dazza189

Yeah, that's the bit that annoys me the most. Their definition of metal neutrality doesn't seem to mean the same as one would expect it to.

I thought it would be fine when they said they were replacing the AA BOS-LHR directs with AA*, turns out in reality it's not such a good thing for consumers in my neck of the wood, especially if they have a bunch of miles to use!

Austinrunner

Taxes, fees, etc. for PHL -> LHR (BA) -> PHL (BA) in Y:

BA YQ surcharge (YQ) $458.00
US International Departure Tax (US) $17.50
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50
USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00
US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00
US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) $111.60
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) $66.20
US International Arrival Tax (US) $17.50
Total: $695.30

Dave Noble

On a paid ticket it makes no odds how the airline allocates the fare , whether it be all on fare or part fare , part surcharge

For BA , the lowest fare is $488 fare plus $458 surcharge plus taxes with total being $1187
For US, the lowest fare is $488 fare plus $458 surcharge plus taxes with total being $1187
For AA codeshared on BA, the lowest fare is $488 fare plus $458 surcharge plus taxes with total being $1187
For AA codeshared on US, the lowest fare is $946 fare plus taxes with total being $1187

Doesn't matter which of the 3 is booked, the total is the same, just the breakdown between fare and surcharge varies. Taxes are the same on all, so for a paid ticket it matters not what airline is used, the total is the same

The key issue for award bookings is that AA has agreed to collect BA surcharges on all travel booked on BA , including award tickets whilst AA ( unlike BA ) does not charge surcharges normally on award tickets

There is definitely a lack of neutrality here since for travel on AA, a BA member will be paying a lot more for an award ticket than an AA member will .

For true neutrality, perhaps AA should charge surcharges on all awards across the atlantic to be in line with BA , however it doesn't and AA members can come out very much ahead

For the OP, the airline cancelled a flight a long way in advance ( so even in the EU there would not even be any compensation due ) and rebooked on a flight which has the same award cost and gave the passenger choices and the passenger chose one that requires an overnight stay

dazza189

Or perhaps BA should not charge surcharges for it's awards on transatlantic routes to maintain the consumer choice that was present before the the anti-trust immunity was provided? Or perhaps AA shouldn't collect the surcharges on AA* award flights for the same reasons.

At the moment BA members come out behind - but nothing has changed for them. AA members have less choice and/or increased fees to accomplish the same thing that they used to.

flyertalker54234

My goodness, suggesting all the One World carriers sink to BA's standards is a bit drastic isn't it. The answer is simple, avoid BA and make sure Mr Parker and his colleagues are aware that trying to push AA fans onto BA services will be revenue negative. Trying to get BA to change its Business Standards is a fruitless task, particularly as IAG has only just returned to profit.

As prior post I suggest OP asks for routing from LGA via ORD on 90. This either means a 6.30 am flight same day or overnighting in ORD. Either way preferable to a red eye, in my book, and definitely better than paying BA for a "free"'ticket on a service which I find poorer than AA.

If you want carriers to align please choose the better ones like AA and JAL not BA or Iberia.

bedelman

If AA were to begin to collect carrier-imposed surcharges on transatlantic routes, it would need to change its redemption chart and disclosures. Customers would be alarmed. One imagines credit card partners would be alarmed. Indeed, if I were a bank buying $x million of miles per year, I think I'd want to make sure those are valuable so my card customers continue to want AA miles.

To date AAdvantage miles have been the gold standard -- even when AA's planes and route network were weak, some people (maybe some of us included) still went out of our way to earn AAdvantage miles. AA should hesitate before throwing that away. And actually I think they would be appropriately careful here. Fundamentally, this is one part of the old AA that is still basically working OK.

Austinrunner

AA does not collect the surcharges on codeshares because they are not bookable with AA miles (with one exception not applicable here).

Dave Noble

No it wouldn't. The chart did not change when the JBV started and AA started collecting BA surcharges. The booking details already discloses that there could be large amounts of carrier surcharges

Dave Noble

Not really. If wanting to argue that the meaning of metal-neutral should be that the same should apply regardless of carrier, then it is just as valid an argument that the surcharges be collected on all transatlantic flights

If this was an arguable case, given the options of (a) all surcharges being dropped or (b) being applied regardless, I know which one I would think to be a more likely outcome

Austinrunner

No one seems able to define that term in any authoritative way. So where does this "expectation" come from, other than just a personal desire for AA's policies to be a certain way?

flyertalker54234

Fortunately there are other choices across the Atlantic so if the standards at Oneworld were lowered to BA there would be other options both direct to London and also via Europe or Canada.

dazza189

I would say that as long as DL and UA offer flights with no surcharges for their frequent fliers I would expect AA management to be very reluctant to race to the bottom that way.

dazza189

I think any reasonable person can work out what neutrality generally is given to mean and then apply that definition contextually here. Inequality is certainly not in my understanding of the definition.

As Dave argues above it could mean charging surcharges on AA awards too, but it could also mean something else. It's one of the things I specifically called out in my complaint - hopefully we can get an authoritative opinion on what it actually means from people who have the power to enforce that opinion.

dazza189

You are quite correct that they do not currently allow this. It's a neat trick.
I was only intending to point out there are other possible outcomes than simply enforcing surcharges on all AA award redemptions.

Austinrunner

A "neat trick"????