aa.com : ticket status "purchased", not "ticketed" normal??
 

Bought a ticket on aa.com almost two weeks ago, its status is still purchased but not ticketed. As I result, I haven't received a receipt or e-ticket so I can't bill my employer. Is this normal or should I call 'em up?

thanks

Does your ticket include anything complicated (multiple airlines/cities, etc.), or was it made via a travel agency?

I've seen everything across the board from a few minutes to days. I've personally never had a "purchased" ticket take weeks to change to "ticketed," but call AA to put your mind at ease.

This happens, particularly if your travel date is way out in the future. You can call AA and politely ask that the ticket be pushed through faster.

On the upside, your credit card will not have been charged yet. It only happens at the time of ticketing.

Nothing complicated it was Yow-SJU. I purchased directly from aa.com. I do have a record locator, and when I go retrieve my reservation, the page is just a trip summary and not a e-ticket. The status is Purchased but not Ticketed. My Amex wasn't charged either.

I've had it happen when the itin included another airline, in addition to AA, that wasn't OW. It went on for months until I called the EXP desk who said they were waiting for confirmation from the other airline in the routing. After a phone call on their end the ticket was issued and the indication went to "ticketed" and I got an email with the e-ticket.

I had a reservation listed as "Purchased" for a few days only once. American had some problem charging my credit card (can't remember what the specific problem was), but I had no idea what the problem was until my credit card called me. AA knew about the problem though, because the phone agent knew immediately when I called about it. It would probably be worth a call to AA, especially if it's a pretty straightforward itinerary.

I have had some problems with the "purchased" not "ticketed" thing with Amex. Both times it was because Amex put a hold on my account and I didn't know about it. One time it was because of my Bulgarian and Serbian charges which instigated a hold; another, I purchased 8 tickets over a day or two, and they held only on the last couple. I have a platinum card fwiw. Calls from and to Amex cleared it up, but I had AA contact me after a couple of days to tell me there was a problem with the card, which was declined the first time and apparently not run again.

I've also seen AA.com glitch where the res shows as "purchased" on the "My Reservations" page list, but once you click from there into the detail for that particular reservation, the status shows on the detail page as ticketed.

This can be a good thing, it has happened to me twice. What it means is that you aren't charged yet, and if you call AA, you should be able to change or cancel the reservation without penalty since it is not ticketed yet. Yes, you will have to pay a fare difference but basically if it is not ticketed it is a flexible ticket (because you can still pay the original price and get it 'ticketed'.

Both times it was caused by some kind of credit card error for me. And once I called up and got it ticketed, another time I had to change my travel and I got to do it gratis! :)

However, be sure to call and resolve it before date of travel.

I had a similar issue when I booked an itin involving travel on BA, AA and JAL. Itin was a bit odd in that I went to Singapore the long way round (via the US) with a stopover in the South. I contacted AA and was told it would be ticketed 2 weeks before departure. This came and went and still not ticketed. Rang back and was told 1 week before departure. Still no ticket after this time lapsed! Eventually I started to panic and called then with 6 days to go and was told it was being processed. Called back every day from T-6 until T-2 when the ticket was finally issued! Spoke to CS and they told me that there'd been a mix up in the ticketing process in London.

All in all the process was very odd. First time I've had anything like this with AA. Generally the tickets seem to arrive a few hours after I place reservations!

Thanks for the tip :) I've had a trip to OGG booked for a while (since before I discovered FT) and it was still showing 'purchased' but not 'ticketed'. I had booked in Q but changed it this morning to V for no fee and only a slight fare difference - anything for EQMs :D

Q fares to Hawaii from the mainland US earn full EQM and 0.5 EQP.

Unless you are chasing points there was no need to upfare from Q to V.

Good spot...I did mean EQP not EQM (it looks like I have far more chance of getting EXP with points rather than miles...if I understand how the whole thing works!).

Common
 

This happened quite a bit but seems less common these days. But be careful. A couple of times I got to the airport and it said "purchased" which I thought meant "ticketed". Well I had 45 minutes on a domestic flight and it was a bit iffy but they got it ticketed. A second time (you would have thought I had learned but really I didn't get what had happened the first time,) it was an international flight. Also with 45 minutes to go. That's when it pays to personally know the check-in agents and have been nice to them. He got into a major fight on the phone with the international desk in Dallas who wanted to charge me a full Y. Well I boarded the flight with a very strange boarding pass for the first leg only - basically with no ticket - and by the time I got to Dallas it was all sorted out. I was pretty irritated with the whole booking process to say the least. You think you know the sytem inside out and then you find you don't. American's web site for ticketing is horrible compared to United. On UA you can go in and see the fare bases, taxes, ticket #s - you name it. AA's you can't and I can't understand why. All you have is the wretched email and if you buy as many tickets as I do you never link the emails to the tickets you bought. They can arrive hours, or days or weeks after purchase. Oh yes, this all happened to me because of a VIP upgrade that got the system stuck. I have often seen that, but now know to chase it up. American have excellent computer systems in general, but this is a real glitch.

I echo UAAAPeter concern's with aa.com. With ua.bomb, it issues the ticket immediately once you hit purchase. Why is there such a lag with the aa.com?