with Rick Steves and pens a weekly newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media.

About American Airlines

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R) airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 4,000 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 1,000 aircraft. American's award-winning Web site, AA.com, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld(R) Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve more than 600 destinations in over 135 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation (NYSE:AMR). AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com and AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc.

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Current AMR Corp. releases can be accessed on the Internet.
The address is http://www.aa.com/

FCMN Contact: rick.wilbins@aa.com

Source: American Airlines, Inc.

CONTACT: Mary Sanderson, Corporate Communications of American Airlines,
Inc., +1-817-967-1577, or corp.comm@aa.com

Web site: http://www.aa.com/

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