A few months back, I took advantage of that fire sale on TATL J fares - got a DCA-MIA-MAD-FCO; TRN-LGW; LHR-MIA-DCA for a *very* good price.

Now, with a few changes (both AAdvantage and personal), I'm not sure I'll want to use that ticket, and am considering cancelling and using the money for something completely different.

So this morning, I called the EXP line because I couldn't find anyplace where the change fee is listed.

AAgent #1 quickly checked something and quoted me a $300 change fee.

That sounded suspiciously low for tatl deep discount J, so I did HUCA. AAgent #2 fumbled with some things, and then put me on hold to check with the rate desk. This time, the definitive answer was $500.

I now needed a tie-breaker, so I did some more HUCA. AAgent #3 fumbled with some things, put me on hold, and came back with the definitive answer of $300. I explained the story so far, and he said it was weird that the rate desk quoted a higher figure, as the answer was simple based on my fare basis code.

HUCA. AAgent #4 put me on hold and checked with the rate desk. The easy answer is $500.

At this point, I decided I needed to do something more productive with my morning; as I hemmed and hawed between checking some AA Vacations prices and cleaning the front hallway, I got a call from my favorite contact, "American Airlines": It was AAgent #3 calling back; he'd been curious about the divergent answers I was getting, and did some digging. He says there's one fare basis with $500 for a change fee and another fare basis code with $300, and the only difference is the *last* letter in the code. He said the correct change fee for my fare basis in, in fact, $500; but since I was misquoted twice, he'd put a note in my record granting me a one-time change for $300. The AAgent apologized for the trouble and gave me his full name to use in the event somebody gives me a hard time later.

So I tested this by calling AAgent #5, who took a look and quoted me $500, but she volunteered that a PNR note grants a one-time exception of $300 due to the earlier mis-quote.

I haven't made a final decision yet on whether to cancel or fly (or hold the reservation in the hope that I'll get a schedule change and full refund), but this was a fun little exercise.

I'm not the first one to say it, but: HUCA pays. Literally.