amarine88

So I just flew on AA and on both flights I was asked to pay $25/bag to check 2 bags. After some talking I was able to get them to waive the fees, but both times they said the computer said the bags weren't free.

My Gold status was definitely applied as I had free Main Cabin Extra seats and Priority on by BP but I was wondering if anyone else had this experience.

Is this a sign of things to come?

Probably worth noting that I was flying an AS purchased ticket on AA metal.

Kufat

Nah, just a screwup. AA still lists 1/2/3 free bags for MVP/Gold/75k and there haven't been any indications of the AS/AA partnership fraying, as far as I know (unlike AS/DL.)

amarine88

That's what I figured the first time it happened, but having it happen a second time gave me pause. I showed them a website and they waived the fee, but it worries me that their computer told them no.

PDXPremier

You can still maintain a partnership without the free baggage benefit...look at the DL/AS situation so yeah, it's great that we get free bags on AA but that could EASILY go away at any moment....hopefully this was just a computer error, but definitely not a good sign.

ryandc99

So I once had an agent who it was there first week. The Kiosk wouldn't let me associate a bag with my reservation, so I asked him to check in. He insisted at charging me 25$ followed by me asking for a manager.

I got to listen to the manager explain the screens, and from what I could tell, it still shows 25$ until you run some extra key sequence that clears out the charge based on FF partners or something. Very odd that this would be required.

lesson learned are to escalate to a manager.

channa

I've had it where they let me pick the good seats, but at OLCI I don't get Priority Access and other Elite benefits.

Having them delete and re-add your AS number usually corrects this.

I only have this issue on AA with agency-issued tickets if the agency puts the AS FFN in there. If I put no FFN in there and add it at the AA site, it works fine (or book thru aa.com direct).

Any chance you had an agency-issued booking?

CDKing

I only had the issue once but as soon as i mentioned AS they realised it was just a glitch and it did not apply. This was at PDX so that probably had something to do with the ease of getting it corrected

mrapollinax

Flew two AA legs last week. Booked through work travel booking tool with my MP number. Both legs I checked a bag with no issue and was able to select premium seating.

jiburi

Similar experience in JFK checking in for evening nonstop AA flight to SEA. The agent wouldn't take my bag and insisted the payment, before brushing me off, and helping the next customer. I went to the supervisior.

Jiburi

UAPremierExec

don't forget that most agents associate MVP Gold with AA Gold, which is their bottom tier & they get almost nothing.

3Cforme

AA gold still gets a free bag and same-day standby.

This really shouldn't be up to agents' knowledge or discretion, nor require extra keystrokes. The check-in system should handle it based on the FF# in the record.

asu-ua772

I just got back from a business trip (all on AA metal) and got hit up twice to pay $25/bag despite my AS status.

The AA kiosks recognized my status...it showed "Free" for the bag I wanted to check and I was able to select the good seats and Priority stamp on my BP, but when it attempted to issue a bag-tag, it spit out an error message instead.

The AA agent at DCA saw my AS status in the system but requested "proof" of it (WTH<?>), then went ahead and charged me anyways...I was quickly approaching the baggage cutoff time so I didn't have time to elevate the issue. The contract agent in small-town Texas looked like I was from outer space when I mentioned it.

Ticket was booked thru my employer's travel website, which automatically places my AS number onto the reservation. Maybe I need to do what Channa did below for future business trips?

rustykettel

Concur? Possible issue might be that your AS # needs to be applied to each individual segment by an agent. This a problem with all of AA's partners on AA. Although your BP did show Priority on it, and it usually doesn't if that was the case.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...-mvp-gold.html

Email AA customer service and request a refund of the baggage fees because the agent charged you in error.

flyupfrnt

This happened to me last year at SEA and I was pissed. I paid the agent and raised hell with AA after the fact which ended up parlaying my $25ish baggage fee into a $150 voucher. It took several weeks for anything to happen (lousy terrible responsiveness) I gave em hell because partners need to do better than that when it comes to simple things like waived bag fees.

PDXPremier

As it stands now, AS elites still have to pay to check a bag on a VX flights so I guess if you're checking bags and have to fly on something other than AS metal, AA is a good option.