Mar 22, 2016, 10:06 am
Last edit by: JDiver
ARCHIVE: AA Eliminates 24 Hour HOLD 1 Apr 2016
As of 1 Apr 2016: 24 hour free cancellation,
except bookings purchased within seven days of travel.
NOTE: Hold and 24 hour cancelation online can be used currently until it is terminated.
As of 1 Apr 2016: 24 hour free cancellation,
except bookings purchased within seven days of travel.
NOTE: Hold and 24 hour cancelation online can be used currently until it is terminated.
See current thread: Free 24 hr Hold on AA.com Now Only Offered Randomly 3 Nov 2016
Bookings made now state:
"You have 24 hours to cancel your trip for a full refund if you booked at least 7 days prior to departure. (Link to) Refunds policy."
For bookings made online, AA may continue to offer hold for unspecified interim going forward, but 24 hours hold via telephone booking may no longer granted by agents (though occasional ones might anyway).
update July 2016
AA will follow USDOT requirements to the letter, not the industry standards:
● 24 hour cancellation with refund and no penalty, though
● No free 24-hour cancellations for purchases within seven days of flying (except on refundable fares)
● 24 hour hold dropped for telephone bookings 1 April - but per a post here, will continue to be available for an undetermined interim period of time
● 24 hour hold will be offered for online bookings for an undetermined interim period of time
● during this period both free 24 hour hold and 24 hour no fee cancellation will be possible
● Extended hold for pay will still be offered online on many bookings (not within seven days)
● The five day holds for awards, and 24 hours within fifteen days of travel (all awards by non-elites also incur a $75 close in processing fee) remain unaffected
● No free 24-hour cancellations for purchases within seven days of flying (except on refundable fares)
● 24 hour hold dropped for telephone bookings 1 April - but per a post here, will continue to be available for an undetermined interim period of time
● 24 hour hold will be offered for online bookings for an undetermined interim period of time
● during this period both free 24 hour hold and 24 hour no fee cancellation will be possible
● Extended hold for pay will still be offered online on many bookings (not within seven days)
● The five day holds for awards, and 24 hours within fifteen days of travel (all awards by non-elites also incur a $75 close in processing fee) remain unaffected
Gary Leff, From the Boarding Area, 31 Mar 2016: (link) American spokesperson Joshua Freed confirmed to me today:
● They are making the change
● It does go into effect tomorrow, April 1 after all.
● They are making the change
● It does go into effect tomorrow, April 1 after all.
Previous, obsolete thread: ARCHIVE: AA 24 Hour Cancellation Policy: Offer 24 Hour Hold (obsolete)
Prior statement 20 March 2016: "There is not a final decision on this. Moving to refunds instead of a hold policy is something we are looking at, but it has not been decided.
There are some issues and implications we need to sort through before we do anything – which may be nothing at all.
There are some emails and meetings about all of this, and it looks like someone was eager to share the news.
If something officially changes, we will let customers know in advance. Nothing has been decided as I write this at 7:32am on Monday."
- Gary Leff, View from the wing Link
There are some issues and implications we need to sort through before we do anything – which may be nothing at all.
There are some emails and meetings about all of this, and it looks like someone was eager to share the news.
If something officially changes, we will let customers know in advance. Nothing has been decided as I write this at 7:32am on Monday."
- Gary Leff, View from the wing Link
ARCHIVE: HOLD ticket changed 1 Apr 2016 - 24 hr cancellation (but, read...)
Mar 22, 2016, 11:26 am
#91
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: USA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles
Posts: 4,159
Where this would impact me negatively is in a common ticket-buying strategy of mine. If I see a fare I like for a trip I'm going to take, I'll put it on Hold. The next day, if the price is the same, I'll do it again. If the price goes down, I'll put that on Hold, If it bumps up too much, I'll buy.
This will be much more inconvenient with the purchase/refund mechanics.
Cheers.
This will be much more inconvenient with the purchase/refund mechanics.
Cheers.
Mar 22, 2016, 11:42 am
#92
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
I don't recall ever seeing anyone get in trouble for this specific behavior, nor do I think it breaks the letter or spirit of the rules. Holding F tickets under phony names (on a flight where you already have a paid Y ticket) to increase the odds of getting an upgrade, yes. Renewing a single hold each day until you're ready to buy, absolutely not.
Mar 22, 2016, 11:48 am
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
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Posts: 33,533
I don't recall ever seeing anyone get in trouble for this specific behavior, nor do I think it breaks the letter or spirit of the rules. Holding F tickets under phony names (on a flight where you already have a paid Y ticket) to increase the odds of getting an upgrade, yes. Renewing a single hold each day until you're ready to buy, absolutely not.
Cheers.
Mar 22, 2016, 1:59 pm
#94
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: USA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles
Posts: 4,159
I don't recall ever seeing anyone get in trouble for this specific behavior, nor do I think it breaks the letter or spirit of the rules. Holding F tickets under phony names (on a flight where you already have a paid Y ticket) to increase the odds of getting an upgrade, yes. Renewing a single hold each day until you're ready to buy, absolutely not.
Mar 22, 2016, 2:15 pm
#95
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
I'm speaking of if AA institutes a 24-hour system - customers who repeatedly buy tickets, cancel, re-buy, cancel, etc., can be flagged as fraudulent behavior. I don't have the link right now, but it did happen on Delta before - their security department saw re-buys and re-cancels on a repeated basis (more than two times, IIRC), and flagged it as fraud.
Mar 22, 2016, 3:19 pm
#96
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: AUS TUS
Programs: AA PLT, UA GLD
Posts: 993
this morning I guess something went wrong during the change for the update and I couldn't put reservation on hold even there was a button for it. call and agent put in on hold (5 days for award ticket).
now I'm trying to book a ticket but there's no hold choice.
now I'm trying to book a ticket but there's no hold choice.
Mar 22, 2016, 3:28 pm
#97
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Programs: AA PPro, Mariott Gold Elite, Lowly kettle across every other loyalty program.
Posts: 778
I like to hold tickets for possible travel, and when I know, then make the decision, because fares only ever seem to go up from my outstation. Won't be doing this if they switch, because I have no confidence in AA's refund procedures. It's bad enough trying to get a refund out of them now. How long will they take Aadvantage of my interest-free loan?
Mar 22, 2016, 3:41 pm
#98
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,926
Assuming that a hold takes the seat out of inventory in the same way as a purchase then there wouldn't seem to be a difference. And if AA just puts a hold on your cc and then releases it as soon as you cancel then there may not be much difference to you - as long as you remember to cancel in time.
Mar 22, 2016, 5:23 pm
#99
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: jfk area
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Posts: 10,291
Other than feeding the credit back into their system the timing of a refund is up to your card issuer and not the merchant. Some banks choose to process charges very quickly but delay the credit, guess why? They want to keep your money as long as they can. Of the POSs (choose your own definition here) I've worked with, all transactions submitted immediately and our account was settled the next business day. Typically the charge would show as pending on the customer's account very quickly, some credits took days before showing up. There was nothing we could do to make it quicker short of giving a cash refund, which was against the rules.
Moving to a 24-hour refund may be consistent with what other airlines are doing, it will also raise the cost to AA since they pay a fee to process the credit, just like they do a charge. Guess who will be paying for that fee? Personally, I think keeping the 24-hour hold is a better solution and I'd hate to see them add a CC Refund Fee.
Moving to a 24-hour refund may be consistent with what other airlines are doing, it will also raise the cost to AA since they pay a fee to process the credit, just like they do a charge. Guess who will be paying for that fee? Personally, I think keeping the 24-hour hold is a better solution and I'd hate to see them add a CC Refund Fee.
--just add $2.00 (say) to the base fare for every ticket--not dissimilar to what Hotels do with RESORT FEES (even though these are stated upfront), the FEE might cover things I never need or use.
Mar 22, 2016, 6:28 pm
#100
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: US
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 1,753
Over the last week I had the best example of why I prefer a hold over 24 hour refund.
A group of us coming from various places are planning a trip to South America. I placed an itinerary on hold, emailed everyone else, everyone else looked and checked what it would be from their area, would those dates work etc. When that itinerary didn't work, we'd change the dates, flights etc. Being able to hold meant we could do this multiple times until it worked - knowing that the price wasn't going to change while we took some time to discuss. If we'd had to purchase to hold the price while we discussed, it would've been harder. I don't know about you but while I have decent credit, I don't have enough credit to buy multiple intercontinental business class trips at the same time, even if I know a refund is eventually going to come on most of them. In fact, most of the others probably would've just given in and booked other airlines instead of going through AA.
A group of us coming from various places are planning a trip to South America. I placed an itinerary on hold, emailed everyone else, everyone else looked and checked what it would be from their area, would those dates work etc. When that itinerary didn't work, we'd change the dates, flights etc. Being able to hold meant we could do this multiple times until it worked - knowing that the price wasn't going to change while we took some time to discuss. If we'd had to purchase to hold the price while we discussed, it would've been harder. I don't know about you but while I have decent credit, I don't have enough credit to buy multiple intercontinental business class trips at the same time, even if I know a refund is eventually going to come on most of them. In fact, most of the others probably would've just given in and booked other airlines instead of going through AA.
2) They presumably now have the data from US Airways to compare directly the 24 hour refund rule to the AA hold rule. They may well have found that the 24 hour refund rule leads to more revenue, presumably since it requires action to not purchase rather than action to purchase. That could well outweigh the initial reservations lost from customers who like the hold. I don't know, but I bet AA does.
Now that you mention it, Spirit literally charges an "Unintended consequences of DOT regulations" fee to make up for the (overstated?) revenue loss of having to provide refunds within 24 hours.
Mar 22, 2016, 6:30 pm
#101
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,950
Except airfares are normally dollar-for-dollar matched to the competition. Fortunately, airlines aren't allowed to tack on mandatory fees to the advertised price. So if AA increases their prices (whether by tacking on a fee or increasing the fare), their prices will be $2 higher than the competition and thus show up after the competition in a search ordered by price. I doubt the lost sales are worth that, which is why you hardly ever see one airline priced just $2 above the competition on any route.
Mar 22, 2016, 6:33 pm
#102
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
Sadly, it seems increasingly apparent that the free 24-hour hold is the DOT's Betamax: mocked and despised by the masses despite being technically superior for those who know how to use it.
Mar 23, 2016, 6:44 am
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Location: South Florida
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Understand, DOT did not create the 24-hour hold. It was added to the rules because AA had already been using it and did not want to change. Just like many of the FAA rules are written by the airlines and submitted to the FAA for review and held accountable.
Mar 30, 2016, 7:26 am
#104
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,203
Looks like new hold options are here.
Mar 30, 2016, 7:28 am
#105
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