Originally Posted by
Surbiton Flyer
I wondered if they are 'market testing' to see if they can charge $8 for US credit card bookings which would generate substantially more revenue than the UK ticket volumes warrant.
AA would have to add that $8 "convenience fee" to every other method of payment on their website. They can't discriminate between credit/debit/gift card/paypal/billmelater. And to pass Visa's rules on this, AA would have to make the similar "face-to-face" transaction free of a surcharge (because the "convenience fee" has to represent a physical convenience). That's how Allegiant gets away with it.
I wouldn't worry too much about it happening in the States, barring mass collusion from all of the legacies.
If course, if the US would just nationalize AA, then they'd be free to attach whatever convenience fees they want, heck, they could add a 3%+ surcharge!