Deltahater

I booked a ticket using miles from SAT-CUN on MX using AA miles for travel in Nov 2010.
I understand that MX filed for bankruptcy and there is currently an issue relating to new ticket sales.
I called on Wednesday to have the ticket issued. AA charged my cc for the taxes and the agent said I would get my confirmation email in a few hours. Now 3 days later I have not received anything.
When I called the EXP desk I spoke to Viola in DFW who informed me that my ticket is under review. Apparently it is a standard procedure to review all international mileage award tickets to ensure compliance with the rules and guidelines. HUH? By next Wednesday I may get an answer.
I have never had that issue before and even when I booked other international award tickets with AA, there was never such a delay.
When I asked her to be more specific and tell me if this had to do with MX, bankruptcy, etc, she got defensive and stated that if I "don't grasp what is being communicated here, I am free to hang up and call back and the next agent will tell me the same thing".
If there is an issue with my mileage ticket due to MX's bankruptcy, then tell me so I can make contingency plans. But, I feel AA is being dishonest or unnecessarily secretive.
Have others had 5-6 day delays in issuing international award tickets and or any other recent experiences with awards or travel on MX?

brp

I think that reviews are standard. When I was doing some SJC-LAX-NRT-SIN(stop)- HKG(stop)- North America tickets a few years back, I had some things "booked" but later got a call about some problems, rules-wise and had to redo things. It definitely appeared that, even things "ticketed" are reviewed and subject to change. The 'tude you got seems weird,though.

Cheers.

SJUflyer

Hi --

I don't think it has to do with the MX bankruptcy but rather with the FAA decision to change the rating for Mexico's civil aviation authority.

I had a similar issue the other day using Delta miles for an Aeromexico flight (coded as AM), and was told they couldn't issue the ticket because of it.

Hope this helps.

videomaker

The issue relating to new ticket sales is they are suspended, as of late in the day that you tried to ticket the itinerary. There may be additional issues that others have noted, but this could certainly be a factor.

NWAMileageSlave

Deltahater:

Did you book the MX ticket for yourself or someone else? If someone else, perhaps they are auditing your account to be sure you did not sell your miles.

If it's for you, then i'm at a loss.

Rick

i_fly_AA

All international award tickets get reviewed by someone at AA. As far as I know, this is because some award rules, especially those involving partner airlines, can be quite complicated. So even though an agent may book it, someone else still reviews it to make sure that all the rules are met, the correct amount of miles is deducted, etc. It usually doesn't take more than a couple of days though. Maybe they're just backed up now with this whole Mexicana mess and that's why yours is taking so long. But if your ticket meets all the rules for the award, then you don't have anything to worry about.

Deltahater

It is for my wife and myself, so there is not mileage trading/selling/bartering going on here.

Deltahater

See, that is what I thought too and if AA would tell me that they may or may not be able to issue the ticket due to that fact, I can understand and respect that. Not telling me everything makes me suspicious.

If AA can't issue the ticket, tell me so I can make alternate arrangements. But this is a trip involving 10 other people and we are kind of the leader of the pack/planner, so us not making it would affect Thanksgiving plans for quite a few friends.

videomaker

Even if AA is able to issue the ticket--a big if--I'd sure start looking for options. Mexicana (see their website) is suspending flights and in a cash crunch after their BK filing. At this point, I wouldn't count on them to get me anywhere in November.

aaupgrade

IIWY, since it hasn't yet been ticketed I would call them back and book SAT-DFW-CUN on AA instead. Peace of mind is worth the DFW connection IMO.

Deltahater

My. maybe flawed, thought is that since AA issued the ticket or will issue the ticket that should MX not fly in Nov, that AA will protect me on one of their flights. It might not be at ideal times, but at least I am protected.

Deltahater

I don't mind the DFW connection, I just like the open bar in coach on MX

I also think flying on AA on those days required double the miles.

Deltahater

I got an email today from AA with the confirmation of my issued MX ticket.

I am very pleased and surprised.

Who knows what is going to happen in Nov.. .

videomaker

Very interesting. Good luck!

ESpen36

Wirelessly posted (Apple iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Yup, those international award audits are SOP. The airline is particularly concerned with award tickets for which miles might have been sold/bartered/traded/compensated, but the audit also helps to ensure compliance with the (often very complicated) routing and award rules associated with international awards, especially those involving multiple airlines. It is not unheard of for travel agents to try to slip tickets into the system that break award rules.

There are a few things that can be red flags to possible T&C violations, especially:

- itinerary originating overseas, but ticket issued with miles from an AAdvantage account with a USA mailing address
- last name on ticket not the same as the last name on the AAdvantage account where the miles are coming from

Both of the above are permitted; they are just a
little suspicious. Once, I gifted a friend in Venezuela a ticket to visit me, and the AA ticket agent at CCS gave her quite an in-depth questioning about how she knew me and whether she had paid me anything in return for her ticket using my miles.

On the whole, the international award audit is not a bad thing. It just delays ticket issuance a little bit.