Business award downgraded BCN-ORD segment, AA fails to refund equitably
Nov 5, 2018, 12:52 pm
#46
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,550
Well of course they think it's unfair. If it were up to them, they'd downgrade you on your $2000 advance purchase business class ticket and try to refund the difference to the last-minute coach fare, which is $2500, and so you should be paying them. Fair to them is -- we're moving your flight an hour earlier, deal with it, but when I want to change to the flight an hour earlier they want $200. The big corporation that gets to unilaterally write the contract of carriage doesn't get to decide what's fair to the consumer.
Such a regulation might well change AA's attitude towards downgrading passengers within the USA
Nov 5, 2018, 4:34 pm
#47
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Be careful what you wish for.
Most US penalty fares are a great deal more flexible than their EU counterparts and provide for at least trade credit for the cancellation of most (largely BE fares excepted) inflexible fares as well as liberal SDC and freebie domestic UG's. Not so in Europe (for the most part).
All of that flexibility leads to overbooking both of the aircraft and certainly the premium cabins. Make inflexible tickets truly inflexible and get rid of SDC and the need for overbooking would drop like a rock.
Most US penalty fares are a great deal more flexible than their EU counterparts and provide for at least trade credit for the cancellation of most (largely BE fares excepted) inflexible fares as well as liberal SDC and freebie domestic UG's. Not so in Europe (for the most part).
All of that flexibility leads to overbooking both of the aircraft and certainly the premium cabins. Make inflexible tickets truly inflexible and get rid of SDC and the need for overbooking would drop like a rock.
Nov 10, 2018, 5:44 pm
#48
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DTW
Programs: AMEX PLAT, DL PLAT, RITZ CARLTON PLAT, HILTON GOLD
Posts: 49
Follow-up to the downgrade feed
We finally got our full refund for our downgraded BCN-ORD-DTW flight, and it was for 75% of the full miles spent, not apportioned by downgraded leg (btw the # of miles required on day of purchase 11/10/17 for one-way BCN-ORD and BCN-ORD-DTW were the same (135,000 miles)). It only took AA a month to do the right thing according to EC261/2004 although the regulation states it must be done within 7 days. One interesting thing is on my account mileage page it states the miles were refunded on 10/7/18. Now that is some creativite CYA backdating!