Reply #2: It might be difficult

[JoDog]

for them to prove slander in this case. Since they are all public figures, there is an incredible burden of proof on them. The law is constructed so that a citizen can say almost anything she wants about a public figure and be protected under the 1st Amendment. A loophole on that is that a media outlet can be sued by a public figure if the person in question thinks that the outlet knew what they were printing/broadcasting was questionable or false and went ahead and used it anyway. That may come into play here.

It's far more likely that a suit by American Airlines would be successful, or a suit by the American Airlines gate agent in Maine who was involved and is still alive (sadly, the woman who was the AA agent at Logan Airport killed herself sometime after 9/11, and no one can be held accountable for libeling or slandering the dead).

But I only took 1 semester of media law. Any lawyers out there?