Damned if they do, Damned if they don't

American Cancels About 300 Flights:

"American initially put the number of cancellations at 200, but spokesman Tim Wagner said that was a conservative estimate because the airline prefers to hold off on cancellations as long as possible. The entire fleet of MD-80s is being inspected, Wagner said.

The need for the new inspections became known during an audit of American by a joint team of inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Fort Worth-based airline, Wagner said.

The inspection involves proper spacing between two bundles of wires in the plane's auxiliary hydraulic system, Wagner said. It must be installed 'exactly according to the directive,' he said.

Wagner did not have an estimate of how many planes had completed the inspection and returned to service, and he couldn't say whether cancellations would continue into Thursday."

So let me get this straight -- if the airlines kept it under their hats, then their shares would bad guys for not taking care of it .... but by getting right to a possible problem, their shares still went down because they took the high road and didn't put passengers at risk.