Platinum member charged $25 to select seats
Nov 30, 2015, 3:42 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The Dakotas
Posts: 608
Platinum member charged $25 to select seats
I redeemed Citi Thank You points through Citi's Connexions travel agency for an AA flight. I gave my AA # when making the reservation. I later logged into my AA account to select my seats and any preferred or MCE seating was showing a $ charge. I called up AA to inquire as I thought I should be able to select these seats without a fee. I was told I could select them but there would be a $25 telephone charge to do so. I reluctantly paid this but am wondering if this was correct information on the agents part. I have booked AA flights through third party before and have not run across this issue. Is this a new policy?
Nov 30, 2015, 3:46 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,921
I redeemed Citi Thank You points through Citi's Connexions travel agency for an AA flight. I gave my AA # when making the reservation. I later logged into my AA account to select my seats and any preferred or MCE seating was showing a $ charge. I called up AA to inquire as I thought I should be able to select these seats without a fee. I was told I could select them but there would be a $25 telephone charge to do so. I reluctantly paid this but am wondering if this was correct information on the agents part. I have booked AA flights through third party before and have not run across this issue. Is this a new policy?
Nov 30, 2015, 5:39 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,532
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
If you were unable to select a seat after being logged in, then I either would have contacted the travel agency that booked the ticket, or AA Web Services.
Originally Posted by Redeemed
Yes my AA number was on the PNR and I logged into my AA account to see the reservation under "My Trips".
Nov 30, 2015, 6:13 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador, AA EXP
Posts: 2,702
Here is info on the fee: https://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/aaco...es_charges.jsp
Look for "Assistance by Reservations".
It looks like they no longer waive it for EXPs either.
Look for "Assistance by Reservations".
It looks like they no longer waive it for EXPs either.
Nov 30, 2015, 7:35 pm
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I redeemed Citi Thank You points through Citi's Connexions travel agency for an AA flight. I gave my AA # when making the reservation. I later logged into my AA account to select my seats and any preferred or MCE seating was showing a $ charge. I called up AA to inquire as I thought I should be able to select these seats without a fee. I was told I could select them but there would be a $25 telephone charge to do so. I reluctantly paid this but am wondering if this was correct information on the agents part. I have booked AA flights through third party before and have not run across this issue. Is this a new policy?
I've been seeing cases of people with merged AA+US accounts where the AA number sticks to the bookings but the elite benefits don't come over due to some kind of mismatch between the ticket info and the updated AAdvantage account info.
Nov 30, 2015, 7:38 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The Dakotas
Posts: 608
Under "Assistance by Reservations" it states:
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
Nov 30, 2015, 7:43 pm
#8
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Under "Assistance by Reservations" it states:
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
Nov 30, 2015, 7:45 pm
#9
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Under "Assistance by Reservations" it states:
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
"Applies for voluntary itinerary changes to reservations not initially created by Reservations or on aa.com"
So this does not seem to fit in that category. I called the Platinum desk again and another agent told me I should have been able to select my seat online and if not I should have been transferred to "Web Support" to deal with the issue. She seemed to think the fee should have been waived. She checked with a supervisor and was unable to do anything about the fee charged as it was "assessed by Reservations". She advised me to contact Reservations directly and ask for a supervisor. I am wondering how it was "assessed by Reservations" in the first place as I initially had called into the Platinum desk.
I haven't yet tried to call them as I am a little tired of the phone game at this point. I am considering tweeting to see if I get a better result.
Web support should be able to help. If not, then previously I would have suggested contacting AAdvantage Customer Service or AA Customer Relations; but not so much, any more.