phazedowt

Exactly. Incognito or not I get this one pretty much every option involving both AA and US legs on the itinerary I'm looking for. If I select the more expensive route that involves flights only operated by AA, I'm allowed to book.

Superguy

The one I was trying was for a fare that only had one seat left. Someone could have bought the seat - I get that. Just don't keep showing the same options on subsequent searches.

The other thing that was weird is not only would I get the error, but then anything I clicked on after that would kill the session and make me start all over. Annoying.

RogerD408

Sounds like a sync issue... When you are on AA.com, the search engine is using a cached copy of the database to present options. When you go to purchase, it does a call to the backoffice database to confirm. Granted the front-end should be updated but I'm gonna guess that is done on a scheduled basis so subsequent searches will have the out-dated info until it's sync'd up again. Maybe that was happening when you got kicked off?

bloxomo

I've been having the same problem: lowest fare errors out after selecting certain mixed AA/US itineraries with "The flight(s) or fare selected is no longer available...". This has been going on for almost 12 hours now. I agree that it sounds like a sync issue, but I'm amazed that there hasn't been a sync in the 12 hours I've been trying. Priceline seems to have it right and it is frustrating that they're more on top of US/AA availability than aa.com is.

Neither the aa.com phone support line nor the reservations line seems to think this is an issue worth trying to get someone to fix.

Aces34

BOS-DFW return leg connecting through DCA US/AA. I had the same fare not available any longer error but after three days of the same error figured it wasn't a sync issue. I checked the US website and was able to go all the way to finalize the reservation so I knew it was available. So I called AA explained what the issue was. Agent "saw the problem" and put reservation on hold with a note to waive the telephone fee when I called back to book.

Not sure all issues are the same so YMMV but this worked for me.

RogerD408

Different channels will have different agreements. They may have negotiated a rate they can book without regard for what the supplier is offering. This is where the best rate guarantee programs shine. If you find someone willing to sell the same product for a lower price, the supplier will match it. That doesn't mean they will change their price for all future sales, but will snatch the sale away from the OTA. It pays to shop around, but you also need to keep aware of the non-dollar costs as some will not allow earning program credit when bought off-site.

AA (and others) do feel if they don't acknowledge a problem, then it doesn't exist. Let them start losing sales and I'm pretty sure someone will notice. The issue is how they will know about sales lost. They've lowered the inventory levels so demand is inflated.

bloxomo

RogerD408: Unfortunately Priceline having it right in this case means they correctly know there isn't really any availability when aa.com initially thinks there is. But, yeah, even if I could get it through an OTA I'd lose out at least on my co-branded CC bonus.

Aces 34: 3 days? Wow! Maybe I will try again on the phone later this afternoon but I have a feeling the seats aren't really there in my case.

Unfortunately the price of fixing problems like this are easier to quantify than the indirect costs of not fixing them.

jsintexas

I have had a issue with AA.com where I search a fare and when I select the itinerary that I want to purchase the ticket it tells me the fare is no longer available.

When I go back a few minutes later or a day later, shows the fare on the same flights and again, no longer available and shows flights significantly higher in price.
This happens when I book an itinerary that includes Cathay or Japan Airlines.

It happens every time. I found Doug Parker and Scott Kirby's emails and when this happens I email PDFs of the fares offered first shot, then the "no longer available" I then add a screen shot of Expedia with a lower fare on a competitor.

Within hours I get a call from someone who honors the original fare, and get an excuse why it happened.

On a Asia trip the fare difference can be over $800.

lizs

I'm having this same problem but emailed AA web support...claiming 7-10 days for a response but need to book my flight. Can someone PM me Parker and Kirby's email addresses so I can give that a try?

pritomd

This was real annoying for me. Happened to me today when trying to book DCA to YUL. It has a certain fare which I can't get on AA.com because of this error. This fare also shows up on Kayak, Priceline, etc. and those lead me back to AA.com so it's distorting those results.

Finally, I called and they said it's because of US and when you check the price on US site, it's actually a bit higher (and one leg actually sold out).

So I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that I tried to get a US operated flight but AA's systems aren't updating with the latest info from US, so it shows flights that aren't really available.

Note that I tried multiple browsers, multiple computers.

bloxomo

I e-mailed Parker & Kirby the standard FirstName.LastName at aa.com with no response and would also appreciate a PM with a better address.

In any case, filing a DoT complaint will force someone to respond. If this is as widespread as it seems to be then someone at AA needs to be looking into fixing it. Do the people who respond to DoT complaints have more inclination to report problems to the people who can actually fix them instead of give excuses?

lizs

Not only did the price go up on my flight but I'm still unable to book it!!

lizs

I finally called in, spoke to 3 reservations agents, and 2 tech support people - which was a whole load of uselessness. The only helpful people was one reservation agent who offered to waive the phone fee but said the rate she was seeing was $699! This is incredibly frustrating. She said they've been getting tons of calls about it.

ThreeJulietTango

Your email will be seen by their secretaries, then directed to Customer Relations, and they will get back to you in twice as long as it would've taken if you had just used the online form.

Agreed on filing a DOT complaint, though. I have this issue nearly every time I find a fare on an AA-marketed/US-operated flight and it's getting to the point where the fare displayed on the website is very rarely actually available.

westmassexpat

I experienced this problem today -- impossible to get past the initial screen on AA.com. I found a higher price (~$50+) and was about to pull the trigger, but I tried usairways.com and it worked to get a confirmation.