Originally Posted by
djibouti
I booked a fare with a $261 base fare, $304.60 total. AA.com still shows that. The e-mail says $242.79 (and the rest in taxes and fees, still $304.60 total), thus making it ineligible.
Another itinerary, AA.com shows $288.00 base/$330.10 total, and e-mails says $267.90/$62.20 taxes ($330.10 total).
In this case, no big deal since it still qualifies, but very misleading by AA.com.
On the phone with BE sorting it out--will update.
Here is what's happening:
The correct Base Fare used by BE is shown on the
ticketing email, on your
receipt that you print from AA.com, and in
ITA quotes. However, when you view your reservation online at AA.com, the base fare shown (usually a round number) actually includes 7.5% US Transportation Tax, so you have to divide that total by 1.075 to get the actual base fare (usually not a round number). If you price out your itinerary using ITA, you will see this broken out.