Originally Posted by
The Lev
While I agree with the premise that it is fine for AE to charge for something that can be booked on line, the fact remains that many itineraries that would be considered "simple" by other airline or travel booking engines (e.g. multi-city, open jaw, star alliance partner) are beyond the limitations of what ae.com offers without having to phone in and pay.
One must remember that in most cases if one wants a particular routing, not shown on the web booking engine, AE must call a route controller at AC and try to get the seats at AE's pre arranged price for that seat. If AC feels they can "retail" the seat then they won't give it up for the huge discount AE enjoys. Thus the booking becomes more labour intensive.