Hello everyone. This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted!

You know the drill. We lead off again this week with coverage of American Airlines.

This week we talk about how the airline now believes its seat problem is a result of passengers throwing gunk in between them. You buyin’ this? No, we aren’t either.

Monday also saw American CEO Tom Horton hobnobbing with IAG Chairman Willie Walsh in New York, as Qatar was officially announced as the latest member of the oneworld alliance. Actually the fact that Walsh managed to sweet-talk Qatar into the fold was the real story here.

But needless to say, American was quick to use the opportunity to do some positive spin of its own as the airline conveniently released its September traffic and PRASM estimates the same day.

Meanwhile, just hours before, Etihad’s marketing agreement (with more to come) with Air France/KLM was announced.

I said it when Qantas announced its deal with Emirates — the alliance system is dead. We’re going to see some big changes on this front going forward.

Airline stocks had a great week last week — with shares of US Airways and Delta leading the pack.

All of this and much, much more in this week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter.