Google flights shows combined AA & LH flights. AA can't book. Help?
 

I'm trying to book tickets from ITH to JTR for next year. Google flights shows AA from ITH-PHL-ZRH and then LH for ZRH-MUC-JTR. I can't use the BA flight from LHR-JTR because it doesn't fly on the day I need to arrive (a Tuesday). The return would be BA metal JTR-LHR-LAX.

Google flights is showing the best price by far compared to all the other sites. When I click on the "Book with American" link it sends me through the entire process (entering name, credit card, seat selection, etc.), but at the "Purchase" link it returns stating that based on the passengers the price has increased (about double).

I've called AA and their rep stated that they could not book flights with LH segments. Any suggestions?

Maybe hangup and call again? AA can definitely book LH segments.

AA can book them on line or over the phone? The agent I spoke with was very knowledgeable and we discussed his prior experience with US booking LH segments. He complained that he was no longer able to book with LH.

Google Flights has issues with multi-city searches. It could very well quoting fares where there is no married segment inventory or fares where you can't combine certain carriers.

Try one of the online travel agencies (Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity). They often have interline options that the airlines themselves cannot sell.

Another option is American Express Travel. I just booked a VS-BA combo (thanks to Google Flights), and they were able to put together combos that weren't showing online anywhere. It seemed like they were able to get around what looked like "married segment" logic* on ExpertFlyer that didn't show the correct inventory on the flight pairs, and could piece together flights that individually had the correct inventory. In other words, I had a lot more flexibility in which flights I wanted vs. what I was able to get to show on the regular OTAs.

*I'm not sure I understand how one carrier can applied married segment logic to another carrier's flights, so not sure what exactly was the problem.

Just go to Souvlaki House instead. :D

I tried them and none worked.

Tried that too. No luck.

I tried google flights again this morning and the results it returned still didn't work.

Then I tried searching on the AA site (again, for about the fifteenth time...). The flights that I found on GF yesterday appeared on the AA site (without using GF), but they still wouldn't book. AA did offer a combination slightly different from what GF showed and it worked! The only difference was that the ZRH-MUC leg is on Swiss rather than LH (and yes, I know they're affiliated). The price was a few dollars more than what google flights showed with the LH flight but that's not an issue.

Now that it's evening all of the prices and flight options have changed again.

Odd...

Just to clarify - you called Amex travel? They were able to book (on the phone) for me what wouldn't show on their own website.

The agent was not that experienced as you think. AA can certainly book LH flights, and checking the fares for your specific itinerary (ITH - JTR), I can see that any LH operated flight (and a few LH*YY codeshares) can be used for travel within Europe. The issue could be with availability of specific booking classes on the flights that you want to book.

In searching on the AA site three of the four flight combinations with LH flights failed to book at the very end of the process (the "Purchase" link). Only the trip with the Swiss flight (plus one LH flight) successfully booked. Again, it's just odd.