Customer Relations vs AAdvantage Customer Service S (+ phone ticketing fee issue)
 

Has anyone else experienced very different levels of service between the two?

I always receive very prompt and polite responses from AAdvantage Customer Service. The emails always come no more than 48 hours later, and the first thing they always say is "Thank you for being a valued Platinum member."

Responses from Customer Relations always take about a week, and don't seem to be very helpful. Also, I can't even respond to the emails like I can with AAdvantage CS.

What I emailed them for was about a recent transaction I made on the phone. I was upgrading a flight with miles + copay (first time I've done such a thing), so I wasn't sure if I could do it online, and also wanted to confirm upgrade inventory. The agent told me she would waive the fee, but when I looked at my credit card statement, lo and behold, the $25 phone ticketing fee was there. Is there anything I can do here? Are the conversations recorded?

Of course, CR told me that there is a charge for ticketing on the phone (which of course I knew), and they weren't making any exceptions, so they are declining my request for a refund. But the agent told me she was waiving the fee. Maybe the agent was having a bad day, because right after I got my confirmation email for my flight, I got another confirmation email belonging to someone else (presumably she didn't clear the field and had it sent to my email address as well).

Sorry for the long post. What do you think I should do? Am I out of luck in trying to argue my case? Is it just my word against theirs?

Can you make this kind of upgrade on the web? If not, then I'd drop it, as you're not out anything (unless you would not have done the miles + copay upgrade had you thought there was an additional fee involved).

If you were told you wouldn't be charged but would, you can always reverse the charge with your credit card company. I have no idea how that would play out.

Might not be worth the headache for $25 but if it's the principle, you could consider writing a letter to CR saying that you were charged for something to which you did not agree and you are contesting the charge with your credit card company and if they wish to discuss it with you prior to that happening they have two weeks to give you a call before you do it. Politely, of course ;)

I'd expect this not to work. There is a clearly-documented fee that AA can refer to. All the OP has is his/her word. I'm not doubting it, but I think that it will be hard to get the credit card company to take that over a well-documented fee.

Inasmuch as the OP would have done the transaction fee or not, it seems, I'd also let it drop.

Cheers.

Did you ask the agent to note the fee waiver in your PNR?

Personally, I find CR to be much better than CS, at least when dealing with problems. So very many times the first response from CS is way off the mark and I end up having to reply with a very long explanation (the web being limited to 1500 characters just doesn't do it many times). An example is writing them about a problem with a window seat and the first response goes into details on how to use the window shade.

As to your specific point, AA does record many calls. However, if you can get back to the actual CS rep, they may remember the transaction and facilitate a refund. Unfortunately, if the AAgents rolled over every time someone claimed a loss, AA would not be in bankruptcy but defunct!

Good luck getting this resolved.

Unfortunately I did not. I'll have to ask for this the next time.

But emails from AAdvantage CS allows you to reply via email, no need to have to go through the AA website again.

I have contacted AAdvantage CS about miles not posting (I was just impatient, anxious to get the PLT status), and they were very polite and helpful. Another time I contacted them about the offer extended to select GLDs for fast track to PLT/EXP and 20 stickers. I wasn't expecting anything, but they gave me 5 stickers anyway.

Sometimes I feel like CR has a scripted response, and doesn't even address all parts of my inquiry.

I think I'll give AA CS a phone call as a last resort. If I don't get anything, then I'll just drop it.

You might just try calling the 800# and asking for a transfer to CR. I suffer the same quite often, and have resolved to calling instead of wasting my time with an email that they never adequately address on the first time.

I once used the web form to ask why AA.com passwords are limited to 12 characters and got a friendly e-mail informing me not to worry, my password was reset and I can use the temporary password to log in!

In retrospect, that was kind of funny.

My telephone number is very close to one that AA gives travel agents. About once a year my number attracts TA's. I let AA know via CS email and things quiet down for a while.

It is fairly prompt.