US Airways boards vote to merge, so those domains will come in handy — American and

Firm registered domains related to merger nearly a year ago.

Last March I wrote regarding how a number of domain names related to a combined American Airlines (AMR) and U.S. Airways had been registered, signaling a possible merger.

Now, nearly a year later, it looks like those domains will be able to be put to good use.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the boards of the two airlines have approved a merger.

The domains included a number of combinations of the two firm’s names, as well as some clever domains like aadvantageofus.com (get it? AA, US?).

Following the Reglike story grabbed mainstream attention, brand protection firm Mark Monitor worked with either US Airways or American Airlines to throw up a smoke screen by registering other domains. The domains included other airlines such as americandeltaairlines.org and americanunitedairlines.org.

So while my original story’s headline suggesting the merger was “a go” may have been premature, this is another case of domain name registrations tipping off a business’s plans.