just a rant.. booking time on phone, gift cards, voucher issues
Sep 26, 2017, 10:39 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 770
just a rant.. booking time on phone, gift cards, voucher issues
just need a safe place to rant after wasting 45 mins of my time with AA..
booking 4 tickets from TPA to CLT..
so first issue is the cost, $310/person, which is justifiable because they are the only option for the nonstop flight. cool.
now i had purchased a ticket a few months back on a flight that got rescheduled enough to where i had to purchase tickets on a different carrier and after months of calls they finally issued me a travel voucher for $200. i also have two gift cards that i wanted to use. to use the voucher you have to call in. ok so i call and after 15 mins of wait i get an agent who informs me she cant combine the voucher, gift cards, and CC. this is after 15 mins of information gathering for all 4 passengers. not her fault
ok thats fine, lets use the voucher, forget the gift cards. cool. now she informs me that i have to mail in the voucher??! what is this, the 19th century?? who uses mail?? it just seems like AA is on a mission to make it as difficult as possible to use this damn voucher..
ok so lets stick to the gift cards.. now she confirms all the information again and we are about to finalize the transaction when the numbers dont add up. "yes sir, i have to charge you a $25/passenger fee to book over the phone and i cant waive it". so before i lost my cool i thanked her for her time and told her that i will book online...
so thats my saga. thank you for listening. i just spent ~$1300 for 4 1.5hr tickets that are in basic economy as well. thanks for listening. i feel better
booking 4 tickets from TPA to CLT..
so first issue is the cost, $310/person, which is justifiable because they are the only option for the nonstop flight. cool.
now i had purchased a ticket a few months back on a flight that got rescheduled enough to where i had to purchase tickets on a different carrier and after months of calls they finally issued me a travel voucher for $200. i also have two gift cards that i wanted to use. to use the voucher you have to call in. ok so i call and after 15 mins of wait i get an agent who informs me she cant combine the voucher, gift cards, and CC. this is after 15 mins of information gathering for all 4 passengers. not her fault
ok thats fine, lets use the voucher, forget the gift cards. cool. now she informs me that i have to mail in the voucher??! what is this, the 19th century?? who uses mail?? it just seems like AA is on a mission to make it as difficult as possible to use this damn voucher..
ok so lets stick to the gift cards.. now she confirms all the information again and we are about to finalize the transaction when the numbers dont add up. "yes sir, i have to charge you a $25/passenger fee to book over the phone and i cant waive it". so before i lost my cool i thanked her for her time and told her that i will book online...
so thats my saga. thank you for listening. i just spent ~$1300 for 4 1.5hr tickets that are in basic economy as well. thanks for listening. i feel better
Sep 26, 2017, 10:43 am
#2
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
If the flights can't be booked online, the service fee should be waived.
You could have spent a few minutes in this forum, because there are extensive threads on that, using gift cards, vouchers...
You could have spent a few minutes in this forum, because there are extensive threads on that, using gift cards, vouchers...
Sep 26, 2017, 10:44 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 770
the voucher cant be used online. but once i found out you cant combine voucher and gift card we removed the voucher. you would think that they have some leeway to waive the service fee in a situation like this..
Sep 26, 2017, 10:45 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Here and there
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,551
ok thats fine, lets use the voucher, forget the gift cards. cool. now she informs me that i have to mail in the voucher??! what is this, the 19th century?? who uses mail?? it just seems like AA is on a mission to make it as difficult as possible to use this damn voucher..
Sep 26, 2017, 11:40 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: South Park, Metropolis
Programs: AA LT PLT 3MM, Hilton/Marriott/SPG/Club Carlson GLD, IHG PLT
Posts: 4,608
This is another way to use vouchers, might not work for all, but I've used it and has saved me some extra fees. Go to the airport and redeem directly at the ticket counter, no need to mail it in. Granted, I work close to the airport and can be dropped off or take a shuttle. As for the voucher and GC issue, you could have done 2 reservations, one pay with voucher, the other with the GC. It's sad that with all this advancements AA is stucked in the 70's technologically. Sometimes I feel that AA should publish an instruction manual on how to do business with them, because even their own reps don't even know how to.
