gemac

Yours is a commonly seen complaint in rant threads, because there are two types of FT members:
Type 1 wants to start a thread on FT detailing how the airline has done them wrong. Other type 1 members will chime in and agree that the airline has done the OP wrong, how wrong it all is, how life is unjust, and how unfeeling any member is who does not agree with them.
Type 2 comes to FT to learn how to avoid all the problems that the Type 1 members revel in detailing. For example, in this case, a Type 2 member advises to travel on this previously purchased ticket using maiden name, and change ID after the trip. This is what my wife did for our honeymoon, as there would be no time to change her passport before departure. We had no problems, and of course had no change fees because we thought about this before buying the ticket. Type 1 members will generally rail at Type 2 members who offer practical solutions to the problem as "unfeeling" or "blind supporters of AA on everything" or "AApologists", because instead of condemning AA the Type 2 finds out how to avoid the problem and advises others to do so also.

Dave Noble

I agree that consistency is an issue and the airline should be consistent in handling changes. That means that I believe that they should always act in accordance with the agreed policy.

If they have a policy, then it is perfectly proper that they follow it

brock256

I think the real customer service failure here is that the AAgent did not explain upfront about the fee, and then provide alternatives to the OP about how to travel on her ticket without changing the ticketed name. If the OP then wanted to proceed at a cost of $150 to perform a totally unnecessary (in terms of completing the desired travel) change, then she could have undertaken that option with full knowledge of the cost, or else decided it really wasn't worth it.

I hope they at least have the decency to give the newlyweds a congratulatory upgrade

hiltonlondon2009

<redacted attack>

Anyway, OP, you should just use ID that has your maiden name on it and not worry about changing your ticket. As long as your DL / Passport don't expire before dates of travel, you should be alright.

videomaker

Perhaps you would feel better if AA never allowed exceptions and never bent the rules for anything. That would be consistent. How many more complaint threads would we see then?

Kind of funny--AA shows some compassion in some cases and gets criticized for being inconsistent. Or doesn't bend the rules in other cases and gets criticized, as well.

Doc Savage

Yep....

Go looking for trouble, you'll likely find it.

KD5MDK

While I am in general agreement with your statement, there is a significant caveat -

Whether or not a policy is a reasonable policy is also a legitimate topic for discussion, and people have distinctly said words to the effect that
"This is their policy, and I think it's legitimate."

I disagree. To me the definition of a change involves some alteration of the service provided, such as in flight number, origin, destination or date. Or who the person being transported is.

If you take the most literal view of "change", the fact that I choose to switch from 21A to 10B is a change and should be paid for, or that I want to credit to my QF account instead of my AA one. However, we already accept that these are not legitimately billable (except the seat example on BA...) and I feel that changing the name of a person traveling when it is the same person who has legally changed their name between ticketing and the date of travel, who provides sufficient notice and necessary verification that it is the same person is NOT justified in charging a fee.

NB, I have no objection to the proposed workaround of traveling under the maiden name. I have no objection to people saying this is the policy as it is sometimes applied.
I will debate people who say this is a legitimate fee the airline deserves to charge.
I will not agree with people who say this is not a legitimate topic of discussion.


Edit: Added additional point -
I would like to thank denCSR for their very helpful post on the technical details of how this is complicated in SABRE, and so why AA's system makes this so difficult for the customer.
I will respond that in my job, when I feel a customer is being treated unfairly and not getting what they deserve due to a system issue, it is my duty to override the system and make the matter right.
This is not the same as a policy issue. Those should be debated as policies and not as "It's hard to do it right so we won't bother".

sica4

So your justification as to why a $150 fee is warranted, is because their system is not capable of changing a name without having to reissue a ticket? The OP is flying on the same plane, same seat, same reservation. Any reasonable person would not expect this to be a 'change'. Maybe require some documentation so people aren't reselling tickets, but charging $150? Come on.

I think it's terrible of AA to charge change fees for something like this.

This exact topic is causing me some worry as I am getting married soon and we are planning on taking an international trip two months after. Do we book in maiden or married name? Will we be able to turn around passport that quick or do we just keep old documents? If there wasn't fee we could see if we get the passport back in time and update as needed.

KD5MDK

I think the best answer is not to get married. It is much easier to file for compensation from the airline as two different passengers each of whom were delayed than if you are married filing jointly.

(I'm not following my own advice here)

KSinNYC

+1

Dave Noble

It is a voluntary change and not a requirement.


The easiest and safest method is just to book in maiden name ; that has no risk , just use current documents and all will be fine

Of course, there is no requirement to change one's name just because of marriage anyway and not all people do so ( unless USA has some peculiar law in that respect )

KSinNYC

Again, +1.

I wonder if all the people saying "a change is a change" are men who haven't needed to change their name when they got married. It is a huge pain! And to be told you need to pay $150 for the privilege is insult to injury. Sheesh.

spurg

this happened to my wife and she just traveled under her maiden name. it was not an issue.

zski1

Seriously?

AA is in a customer service business. To get return business, they need to keep their customers happy. I have happened to have received a number of so-called "waivers and favors" from AA over the past few years. Their lenience has not only kept me coming back, but has led me to recommend AA to friends and family.

Or maybe AA should just stick to their guns more often, and, I don't know, lose even more passengers than the sour economy has caused them to lose and subsequently go out of business. I vote for "waivers and favors" over "bye bye AA".

-z

vasantn

^ ^ ^

I was composing a response but you said it better than I could. AA should thank its stars that the other legacy airlines are even more clueless about customer service.

This is the 21st century. The customer is not an impediment. This incident is a classic example of how to take an opportunity and turn it into a problem. Forget about whether AA was entitled to charge the fee or not; that's entirely irrelevant to the customer satisfaction issue.