fttc

I have a situation that I need the opinions of the experts here.

I originally have an AA award flight from VIE to LHR, then to DFW, then to my final destination for a travel a couple months down the road. Leaving VIE around noon time. However, the last flight from DFW seems to get cancelled. So they moved everything up, so now I have to leave VIE at 7am. I tried to get AA to reroute me through a different port of entry other than DFW, but the working options are all on BA metal. So AA told me that I have to pay for the fuel surcharge, (they call it tax). I tried to argue that this is involuntary reroute, and under EU regulation, they should accommodate as long as they have seats which they do on the BA since they have code share. AA claims the revenue and award tickets are treated differently. And they also argue it's a tax even after I pointed out to them that real tax should be same in this case. I talked to them twice, and they won't budge.

So here are the questions.

(1) Do I have any recourse under EU regulation? Am I right to argue the revenue and award tickets should be treated same in this situation?

(2) What if AA plainly refuses to do anything, what kind of actions can I take?

(3) On a related note, I only see the rules talk about delays. I don't remember seeing it talking about if you are forced to leave early. Does it resolve all liability of the airline as long as they can get you out early, no matter how much earlier it is?

JFX1764

How far in the future is the booking?

fttc

A few months down the road. So I'm not talking about compensation here.

But I believe it's classified as cancellation, and from my understanding, If your flight is cancelled you have the right to reimbursement, re-routing, or return.

And I'm trying to argue the rerouting option.

Mwenenzi

Have they put the surcharge=tax in writing? If not tell them you want that in writing. The words and their meaning is important. Then to DOT

The exact forward date of the flight is important. EC261 has limits.

AA forum EC261 thread--->GUIDE: EC261 / EC 261/2004 “EU” complaints, compensation and AA

chrisSC

I'm having the same issue here only from SEA to LHR (originally on AA metal via DFW). AA telling me i'm responsible for BA's carrier imposed charges to fly non-stop even though reroute is due to AA schedule change (cancellation).

Any update yet?

Often1

AA may not require the payment of the surcharge (which is not a tax). But, it also need not offer the BA option. Both EC 261/2004 and DOT 14 CFR rules would prohibit the involuntary collection of the surcharge. But, neither requires AA to reroute on another carrier in these two circumstances.

In either situation, the reroute could simply be on the next available AA operated flight with availability. It will be your choice as to whether you accept the reroute on BA.

dickinson

As I understand the OP, he was given the same itinerary on the same day as he had booked, but the departure is 5 hours earlier due to the schedule change (cancellation of OP's last connecting flight of the day from DFW to his ultimate destination). OP was unhappy with this change, and wanted to fly a later flight with BA, through a different connecting city than DFW, and thus the discussion over the fees if he flew on BA rather than AA. So it is not quite accurate to say that AA is involuntarily requiring the OP to pay a surcharge.

GWFan

Could you ask for your return flight to be moved back a day?

Often1

I'm not sure what you are suggesting. That is exactly what I said. This is not an involuntary reroute, in which case AA could not collect the BA fee. Rather, it is the passenger requesting a specific reroute which happens to have additional fees. His choices are to accept the proposed reroute (which does not carry additional carrier fees), find a reroute which AA will issue and which does not incur fees, or take the reroute with fees and pay them.