AA's "More Room Throughout Coach" celebration will enlist the ultimate holiday celebrity when the season's most famous traveler of all, Santa Claus, kicks back to relax in a "More Room" seat to give his reindeer and sleigh a much-deserved rest.

A special promotional campaign, funded with AA marketing partner Coca-Cola, will feature the theme "Enjoy More Room — Only On American," which will appear on everything from posters and banners to ticket inserts and flashing lapel buttons.

The milestone that helped launch the campaign took place late in November when American completed transformation of the entire domestic fleet, removing 6,140 coach seats from 564 aircraft.

The domestic fleet conversion was completed on schedule and makes American the only airline offering travelers the comfort of increased legroom throughout the main cabin. AA's maintenance crews have begun converting the international fleet, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2001.

The "More Room" initiative launched in February; at the time, Chairman and CEO Don Carty predicted, "I think you're going to see a noticeable shift in customer perception of AA's product and service." The complimentary letters have flooded in ever since.

One 88-year-old Colorado Springs passenger waxed poetic: "I am 6'2" and have suffered a good amount in my frequent travels because of the cramped and narrow seating. I appreciate the greater spacing between seats pioneered by AA. The old maxim says, 'We must evolve to meet new conditions or we will decline and die.' So, I thank you for your efforts!"

Employees are noticing, too; one recently wrote, "So this is what all the shouting is about! Traveling non-rev, I usually find myself assigned to the middle seat in coach; now I know what our customers have been raving about. I felt a sense of pride to be working for a company that put aside the economic benefits of 'sardine seating' to consider the comforts of our customers."

In the holiday spirit, American officially marked the completion of the domestic fleet with an event at DFW featuring 100 Santa lookalikes pulling a gift-wrapped 767-200 from one of the maintenance hangars and then sharing gifts with a group of underprivileged children.

Of course, AA recognizes that there are numerous symbols of the winter holidays from all around the world, from Father Christmas in the U.K. to the Weihnachtsmann ("Christmas Man") in Germany, and diverse cultural celebrations including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and winter solstice.

"In this instance," said Mike Gunn, American's executive vice president of marketing and planning, "we opted to use the red-suited jolly old elf who is so widely-recognized everywhere we fly. And besides, he really needs 'More Room!'"