Stockholders should pay close attention to whether American Airlines' new gender marketing campaign to attract more women travelers will add revenue or crash and burn in a cash-squeezed industry.

The big news among frequent air travelers this week was American Airline's launch of AA.com/women.  According to a giddy email that I received on Monday:

"We've been listening, a lot, to our valued female customers. Some of what we've been hearing is that women would like to have a place where they can connect with other women, and with American Airlines.

Today we're launching a dedicated online resource: AA.com/women. It's all about travel for women, with things like:
– Quick links, making doing business with American even easier.
– "Women Connected Through Business," containing the latest travel information from safety and security to travel rewards.
– "Women Connected Through Lifestyle," with information about getaways and all the ways to redeem miles.
– "Women Connected Through Each Other," dedicated to our women's network, charities, interviews and profiles.
– And, special offers! Wyndham is currently offering a 20% discount and special spa offers. See AA.com/women for complete details.

We invite you and your friends to visit AA.com/women. Let us know what you think. We encourage you to share your insights, travel tips and stories at [email protected].

And, as always, we thank you for flying American Airlines. We look forward to seeing you onboard soon."

I was insulted and offended.  Does American really think that the best way to get women to fly their airline is to gender market to us, which in practical terms, means dumb down their offerings?  Unfortunately for AA, I am not the only person pissed about this.  The chat on FlyerTalk, a message board for frequent travelers, found much griping and disenchantment among everyone who heard the news, particularly women who travel for business.

Investors and stockholders should take note.  In a press release I found on PR Newswire, AA made the following analysis:

"In any given year, approximately 48 percent of American Airlines customers are women. American estimates that if the company is able to raise the number of women traveling on the airline by 2 percent (at $100 per segment) as a result of AA.com/women and its emphasis on women travelers, the airline would garner an additional $94 million in revenue annually while providing additional value and travel information to female customers at no extra cost to them."

Except that this won't work at all if American first alienates its customer base, particularly women who are already flying on full fares, with its inane and insulting attempt to "serve" women "better" by providing us with a lavender booking box that has no advanced search options (I guess our little brains can't handle it), spa discounts, and stupid advice such as not to go to airports when they are closed. 

Stockholders should start asking questions.  Immediately, it might be good to find out how much money was spent developing and rolling out this campaign?  Despite claims to the contrary, how much does the extra "information" cost to provide?  In the longer term, what is the real effect of this gender-based campaign?  I suspect that although it annoys women who regularly spend the big bucks on travel, they probably will continue to use American as long as they get good benefits (miles, status, and other privileges), but I tend to doubt that they will really attract more casual travelers with this.  If there is no actual increase in women travelers, stockholders should request that the brains behind this scheme be shown the door.

Disclaimer: My husband and I do not own stock in American Airlines.  However, both my husband and I travel extensively on American.  He has Executive Platinum status, Admirals Club privileges, and has earned well over 400,000 frequent flyer milers.  I have Gold status and earned over 270,000 frequent flyer miles.  If anyone had asked me, as a woman, what I want them to offer, I would have said decent food in coach and hand sanitizer in the bathrooms because studies have shown that water on planes is full of germs because it is recycled.