arollins

Seems obvious to me that you need to do ORC first if you want to claim the miles, however, seeing this was for a non status member, why do you care? Once miles deposited, then request for refund.

donotblink

donotblink

Prefunds just issued a $182.31 USD refund. The YVR -> ORD segment was 1,765 miles and the ORD -> LGA segment was 733 miles. Since the up-fare was $333.78 and the downgrade occurred for 70.6565% of the 2,498 trip, I would have expected a refund of roughly $235. :-/

donotblink

My friend wrote into customer relations with the following (I formed the letter for him):

I was involuntarily downgraded on American Airlines Flight #397 on Sunday, February 17, 2019 on a paid business class fare. I was originally booked in economy but up-fared my $ 229.80 ticket booked in S by $333.78 to an I ticket. After boarding, I was told that another passenger needed my seat and I would be required to sit in economy in a non reclining exit row seat. I was not issued the correct refund by your refunds department. Refunds just issued a $182.31 USD refund. The YVR -> ORD segment was 1,765 miles and the ORD -> LGA segment was 733 miles. Since the up-fare was $333.78 and the downgrade occurred for 70.6565% of the 2,498 trip, I would have expected a refund of $235.


This is what I got in response:February 25, 2019




Hello Mr. (redacted):
Thank you for contacting American Airlines.

I am sorry to learn that you were downgraded on flight 397. I'm sure you were very disappointed with us. Please accept my sincere apology. I have spoke with the Refunds Department and your refund is correct.

We very much appreciate your participation in our AAdvantage® program. As a gesture of goodwill, I have added 5,000 bonus miles to your AAdvantage® account. This adjustment will be reflected in your account very soon.

Mr. (redacted), we appreciate your business and look forward to welcoming you on a future American Airlines flight.
Sincerely,

(redacted)Customer RelationsAmerican Airlines
--

I'm pretty angry about this response and I responded with the following, under my name with my AAdvantage number, hoping it carries more clout:

Dear Ms. (redacted),


My name is (donotblink) and I'm an Executive Platinum member of the AAdvantage Program, my member number is (redacted). I also paid for Mr. (redacted)'s ticket. I'm writing in to help Mr. (redacted) to escalate this issue. Can you please help me understand what basis the refunds department used to get to the refund amount of $182.31? This appears to me to be the incorrect amount of the refund. This should actually be an easy refund to process, because it's very clear in the Sabre records to see the original ticket price paid for a S fare basis and what was used at the time of the upfare to the I fare basis.

Mr. (redacted) was involuntarily downgraded on American Airlines Flight #397 on Sunday, February 17, 2019 on a paid business class fare.

He was originally booked in economy but up-fared his $ 229.80 ticket booked in S by $333.78 to an I ticket. After boarding, he was told that another passenger needed his seat and he would be required to sit in economy in a non reclining exit row seat.

Please help me understand why the refunds department is retaining such a high percentage of Mr. (redacted)'s paid business class fare.

Please feel free to call us to discuss this matter further at (our home telephone number).

Thank you,
(redacted and redacted-both my name and the name of the pax who was downgraded)

USFlyerUS

I'm not sure it's always based on a percentage of distance. I had a SEA-JFK-DCA itinerary where the JFK-DCA leg cancelled. I ended up taking Amtrak to DC. However, the refund I got was about 2.5x what I expected based on distance. I didn't question it given it worked in my favor. I'm curious what AA's reply is.

donotblink

Just a thought, it's possible that there were two fare basis's used to price your ticket, and that the same inventory might not have been available for all of your segments. So, maybe SEA -> JFK was ticketed in O (deep discount economy) but JFK -> DCA was ticketed in Y (full fare economy). Not sure if this is the case, but just a hunch.

In my case, the fare basis used was S0ACZSI5 for all segments--I think, at least that's what the receipt on prefunds.aa.com is showing now.

Stripe

EQDs are allocated per segment by percentage of distance. It would seem the logic would also apply to apportioning the fare difference when only part of the trip was downgraded.

autdi

Interesting, none of my last 4 trips have this work out. On some it was close, others, not really.

USFlyerUS

It was I-class on both flights. I didn't see the fare basis as the receipt from the agent didn't show that.

donotblink

donotblink

I just got this e-mail from customer relations, sowing that they were reviewing the wrong segment and thought he was downgraded on the short-haul:

February 27, 2019

Hello Mr. (donotblink):

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations. I am sorry you are unhappy with the refund amount received.

Mr. (donotblink), the refund was processed correctly. The refund provide was for the segment of the flight Mr. (2nd pax) did not receive the upgrade or business class seating and not the whole ticket amount. Since Mr. (2nd pax) sat in business class from Vancouver to Chicago- no refund is applicable for this segment of the flight.

Our records also indicate a $500 voucher was provided for the downgrade, which is in accordance to the Department of Transportation regulations.

I hope this information is helpful.

We appreciate Mr. (2nd pax)'s participation in our AAdvantage program since 2014. Thank you for choosing American Airlines.

I have included a copy of this response to Mr. (2nd pax).

Sincerely,
(redacted)
Customer Relations
American Airlines
AA Ref# 1-(redacted)
CC:
Mr. (2nd pax)

I responded with this:

Dear Ms. (redacted),

Your correspondence is incorrect. Mr. (2nd pax) sat in economy from Vancouver to Chicago.

Please review this with a manager in refunds, because clearly, they were incorrectly reviewing the shorter segment.

Best regards,
(donotblink)

donotblink

I wanted to provide a quick update. I went back and forth with customer relations nearly a dozen times and never got any change in outcome. I helped my friend file a DOT complaint a few weeks ago, and AA sent an additional $67.86 refund today--which is actually more than I had even asked for. I probably put way more than $67.86 of my time into getting this refund, but honestly, I was mad that they shortchanged me and it was about the principal.

dickinson

Undoubtedly. And also the principle.

donotblink

my bad, thanks for the correction.

genotonda

One in every crowd.