American Airlines’ (NASDAQ:AAL) ticker page on Seeking Alpha is full of articles making the bull case: the company is cheap, making record profits, and undervalued. With so much positive attention on the stock, I thought I’d put forward some reasons I’ve chosen to invest in other airlines. While American is very affordable, it may be more of a value trap than value boon. While the company certainly has strengths, their balance sheet, lack of growth, and operational performance all leave something to be desired. I’m staying away, since I generally prefer the growth and clean balance sheets of non-legacy carriers, especially going into a rising interest rate environment.