JumboD

Warning, this is long and for amusement purposes only (nothing that will affect others' travel), read only if you're interested in a Sat. morning story .

I made a reservation last night to go see my family in Chicago. My mother told me to go ahead and grab some of her miles for an upgrade, since she only travels DL now. I do this, go to bed, and check the res in the AM. Res is right, but miles taken from my account. So I call back to have it changed.

Res agent says they can't find any record of my having tried to use someone else's miles in the first place, and they'll have to charge me the reinstatement fee. I tell him that's absurd and I'd like to talk to the super. I'm told that if I want to use someone else's miles, I need their CC, and I should have known I'd never be able to use their miles w/o it, the rules are online. I tell him that I would expect AA's employees, who do this for a living, to tell me whose card I need, and I expect that when they tell me I'm all set, I'm all set. He tells me they handle tons of reservations and that sometimes they forget, so I need to remember. I can't decide whether to laugh or scream at him.

I'm also told that they don't like to take miles from others' accounts because sometimes the account holder calls to say that it wasn't authorized. Well, if that's the case, change the rules, but as it stands, I'm doing nothing wrong.

He proceeds to tell me that he'll make an exception, but can't guarantee the upgrade is still available on the outbound. I tell him it is, that I see 7+ A seats left. He tells me that there's no way I can see into AA's system, and that there's less than two. I tell him I use EF and it's never been wrong. He says that sites like EF just guess, and aren't accurate. By this time, I realize he just doesn't want to have to work, and wants to dissuade me from making the change. I hang up.

I call back and the new res agent is very pleasant, and, in spite of it taking almost 30min, is able to correct everything, charge no fees and do so w/o unpleasantness or attitude. She even apologizes for the wait time. No need to file a complaint because it is all worked out, I just found this amusing.

CO_Bulkhead

Thanks for sharing the story. This is the classic case of if you don't like what one agent is telling you just hang up and call right back. Works all the time. It should not have to be this hard but this is just the way it is ....

BTW - where are you flying from that you would want to use miles to upgrade to Chicago?

gizmodell

Perhaps a trip from the West Coast would make an upgrade to Chicago worth it... those darn new fees and mileage requirements caused me not to upgrade my sisters on a trip from Chicago to New York... call me cheap though!

Blumie

It's not clear to me why you wasted so much time on the phone with the first agent. At the first hint of attitude, you should have politely excused yourself and moved on to the next agent.

JumboD

I'm flying from LA, and managed to get the 763 both ways. Under other circumstances, might not be worth it (like exit rows on a narrow-body), but considering how crappy Y is on the 763 and how much more room F has vs. other aircraft on that route, it seemed worth it to be sure.

I'll upgrade with miles on any domestic wide-body route other than those to/from DFW and coastal flights to/from MIA (flights too short to justify).

goldengate

Yes, agree, though during the big DC snowstorm last month when I was stuck at DCA, I was calling so much I was starting to get the SAME agents when I'd call back... was a little embarrassing since the snowstorm meant that many of the rules were bent by EXP agents and I found I'd get vastly different responses by agent (e.g. some would immediately put me on the next flight when the last one was canceled, others would only add me to the standby list).

dstan

Honestly, I would email Customer Relations to complain about the attitude and misinformation provided by the first agent. My understanding is that there should be a record of him in your PNR.

PDX-PLT

OTOH, might story encourage some AA exec to think about making A inventory invisible on EF, like they did with X?

AUSMatt

While I'm sure there are similar reports on my experience below, I, like you, am still amazed at how uninformed the agents sometimes are (and even worse -- they insist their understanding of the rule is correct. At least they could admit they are not sure and go find out).

I called Aadvantage award bookings yesterday and told the representative that I would like to book a partner award to London in June. She said, there are no partner awards to London and was about to explain the non BA TATL awards rule. But I cut her off and asked her to check Iberia through Madrid, connecting to LHR. To her surprise, it showed up as eligible for a partner award -- amazing!

To end, I told her not to tell anyone else about this trick ... no sense in draining award capacity due to informed reservation agents!

On that note ... Award availability from AA from Europe is terrible right now. Hopefully my new BA 100k miles from Chase will save the day since BA at least seem like they are "allowing" TATL awards this summer, unlike AA.

HNL

Not likely to happen. "A" is a revenue bucket. "X" never was.

UKAAFAN

I agree with the concept of this thread. Some just don't care at all. Hang up and get another one and it's all good. AA, if you're reading this, please take note!

gemac

It's pretty common to get an agent who doesn't know the rules as well as we do. Happens all the time to most of us. If you don't experience this, you need to spend more time on FT learning the rules.

JumboD

Or changing the rule regarding date changes on awards from outside 21 days to inside 21 days w/o a fee. That seems more important/likely.

JumboD

Agree completely, and this scenario is probably what your signature is describing, lol. However, in the spirit of FT, I'm much more aware of the rules that will work to my advantage, and am quick to site such. Rules such as whose CC must be charged are ones I don't spend time familiarizing myself with and deal with as necessary. However, it is AA's job to tell me what/when "necessary" is, not my job to remind them. This agent was lazy and his supervisor was a doofus.

mvoight

That is a bit opposite of what I've been told. I was told that my credit card can be used with someone else's miles, but this can't be done online, and the couldn't waive the phone fee if I wasn't the person traveling.