Need advice, I think I've been mistreated by AA on award flights
Dec 28, 2019, 10:27 am
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
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Posts: 29,531
Are you AAdvantage Gold/oneworld Ruby? If so, I believe that you get free seat selection on BA starting seven days prior to departure. Of course, if you feared that you would not be able to get two seats together at seven days out, then I understand your wanting to purchase the seats when you did.
Dec 28, 2019, 10:54 am
#62
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,222
What % of the general flying public even knows & understands the difference between a reservation and a ticket? Besides, I don’t think it would have mattered. The delay between the reservation change and BA notifying the traveler it had not been re-ticketed is pretty much irrelevant.
Dec 28, 2019, 11:42 am
#63
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM - IC RA - HHonors Gold - Hertz Gold - AA - US - CO - Choice Privileges
Posts: 1,648
Give me a break. What % of the general flying public even knows & understands the difference between a reservation and a ticket? Besides, I don’t think it would have mattered. The delay between the reservation change and BA notifying the traveler it had not been re-ticketed is pretty much irrelevant.
What % of the general flying public even knows & understands the difference between a reservation and a ticket? Besides, I don’t think it would have mattered. The delay between the reservation change and BA notifying the traveler it had not been re-ticketed is pretty much irrelevant.
Dec 28, 2019, 2:51 pm
#64
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 3,698
The question is not whether one accepts it or not, but rather the consequences of not accepting it.
If the selected reroute is a downgrade, BA would then owe OP 75% of the segment fare (a mess with a redemption ticket, but that is a separate matter). If the passenger declined that routing, but sought something later which resulted in a higher fare, an overnight and, in this case, significantly higher taxes, that would be the passenger's to deal with.
If the selected reroute is a downgrade, BA would then owe OP 75% of the segment fare (a mess with a redemption ticket, but that is a separate matter). If the passenger declined that routing, but sought something later which resulted in a higher fare, an overnight and, in this case, significantly higher taxes, that would be the passenger's to deal with.
Dec 29, 2019, 12:02 am
#65
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AA offered a reroute without the overnight by routing him via ORD in economy. Apparently he declined that and decided to delay overnnight to fly in J
Dec 29, 2019, 12:22 am
#66
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 4,159
i don’t think the fault lies with the OP here
Dec 29, 2019, 12:37 am
#67
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: STL/ORD/MCI/SAN
Programs: AA CK MM, AC SE100K, UA 1K, DL Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,986
yes but the regulation is under comparable conditions is it not? And the original rebooking by the airline that actually cancelled the flight was next day in J, it’s just the ticketing carrier got involved and wanted to reroute same day but under non-comparable conditions
i don’t think the fault lies with the OP here
i don’t think the fault lies with the OP here
Dec 29, 2019, 6:39 am
#68
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 691
I had a similar situation a few years ago. Airberlin had decreased their frequency on a route that I had booked, so my option was to take BA. The alternative they offered involved coach on the international segment with no mileage refund. To get back into J on a different flight, AA charged me APD and said they could only book into award space. I didn’t bother to fight it, but wonder if I should have.
Feb 23, 2020, 1:49 pm
#69
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Nashville
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, Omni Plat, Southwest A+ Pref
Posts: 31
Update and resolution
There has been some very good suggestions and for that, I thank the posters. Some of the responses have made some assumptions, so I'll try and clarify what I did. I'm not an expert on the machinations between airlines and I thought be checking my itinerary multiple times, I was doing what I should. Here is a quick breakdown. The original post was too long and had too much information.
Happy New Year all
- Found out the date changed when I went to buy my seat selection (I understood the $310 cost and never asked for that back, that was my decision)
- I was surprised about the change, told the BA person this when I called, said I would have to get a room and so on, but I accepted and said it was okay. Went ahead and made stay arrangements on my dime and wasn't going to ask for anything else. No conversation about additional costs incurred by the BA change.
- BA calls me on November 23 (I leave for Europe 12/3) and tells me AA hasn't issued the ticket for the 12/14 return. I tell them I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to do about it (only the second time I've used miles between airlines), so we have the three way with AA. And I'm told by AA they won't issue the ticket without an additional 32,000 miles and an additional $493.00. So I pay it because AA tells me they won't issue a ticket otherwise. Since I only had 10,000 miles left in the account, I had to transfer 22,000 miles over which cost $232. Totals out to $725 and 32,000 miles out of pocket on that call.
Happy New Year all
Thank you for speaking with me.
I received a confirmation back from our AAdvantage ticketing area and they have confirmed the following information:
We have reinstated 32,000 miles into XX's account and we have removed 22,000 miles from her account and added them back into your account. We have requested a refund for the $232 paid to transfer the miles and $493.64 for the extra taxes that were charged. The mileage should be corrected in the next 48 hours and the refunds should appear on the original form of payment in the next two weeks.
I again apologize for the incorrect information and assure you that we have documented your comments and experience for review by our management so that we can improve our services in the future.
I am appreciative that American fixed the problem, even if it took getting the DOT involved. Regardless, the American person was sincere and point blank told me this was a mistake on their part and shouldn't have happened. So I'm closing the book on this and I am good with American.
Feb 23, 2020, 2:13 pm
#70
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 75
As promised, I'm back to post that there has been a resolution to my complaint. I am happy with American's response, but it took a while to get here. After contacting AA directly and not getting very far, I did file a complaint with DOT, politely outlining what happened. I got a form response via email from an individual at the DOT telling me they forwarded my issue to AA and they would determine if further action was warranted. Friday, I got a call from American and had a very satisfying conversation. Basically, she apologized for what had happened and said I should not have had to pay for a reschedule I did not instigate. She also said they have the records of who I spoke to and that person would be "coached" so this mistake doesn't happen again. She also followed up with an email (excerpt below):
Thank you for speaking with me.
I received a confirmation back from our AAdvantage ticketing area and they have confirmed the following information:
We have reinstated 32,000 miles into XX's account and we have removed 22,000 miles from her account and added them back into your account. We have requested a refund for the $232 paid to transfer the miles and $493.64 for the extra taxes that were charged. The mileage should be corrected in the next 48 hours and the refunds should appear on the original form of payment in the next two weeks.
I again apologize for the incorrect information and assure you that we have documented your comments and experience for review by our management so that we can improve our services in the future.
I am appreciative that American fixed the problem, even if it took getting the DOT involved. Regardless, the American person was sincere and point blank told me this was a mistake on their part and shouldn't have happened. So I'm closing the book on this and I am good with American.
Thank you for speaking with me.
I received a confirmation back from our AAdvantage ticketing area and they have confirmed the following information:
We have reinstated 32,000 miles into XX's account and we have removed 22,000 miles from her account and added them back into your account. We have requested a refund for the $232 paid to transfer the miles and $493.64 for the extra taxes that were charged. The mileage should be corrected in the next 48 hours and the refunds should appear on the original form of payment in the next two weeks.
I again apologize for the incorrect information and assure you that we have documented your comments and experience for review by our management so that we can improve our services in the future.
I am appreciative that American fixed the problem, even if it took getting the DOT involved. Regardless, the American person was sincere and point blank told me this was a mistake on their part and shouldn't have happened. So I'm closing the book on this and I am good with American.
I had to contact DOT before for a refund from AA, the company need to up their service.
Feb 24, 2020, 7:54 am
#71
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,222
It's definitely nice to know that DOT still has some muscle. But it's annoying that it takes a DOT complaint for AA to fix their screw-ups.
I'm curious about this agent "coaching." Wonder if they'll play back the recording of the phone call and have a supervisor walk through with the agent how s/he messed up, or they'll just send them an email that says "airline-initiated changes should not require additional collection of miles or money". I can imagine that agent has zero recollection of the original phone call.
I'm curious about this agent "coaching." Wonder if they'll play back the recording of the phone call and have a supervisor walk through with the agent how s/he messed up, or they'll just send them an email that says "airline-initiated changes should not require additional collection of miles or money". I can imagine that agent has zero recollection of the original phone call.
Feb 24, 2020, 11:07 am
#72
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 3,698
This thread is a good object lesson for the people who insist that it's not useful to contact the DOT. It's clear that even if the DOT doesn't take action directly, AA takes those complaints much more seriously then through their web form, so it seems like a good approach when the normal customer service channels get stuck.