Mavs fans score airline tickets

[Shibby]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....1777f7b5.html


02:33 AM CDT on Thursday, April 20, 2006
By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News


Never have 20,000 people screamed so loud for American Airlines Inc.

It took giving the fans at the Dallas Mavericks' Fan Appreciation Night free tickets on American's flights at Dallas Love Field to do it, but Dan Garton, the carrier's top marketing executive, said the roar was louder than he expected. "What a rush," Mr. Garton said of the din that followed what he called the carrier's biggest ticket giveaway.

In front of fans between the first and second quarters, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban playfully urged Mr. Garton to extend his initial offer of free tickets for the players and staff to all fans.

"They're going to compare all future promotions to this one," Mr. Cuban said after the event. "This was big."


VERNON BRYANT / DMN
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Dan Garton of American Airlines made the announcement between quarters of Wednesday's game.
Along with about 20,000 ticket vouchers given away at the game, the promotion gave away 1,000 tickets to viewers who used mobile phones to text-message promotional codes.

The free tickets have limits. They're good only for American's service from Dallas Love Field. That means lucky fans can fly to Austin or San Antonio on American Eagle or to St. Louis or Kansas City on American.

They have to be booked by April 30 for travel through Nov. 12. Passengers will have to pay airport charges and some federal taxes too, so while the airfare is free, the total ticket really isn't.

Love Field service
"Sure I'll go!" said Jeremy Hughes of Burleson, while waiting in line for some ice cream. "I've never been to St. Louis. It seems like a good idea for the airline – good advertising for them."

American re-launched service at Love on March 2 to combat flights to St. Louis and Kansas City that Southwest Airlines Co. started in December.

Last fall, Missouri became the eighth state that can be served by commercial flights from Love, as part of Southwest's campaign to repeal the Wright amendment.

Mavericks/NBA
SMS: Sports to your phone

SportsSay: The SportsDay blog

Sign up for our free Mavs/NBA newsletter

Clippers 85, Mavs 71

Armstrong OK after loss Fans win free flights
Box score

Mavs to face Memphis

Series could be a grind

Mavs-Grizzlies schedule

Team info.: Mem | Dal

Tell Us: Series prediction

Schedule | Scoreboard

More Mavericks
American opposes any changes to the Wright law. The carrier says it's serving Love only to protect its share of customers that might prefer the city facility to its giant hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Unknown cost
It's unclear how much the offer will cost American. The last-minute fare to St. Louis was $268 roundtrip Wednesday evening, according to American's Web site, and a roundtrip to Austin cost $232.

But the airline expects only about a quarter of the fans who received the vouchers for free tickets will use them.

Jhermaine Wilson of Grand Prairie said he won't use the voucher. "I don't have time for travel," said Mr. Wilson, who recruits for the Army.

It's not as if American's flights from Love are jammed anyway. All but weekend flights appear to have plenty of seats available at low fares, according to the carrier's Web site.

The Love Field flights are about 50 percent to 60 percent full overall, Mr. Garton told reporters after the event. The move was simply good marketing, not an effort to fill half-full planes, he said.

'In a real battle'
"It's not desperation – it's aggressive competition," Mr. Garton said. "Look, we're in a real battle at Love. We've done a lot of 10-percent-off deals, but we don't do a lot of deals for 100 percent off."

American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said Wednesday that the results at Love have been "encouraging compared to what we had forecast."

Other American executives have said the Love flights are not profitable.

The free ticket idea came from a few marketing employees about five or six weeks ago, but took a lot of persuasion at the airline to make it happen, Mr. Garton said. He had to go through the plan alone with Mr. Arpey to convince him it would pay off in the long run.

American estimates that those who do take the free ticket will persuade friends and family to come along and buy tickets themselves, diminishing the revenue impact. The giveaway might even make the airline more money than if it hadn't tried it, he said.

American expects Southwest to react, as does Mr. Cuban.

"I imagine there was a run on Wild Turkey," Mr. Cuban speculated, referring to the spirit of choice for many top Southwest executives.

[Shibby]

It's not quite as exciting as getting to fly anywhere, but Cuban has to be the best sports team owner.

[bad14u]

Originally Posted by Shibby

but Cuban has to be the best sports team owner.

:bravonew:

[meat12]

Originally Posted by Shibby

It's not quite as exciting as getting to fly anywhere, but Cuban has to be the best sports team owner.

Yeah he's a pretty cool guy :usausausa

[THE BOUNCER]

Mark Cuban is the shit. His television networks HDNET and HDNET Movies are my 2 favorite channels. HDNET Movies plays great movies in High Def in there Original Aspect Ratio.

[Shibby]

I think it was espeacially great since the fans didn't get to see some of there stars play last night.

[ROCKILLER]

Anoybody else read the playboy interview with cuban a few months age. he sure is a cocky bastard, but I guess I would be too if I had a few billion in the bank. He was talking shit about guys like trump because he has so much money thats liquid but he really only has it because he got lucky. He definately is an innovator and he would have succeeded regardless but he's only ridiculously rich at such a young age because he got into the internet stocks and then out of them at the right time. I dont remember the details but its in there. He also had some ideas I thought were kinda lame but I guess nobody bats a thousand.

[babyblues]

Originally Posted by THE BOUNCER

Mark Cuban is the shit. His television networks HDNET and HDNET Movies are my 2 favorite channels. HDNET Movies plays great movies in High Def in there Original Aspect Ratio.

I hate him. Mark Cuban can eat shit. He's a child in a man's body. Personally, I think he's an asshole. I will admit that he does some pretty cool stuff for people that you don't see other people doing with their billions, but he's such an arrogant little cocksucker. He acts like because he's got all that money, he has the right to act like a jackass. He was so disruptive during games that for a while they told him he had to sit in the balcony. He's a team owner and they have to ban him from sitting courtside. That's embarassing. Kid needs to grow the fuck up.