Kremmen

Since I last phoned AA reservations in Australia, they have removed their toll-free number. They now appear to only have a long-distance number, and their hold message doesn't even say how long the queue is. After 5 mins, I gave up.

I really don't want to sit on hold for ages anyhow, but having it cost so much is particularly annoying. (I could buy Skype credit and use that, but that seems a ridiculous imposition just to be able to contact an airline.) Are there any better options? Any unpublished toll-free numbers?

brenc3

Skype allows toll-free access to US 800/877/866 numbers. I use it all the time for the EXP desk when overseas.

For calling CX from outside HK I usually shell out for Skype credit can call the HK number anyway. Overseas call centres for airlines tend to have varying levels of usefulness.

Kremmen

If I'd wanted to call their US office and get charged a booking fee, I'd have phoned them when I was in the US. (... last week!)

brenc3

Booking fees are waived for overseas pax? Or just people who call the overseas numbers?

Kremmen

AFAIK, no exemption for just being from overseas.

aa.com lists countries which charge a booking fee and Australia isn't in the list. (Last time I booked through them there was no booking fee. However, there was a toll-free number, so no guarantees that things haven't changed.)

Kremmen

I got through and found out that they now have a $60 fee for all bookings made in Australia!

Supersonic Swinger

I think AA recently changed it's policy on this number for non-US residents.

You can call up to make reservations (including AAdvantage), but they cannot accept payments for these reservations from members with addresses outside the US, even if you are using a US credit card. I had to call the local number here in Singapore to make payment so that my reservation was ticketed.

I wonder whether the absence of a 1-800 number in Australia is due to pressure from QF - with the QF Frequent Flyer program being so godawful, perhaps they want AA to make their program less appealing to Australian residents

NM

I make an award booking earlier this week using the USA 1800 EXP desk number. I am physically in Australia and use an Australian issued Amex card for the taxes component. I have always booked awards this way and again was able to pay this way. The address for my Australian issued Amex card is the same Australian address as for my AAdvantage account. So my experience suggests your information is not accurate.

Supersonic Swinger

Or it only applies to those of us with no status.

Or it depends on the agent you get. I asked them to check because it was so unusual, they came back and said they had spoken to their supervisor and it was a recent change as of the start of July. I ended up going into AA's ticketing office in Singapore to make the payment and they told me the same thing...

Perhaps I should have followed the usual rule of calling any airline's phone line - hang up, call again and hope you get a different agent with a different view on things.

Kremmen

Well, I have no status. They didn't ask me anything about where my credit card was homed. (Nor should they need to. Card number and verification code of a card in my own name should be sufficient.) However, I used a US card, so I don't know if it would have failed otherwise.

3544quebec

The non-US credit card issue is a total basketcase with AA.

I am EXP on AA with an Australian address and credit cards and in the last 3 weeks have booked 5 tickets with AA.

Ticket number 1: Used AA.com US site purchasing a $US780 ticket and chose Argentina from the dropdown list of countries for CC billing address (limited to US,Canada and Latin America/Caribbean countries) The sale went through and was charged in US dollars.

Ticket number 2: Used AA.com US site purchasing a $US2770 ticket again choosing Argentina from dropdown list. The ticket was issues by AA Mascot and I was charged in Australian dollars (Can they do this if I have agreed to a charge in $US?)

Ticket number 3: Used AA.com US site purchasing a $US1120 ticket again choosing Argentina from dropdown list. This itinerary involved 6 AA flights and one non-AA flight. AA.com listed the ticket as ticketed but after about 48 hours all the AA segments disappeared off the reservations link on AA.com leaving only the GOL flight . I spoke with the EXP desk and they told me that all was OK, that the AA segments were on another record and the booking had been queued to Lima for ticketing! I waited another week and still wasn't able to pull up my AA flights. I ended up just cancelling the itinerary on AA.com assuming that it was never going to be ticketed and that I was not going to have to wear the cost of this non-refundable ticket.

Ticket number 4 : Rebooked ticket number 3 on AA.com Australian site,ticketed by AA Mascot and charged in Australian dollars.

Ticket number 5: Booked on AA.com award ticket with $US2.50 in taxes due.I was only given the option on AA.com to put the itinerary on 24 hr hold and go to a ticketing location to pay $US2.50 tax.

I have never been able to pay for a ticket using my Australian credit cards through the EXP desk. I have always been told I have to ring AA in Oz or attend a ticketing location but do not doubt that given my experience with the 5 tickets above that it can be done.

On a related matter the reason I don't just do all my bookings on the AA.com Australian site is that it uses Amadeus rather than Sabre and gives you far fewer search options than the US site. So it often won't return the specific flights that I can find on the US site. Even if it does find the same flights it often prices them differently (ticket number 2 above was priced at $AU9457 by the AA.com Oz site versus the $AU3100 that it cost booking on the US site)

Getting back on topic Kremmen, are you EXP (edit I see in your last post that you have no status with AA) and did the Australian office say whether the $60 ticketing charge was waved for EXPs as it should be?

Kremmen

They said that there was no way to waive the fee. Whether they meant no way for me (having no status) or no way for anyone, I didn't pursue. I just wanted to tell them what I thought of their unadvertised fee (that they don't tell you about until after you've already waited on hold and then gone through the booking process, all the while paying long distance phone charges) and then get off the line.

3544quebec

When I saw your post yesterday that Australia was not listed as a country with a ticketing fee I remembered seeing a link on the AA.com Australia site about the $60 ticketing fee but when I went to the site I could no longer find where it was mentioned. There was something in the travel agents link about a $60 fee for cancellations. I agree that it is not very transparent.

I am waiting to see what happens when my ticket number 2 from my above post gets refunded - as I said I booked a $US price on AA.com Us site but was charged in $AU. I have no idea if a $60 ticketing fee was charged (not knowing what exchange rate was applied). As the charge was made in $AU and the ticket was fully refundable I will expect a full refund and if $60 disappears either because a ticketing fee was charged or a cancellation fee is levied I will dispute the whole initial charge on my Amex card as the charge I agreed to on AA.com was $US2770 not $AU3140.

NM

I have only used the EXP desk to issue award tickets, and all have been paid (the taxes) on my Aussie Amex card. The last we done a week ago. The ONLY problem they have is entering my address for the credit card verification. The trick is that the field in the EXP agent's computer required 5 digits for the post code, so they need to prefix my Australian home post code with a leading 0. Once that was identified, its a very quick process.

NM

Perhaps. I have only used my Aussie Amex card for payment of award ticket taxes/fees via the EXP desk as an EXP status member.