HatAndJacket

sorry for your loss... I doubt any other airline other than WN or maybe B6 would be any different... my friend recently tried to change a DL ticket that was booked one week too late by mistake and would cause him to miss a wedding... DL said too bad... those are the rules on restricted fares.

nrr

In another thread on FT, I noted that I erred in my return flts date (I found out about the error, when I wanted the hotel I was staying at to print my bp--I was trying one day too early). I used miles (at full rate) to fly the return on the date I should have been flying. [I "ate" my loss = error]
I was admonished in that thread by one or two posters, noting that AA might penalize me for not flying my paid return--I was not penalized--nor should I have been. No airline could be that draconian.

LTRS

That is EXACTLY the point. I don't complain when I need to book a last minute business trip and the fare is higher. I also don't go shopping around -- I (used to at least) stick (stuck) to AA.

Sure, AA can make the business decision that my loyalty should not be taken into account for bereavement or similar situations. I, too, and am given the freedom to make determinations about MY loyalty to them.

And so I did. And it was not hard at all.

vasantn

<redacted>

There is no rule being ducked. It is clear that the prohibition is intended to deter commercial activity. If I loan my neighbor a cup of sugar and he returns it to me a few days later, it is not a commercial transaction by any stretch of the imagination.

Thank you for injecting a dose of common sense here. ^

vasantn

To get back on topic (and with apologies for the earlier thread drift), the major perception issue here arises because for an airline seat sold at the last minute, the incremental revenue bears no relationship to the incremental cost. So consumers get resentful because they feel that the airline could have done them a favor and it would not have cost the airline anything. This is faulty reasoning. The airline has a revenue model that is different from the revenue model of a dress shop or a coffee shop, in that it has invested huge sums of money in equipment and needs to recover and make a profit on that investment. For it to give up thousands of dollars in incremental revenue just because there is no incremental cost attached to it defeats the business model. But that is too complicated for most of the public to understand.

Austinrunner

Assuming marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost, explain the problem.

The real issue has nothing to do with either margins or incrementalism. The issue is bigger picture than that.

vasantn

The problem is the perception issue. To the general public, the airline is charging $4K (or whatever) for something that incrementally costs it next to nothing. Therefore it must be greedy, evil, unfeeling, <insert your own adjective>.

Even on this board which is undoubtedly more informed than the general public, you see evidence of that attitude right in this thread.

Stripe

My sympathy to the OP for the loss of his mother. But not much sympathy for the rest of it. He booked a cheap ticket for the wrong date and AA won't bail him out. Whether it was for a memorial service or to gamble in Vegas doesn't matter. I have done the same in the past and, unless I notice it shortly after I make the reservation, I don't expect the airline to bend the clear provisions of a non-refundable ticket. Would I ask them to? Sure. But if they said no I would not throw a fit and threaten the airline with apocalypse due to the loss of my business. Frankly, anyone could play the "I made a mistake" card. If an airline routinely bent the rules in those cases it would quickly make a shambles of the whole pricing scheme.

Neither DL or UA would have done differently. WN doesn't charge a change fee but they would still hit you for a fare difference, which I would guess the OP was also looking at.

The real problem is the size of the change fee. $200 is ridiculous, but that is the state of the airline world today. Someday in the not too distant future it will no doubt be $250 or more.

AA_EXP09

You can pass the LSAT without a law degree (though I certainly wouldn't hire such a person as legal counsel...)

CMK10

Do you mean the Bar Exam? The LSAT is the law school admissions test which most people pass without a law degree

hillrider

In my part of the business world relationships based on trust are the most important drivers of success.

YMMV, but what a terribly sad world you inhabit.

QueenOfCoach

Sure, trust between an airline and customers.

"I trust that when I buy an airline ticket I will be safely transported as agreed from A to B, barring safety issues such as weather, mechanicals, etc."

"We trust that when you buy a non-refundable, restricted ticket you accept the associated restrictions and don't come back later telling us the restrictions don't apply to you for reasons under which we have no control."

Another thing: "Almost ready to quit AA" is a threat. I don't pay much attention to threats. I don't make a threat unless I am 100% prepared to see it through.

Saying "I'm disappointed they did not bend their usual rules for my special situation, but will still fly AA" is OK.

Saying "I have quit flying AA because they did not bend their usual rules for my special situation" is OK.

Saying "I am threatening to quit unless AA bends their usual rules for my special situation" is not OK.

hillrider

Compare and contrast: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...exibility.html

Interestingly role reversal (BA reservations have the reputation of being cold, while AA used to have a warm and fuzzy reputation).

vasantn

But the bottom line is that the airline is a business and will make decisions that it perceives as being in its own interest.

While I have no love for DL, this email that they sent to a disgruntled customer was right on:

While the above was in relation to the recent SkyMiles changes, it could just as well apply to any policy that the airline chooses to adopt. If it's a bad move, the market will penalize the airline.

ijgordon

Yeah, but the airline industry is a unique one IMO, probably for reasons too numerous to go into. But even putting that aside, it really just comes down to competition. The more competition there is, the more "things" a company will do to keep your business. We all know what's happened to competition in the domestic airline business over the last decade, and now we pay. Prices are higher, loyalty benefits are diminished and waivers are more difficult to come by. Personally, I blame the last two administrations.