For all of you who are AAirpass members, you might find this interesting...

I got emailed an itinerary for a trip I am taking this weekend and I noticed an $83 charge for taxes, even though I am using AAirpass. I was suprised, because as we all know, AAirpass travel just debits the point-to-point miles flown (and then any adjustments for geography or class of service).

I called the AAirpass Desk to check into it and apparently there is a new policy as of March 20th to add a tax to AAirpass tickets. You pay the tax by having additional AAirpass miles taken out of your account. They convert $ to miles based on the rate in your contract. For example, my total tax charge was $83. My contract is based on $0.40 / mile. So in addition to the geographic miles I am going to fly, I will have $83 / $0.40 = 207.5 miles taken out of my AAirpass account.

The agent told me it was something the should have always been doing, but just never did.

I am pretty annoyed about it. It seems like another poor strategy by AA to nickel and dime its best and most loyal customers. If they wanted to tinker with AAirpass, they should start by making sure the AAirpass holder get status and AAdvantage miles for the companions flying on the AAirpass as well -- something which in my experience they almost always conveniently forget.