Breaking the news about American Airlines’ bankruptcy

Terry Maxon, the airlines reporter at the Dallas Morning News who is preparing to retire, writes about breaking the news that American Airlines was preparing to file for bankruptcy court protection, the story he calls the most intense of his career.

Maxon writes, “When I arrived home from work around 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, I went back to the master bathroom to change out of my work clothes. Before doing so, I checked my email to see if anything had come in since I left work.

“‘I hear that there’ll be a big announcement tomorrow,’ an AA employee at DFW airport had written me, ‘but I’m sure you knew that.’

“I didn’t know of any big announcement. The rule of thumb is that if AA tells me there’s going to be a big announcement, it won’t be big. If there’s an announcement coming and American didn’t tell me, it’ s likely to be very big.

“With the possibility of bankruptcy looming, I started working the story. I called a few people in American’s corporate communications office. Nobody knew anything, or would admit that they knew anything. One said she had been told to report early to the office – very early, like before 6 a.m., but would say nothing more.”

Read more here.