JAL is sending 100 of its executives to American Airlines to learn how to get the carrier through its severe financial troubles.

Let’s get this out of the way: you can insert all the jokes you want here about how it could be possible that they’ll learn anything from American. Blah blah blah.

The reality is this: the team was sent to American to learn about they manage their financials. And for whatever you want to say about American’s passenger experience (and I would say it’s on par with every other major US airline), American managed itself incredibly well during the past 2 downturns. During that time the industry saw just about every other major airline succumb to bankruptcy. American did not. And while that has put them at a bit of a disadvantage now, they were the only major airline to accomplish that, and, for JAL, there’s a huge lesson in how to turn around a company during a rough financial period. Or so they hope.