percysmith

Airlines taking individual passengers to court over airline pricing e.g. UA and LH skiplagged cases usually doesn't end well for airline. Airlines only win when they are prosecution judge and jury.

ryan182

With what has been posted in this thread, even people who think big corporations are evil would have a hard time finding sympathy for the OP. Had they tried to go after him for the 32 or 13K they claimed he "cost" them; yeah that would be stupid and terrible PR. But this thread is public, his admissions are here for all to see, if he tried it again after all this I can't see how that's analogous to the LH skip leg example or how even the most die hard "big business sucks" twitter mod would conjure up sympathy. but �\_(ツ)_/�

danielonn

I thought AA takes a pre authorization when you click submit and then takes the amount when it tickets like a hotel .So am invalid cars would come back as invalid and would not generate a PNR. If anything it would be on AA if they are taking invalid cards since 2016 and they may be violating the Credit Card issuer's terms.

I would call your Credit Card's Fraud Department and ask them to intervene. Vetisign may also need to intervene. You as the customer could argue you were booking in good faith and AA accepted the payment and reservation.

danielonn

Holds are non binding and expire after 24 hours. Airlines hold Award reservations ins for up to 72 hours before ticketing when partner airlines are involved to verify Award Space and it expires if none is available.

A Hold is just that .

rumboj

Except he wasn�t acting in good faith and AA never accepted the payment because the CC provided was invalid. He does not have a reservation until it is ticketed, but he did tie up inventory in the intervening period. I am not sure why so many seem to want to find a way to give the OP a pass.

On a related note, so many are spending time debating whether $13K �makes sense� or �if worth it�. There�s a concept in the business world known as �firing a customer� when they become a pain to deal with or otherwise unprofitable. I don�t think AA really wants this customer�s money. Rather, they might want to get rid of him altogether and ensure he doesn�t earn further benefits from the FFP. Coming up with an amount that he is unlikely to pay achieves that.

I�ve had to fire many risky or difficult customers before. Sometimes it is easier to just jack up their fees to the point where they will take their business elsewhere. I just say �we understand� and happily part ways.

MSPeconomist

Depending on the market and fare rules, often the change fees are higher than this for nonrefundable international business class tickets.

Dave Noble

Except that the OP didn't place a booking on hold that would expire , the OP confirmed purchase of a ticket. Airlines can take holds for a long time - I have put things on hold for a long period - regardless that is irrelevant since that isn't what the person did

ijgordon

No because he could have rolled over previous bookings he didn�t want to make new bookings. $200 per changed booking. @:-)

Often1

This.

Another good example of why analogies never work. The conduct here is not "like a hold." It plain and simple was not a hold.

mvoight

That isn't what happens if you book with an invalid card on AA. Did you not see what that one guy was doing. On many occasions he did this, and got more time to either provide a valid card, or simply canceled the booking after he chose not fly. This was in addition to the 24 hold time, and the 24 hours you have to get a refund. He knew how this worked, and knew he had been doing something wrong. Now it is up to him to decide if he wants to pay up, or never fly AA again.

danielonn

Then AA and other airlines needs to fix this loophole. if I had a company we would plain out refuse to take an invalid credit card for fear of the person not paying us. Its very simple to decline a payment method and show a warning message stating that the Form Of Payment did not go through and to try again with a different Form of Payment. Now I can see paying an amount to keep the reservation on hold for a week and applying that to the ticket or losing that amount.

Yes the OP is doing something very shady and is knowingly using invalid credit cards.

danielonn

Inventory in my opinion should never be "tied up' for longer than the necessary amount of time. If a credit card cannot pre-authorize the amount for any reason then the inventory gets released right away. Sorry you can't pay for those shoes then you don't get them.

danielonn

AA and other airlines or hotels etc. can do a "Fare Lock" and get rid of holds all together. So for the FareLocks that are nonrefundable or applied to a new Ticket AA would have Made $3, 150 on the OP's tickets at $50 a piece which is reasonable but not the absurd $33,000. To take it a step further if AA wanted to monopolize on Basic Econ Tickets ( perhaps including a $10 off Bag Check and $10 off Seat Assignments for selecting them at time of ticketing)those Fare Locks would be $100. If you are not sure about the flight you want pay a nonrefundable $50 and when you book it the $50 gets applied to your reservation. In the end you would essentially have a week to confirm a ticket. I would much rather lose $50 than lose a $1000 nonrefundable ticket per ticket. Yes its a small price to pay but this would avoid these free holds to tie up inventory. Look when I book a ticket I know what I want and what price I am willing to pay. If I had a doubt I would pay $50 to lock in the fare while consulting with other partners if a I am pretty sure but if I am not so sure I would just book when I am ready.

One other option is AA can limit the # of Free Holds per year then after this you are subjected to the $50 Fare Lock.

In theory AA would make money either way.$50 gets applied to the ticket or $50 is nonrefundable. You could still cancel the ticket 24 hours after purchase minus the $50 Fare Lock. This would deter Families or Businesses from holding onto tickets letting it expire holding it again etc. What Family would want to lose $200 due to this Fare Lock not being refundable? Fraudsters would be less inclined to hold release hold again. $50 is a reasonable stopgap measure to avoid Fraud. I would not do the Fare Lock if I knew I would lose out let alone let 4 others book and lose the $50 per ticket. I would do my $50 Fare Lock consult with traveling partners and let them book their own ticket or for family just book their own PNR. In reality they would be booked before the 7 day cutoff but its comforting to know that the fare is locked in for a week.

I did the Fare Lock on United and ended up saving $$$ because It allowed me to keep the Fare for 1 week and during the week the fare went up. It was worth the $50 to know that I had my Fare Locked in and if the fare went down less than $50 great but if I saw a fare for $100-$200 less I would let the Fare Lock Expire and book the lower fare. I was not fretting as this gave me time to consult with others traveling and I had them book in on their own PNR when I knew they could join If I lost the $50 I would take it as a savings as if I cancelled a nonrefundable ticket for $1000+ Change fees I would be out way more. During the Fare Lock I can book hotels, rental cars etc and then go back and pay for my ticket. I much prefer a 7 day hold than a 24 hour hold.

A 72 hour hold could be done for $25. Travel Agents including OTAs holding positive space could be subjected to Group Farelock to lock in Group Space and if they don't ticket all space they would be subjected to the nonrefundable Farelock on Tickets the airline can't resell.
See the United Farelock
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly.../farelock.html

To conclude AA could essentially ask for $3,150 from the OP for holding space on the 63 tickets that were not ticketed. Would they do it now? No but moving forward with a Fare Lock system this tactic may be thwarted.

s0ssos

So if you pay for those shoes you should get them, I presume? How come sometimes you purchase a ticket and it doesn't actually "ticket", and then the airline refuses to honor your ticket and wants you to buy a full-fare walkup? It's not AA's fault/responsibility for not checking their credit card bills but it is the customer's?

s0ssos

I guess you haven't met people who think big corporations are evil. People in this thread do NOT think big corporations are evil. Try somewhere people actually think big corporations are evil-they would be applauding OP.