GUWonder

Award travel using any partner flight results in this AA award ticket fee; and when the itinerary includes a BA flight, the fees on award travel are even worse.

Great way, AA, to reward customers for using your "loyalty" program.

miamigrad

What was that sound I just heard?! It must have been the eagles flying away from me

AA's response came in my email today:

April 7, 2011
Dear miamigrad:


Through the courtesy of the U.S. Department of Transportation, we've received a copy of the complaint that you filed with their office. We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concern regarding the service charge that applies to AAdvantage® award tickets issued through American's reservations offices.

We understand that the charge is most objectionable when it is applied to AAdvantage® award tickets that cannot be booked online. Before we announced the implementation of the service charge, we carefully evaluated excluding tickets, such as those issued from Promotions or AAdvantage® Airline Awards, that are not available on AA.com. Since the number of transactions that fits this criteria represents such a small percentage of our business, we felt that it would be less confusing overall to our members and employees if we charged the service charge for all award tickets initially issued through American's U.S. Reservations offices and airport locations. Since members typically book these types of awards in small quantities, we felt that the imposition of a modest service charge would have little impact on the overall value of participating in promotions or using your AAdvantage® miles to travel. We disclose that this charge will apply, and given that we do so, we do not agree that our practice in charging it is “unfair or deceptive”.

In regard to your concern regarding charges to use a voucher, we are pleased to tell you that our reservations and ticket counter service charges are waived for customers using a voucher to pay for a ticket.

Your e-mail seems to suggest that in your opinion it is "unfair and deceptive” for American not to either allow all ticketing transactions to be done online or, for those that cannot be done online, not charge a reservations service charge. We respectfully disagree with your conclusion – we are aware of no law or regulations (including 49 U.S.C. 41712) that would dictate such a result and prevent us from imposing reservations service charges in the limited circumstances we do.

miamigrad, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our rationale behind this service charge. We appreciate your patronage as an AAdvantage® member and look forward to your continued business.


Sincerely,

<name redacted>
Customer Relations
American Airlines

cc: U.S. Department of Transportation

brp

Well, I don't particularly like their response, but one must admit that it was well-thought-out and presented...and far from "form" in nature. Even though the outcome was less-than-desired, it seems that writing to the DOT does have advantages

Cheers.

lial

Hmmm... I know they got a slew of these complaints My reponse came today, too.

April 7, 2011

Dear LIAL:

We understand your objection to the service charge that now applies to AAdvantage®
award tickets issued through American's U.S. reservations offices and airport
locations. We are also sorry you are disappointed by the increase in the service
charge we collect for tickets issued through our reservations offices and airport
locations. This service charge allows us to continue to offer a full range of
services to our customers, while remaining competitive. Service charges for the more
personalized service afforded by "human interaction" are not new and are common in our
industry. Many airlines assess these types of service charges as there are
significant additional costs associated with a face-to-face or telephone ticketing
transaction.

We understand that the charge is most objectionable when it is applied to AAdvantage®
award tickets that cannot be booked online. Before we announced the implementation of
the service charge, we carefully evaluated excluding tickets, such as those issued
from Promotions or AAdvantage® Airline Awards, that are not available on AA.com.
Since the number of transactions that fits this criteria represents such a small
percentage of our business, we felt that it would be less confusing overall to our
members and employees if we charged the service charge for all award tickets initially
issued through American's U.S. reservations offices and airport locations. Since
members typically book these types of awards in small quantities, we felt that the
imposition of a modest service charge would have little impact on the overall value of
participating in promotions or using your AAdvantage® miles to travel.

LIAL, your e-mail suggests that in your opinion it is "deceptive for American not
to either allow all ticketing transactions to be done online or, for those that cannot
be done online, not charge a Reservations service charge. While we respectfully
disagree with your conclusion, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our
rationale behind this service charge. We appreciate your patronage as an AAdvantage®
member and look forward to your continued business.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXX
Customer Relations
American Airlines

vector

No, the sound you hear is that of the eagles s*&^%+# on the heads of the "small percentage" of customers that have no option but to call and get charged a fee that was just increased without any notification.

Through the courtesy of the US DOT... I love it.

Thanks for sharing.

777lover

Got my letter from AA courtesy of the DOT. Same as above. Small percentage of people affected. And we are addicted crack whores who can't give up the revenue.

TrojanHorse

damn straight, no reason that it should be in their pocket if I can keep it in mine.

jbalmuth

I dispute that the letter is not "form" in nature, insofar as I received the exact same letter (other than the addressee). That my specific resolution suggestions were not addressed/mentioned in the letter makes me think that either no-one at AA actually read the DOT submissions, or that they decided that it would be too difficult to send out more than a single generic letter.

HKG_Flyer1

[indent]Pretty funny. AA, which operates one of the most complex pricing models used by a major American business to price its product, appears to claim that its employees couldn't handle this issue and/or that customers would rather just pay $25 per ticket rather than potentially suffer the "confusion" that would come with not paying the fee.

Also, since the tickets are booked in small quantities (what tickets are purchased in large quantities), it's not supposed to be a big deal--- if it's not a big deal, why don't they just waive it.

At least I now understand how to get a somewhat meaningful response back from AA Customer Relations.

ORD-TGU

Just like others, I sent a DOT complaint and got an email from AA

"Through the courtesy of the U.S. Department of Transportation, we've received a copy of the complaint that you filed with their office. Accordingly, I obtained the email address you provided for your AAdvantage® membership profile and have taken the liberty of responding to you electronically.

We are sorry that you are disappointed with the service charge that applies to tickets issued through our Reservations offices. This type of service charge represents a way for us to continue to offer full services and keep our pricing competitive. At the same time, we understand that the charge is most objectionable when it is applied to transactions that cannot be booked online. We will continue to carefully monitor the service charge issue as it relates to all our ticketing transactions and AA.com functionality. Your comments will be used as a part of this assessment.

When calling our Reservations office, there is a message stating that ticketing charges may apply. Also, during a reservation telephone conversation with an agent, whether you purchase your ticket at that time or place your reservation on hold, you should be advised that a service charge per passenger will apply. This information is given as a part of a reservation transaction. Since we disclose that such charges apply, we do not agree that our practice is misleading.

Mr. XX, thank you for taking the time to comment on this issue. Your business is very much appreciated.


Sincerely,

XX
Customer Relations
American Airlines

brp

Oh, I dispute it as well, now.

It looked pretty well-tailored to the complaint when I saw the first one since it seemed to refer to the content of miamigrad's complaint. I retract my statement

Cheers.

BOSnomad

Well, it would seem that my complaint has ruffled a few feathers. In today's mail, I received a letter on AA letterhead from a "Senior Attorney" at American:

Dear BOSnomad:

Your recent communication to the Department of Transportation regarding American Airlines service charges was forwarded to us by the DOT, which has asked us to respond to your concerns. In particular, your email to Mr. Txxxx at DOT, dated March 10, refers to the fact that AAdvantage awards for travel on our participating carriers must be made through our Reservations office and there is a $25 award service charge that applies.

Given that these award types involve inventory of our partner carriers, these type awards cannot be redeemed online - they must be redeemed though our Reservation folks. Accordingly, we impose our standard Reservations service charge for these type transactions. As you note we disclose that this charge will apply, and given that we do so, we do not agree that our practice in charging it is "unfair or deceptive".

Your email seems to suggest that in your opinion it is "unfair and deceptive" for American not to either allow all ticketing transactions to be done online or, for those that cannot be done online, not charge a Reservations service charge. We respectfully disagree with your conclusion - we are aware of no law or regulations (including 49 U.S.C. 41712) that would dictate such a result and prevent us from imposing Reservations service charges in the limited circumstances in which we do.

I hope this addresses your concerns. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me

Very truly yours,

Axxx Bxxxxxxx

cc: U.S. Department of Transportation

So, AA disagrees. And, it would seem, that is that.

denCSA

This part really ticks me off. There are alot of times when I think the government overreaches its bounds in regulating industry. And we all know how airlines hate regulations and government intervention; They send their ATA lobbyists to Washington EVERY time. But the above statement by AA is basically saying until there is regulation or a rule that says we can't, we will. Bring it on

Honestly, I think AA imposes this fee as a means of penalizing customers for choosing OW carriers over AA flights, since they likely have to pay out more.

mrcase100

Was forced to call AA due to their website not being able to process DEN-->BKK, and got hit with a $25 "telephone ticketing service" fee. If there's anyone out there in CA, OR, or WA who had this happen to them, let me know if you're interested in hitting AA with a class action...who knows...maybe it will force them to get off their butts and upgrade their website ticketing.

Dave Noble

Class action for what?

There is no entitlement to being able to book online and there are plenty of other portals for making bookings