As you know, American Airlines -- AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR) has been having a tough week. The company started running a new round of inspections on Tuesday which has led to large cancellations for the past 4fourdays.

Today, once again there were more cancellations, with another 595 flights being grounded. It can be very frustrating to find out your flight has been canceled, but some airports are upping their efforts to accommodate the unlucky passengers. All combined, the airliner has been forced to cancel in excess of 3,000 flights this week, impacting some quarter of a million travelers.

We have all had to deal with canceled, or delayed flights... and one thing is for sure, it is never a pleasant feeling, so you can just imagine the mood in airports all across America in reaction to this week's mess. Well, according to a story from MSNBC, some airports are taking extra steps to help make American passengers as comfortable as possible.

People forced to wait in long lines in the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were given snacks and drinks to help them pass the time in the long customer service lines. In Chicago, passengers were offered cots to use to catch up on some sleep. There are many other examples listed in the news piece.

Unfortunately, it looks as though the current situation is going to carry over into the weekend. Typically, when one airline has a problem, they can count on finding other airlines that are capable of picking up the slack on their passengers, but this is simply just not the case this time around. The airline industry as a whole is only operating at around 80%, so airports are finding that they being stuck with heavier than normal levels of stranded passengers.

Once again, a piece of advice that I have given several times already this week... before heading off to the airport this weekend, please take a few minutes to call ahead and make sure that your flight is still on schedule, and that your trip is still a go. It will save you a lot of time, and trust me, a lot of stress!

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.