rill2503456

That's funny because it's not true; the average is not necessarily equal to the median.

Lakeviewsteve

To avoid this in future, if the cost of a RT is the same as 2 OW, then book all one way tickets. You won't have to cancel any return legs.

mvoight

But the average can mean mean, medium, or mode
So, 50 percent of "average" can mean 50 percent of any of these

mvoight

Both cases scheduled for arguments appear to involve the Orrick firm, so which of the cases is this for, the immigration one or the whether or not a police shooting to stop a criminal from fleeing meets the definition of a "seizure" as only one court (8th) believes?

ntamayo

OP, we get you're upset, given the special circumstances for your daughter.

Understand that BE is what it is, and lesson learned for next time.

BTW, since you're new, this is a typical pattern we see around here, so excuse us if some of us are a little jaded:

• New poster just registered on FT to rant/vent about their situation
• Objective responses as to the rules
• OP rebuttal "yeah, but can't they bend the rule just this once?"
• More responses and/or "need more details, something's missing from OP story"
• (crickets)

joeyE

Seems like the takeaway once again is...BE really means BE. There’s actually no exceptions, no one is special, no one is entitled, no one has an unusual circumstance that warrants special consideration and no one can go outside the rules. It’s tough bc there’s almost no other part of life where things are so stringent, cut & dry without discussion

SeeBuyFly

I know people have responded to you ad nauseum, but I wanted to say I do understand your view. You would like AA to provide compassionate, flexible customer service. That is not necessarily old-fashioned: Amazon, for example, is very generous with refunds.

Well, most airlines are not. That's how it is, and while apparently this is news to you, it is not news to us here, hence the unsympathetic replies above. Would we want to go back to the days when the airlines were much more customer-service-oriented? Well, no, because prices were much higher then. That's the devil's bargain. Indeed, we could get easy changes (such as the change you want) today if we paid high prices for fully-changeable tickets; but most of us go for the lowest price, just as you did. Multiple pricing, where the same seat is sold at different prices based on different terms and conditions, has been a moneymaker for airlines for some decades now, and simultaneously has saved many of us a lot of money.

How does Amazon keep prices low while being so generous with refunds? Well, it loses billions each year, but makes it up on volume ha ha. Seriously, once it has eliminated most brick-and-mortar competitors and when its growth has leveled off, it may change its tune. The airlines do not see good service at all price points (including seat comfort, food, drinks, etc) as a route to greater profits, because when they have tried it, it has not worked.

To take a random example, AA for some years had greater seat pitch than its competitors ('more room throughout coach'). People loved it but AA found that most would still fly the airline offering the lower fare. Similarly, only a few people will pay higher fares in exchange for less restrictive rules. So it is a cold-blooded business decision to offer multiple products (and you chose the worst product). If generous customer service for all did lead to greater profits, they would provide it, again as a cold-blooded business decision.

mvoight

Amazon doesn't sell like airlines do.
The airlines sell less restricted tickets for more money.
If you can get the same restrictions on a BE ticket as a non restricted ticket, then there would be no incentive for you to buy the higher priced ticket
If this happened the average (mean) price of all AA tickets would increase, because people would not be buying the higher priced ticket
Think of it a self insurance. 18 tickets purchased to save money on future travel, while knowing if something happens you might lose the value of a pair of tickets
Or, do you pay more, and eat the $200 change fee..........or, do you pay even more, and get tickets which can be freely changed or refunded..........or do you go with Southwest Airlines which has no penalty for cancellations (full credit for fare paid) and put up with the connections?
Did OP know when he bought the tickets that there would be a day in the future when his daughter would be arguing in front of SCOTUS?
At some point you know you might need to cancel / change a booking.

roadtriper

Didn't even stay at a HI Express last night! But I did find a flight on ITA . Eagle 5608 depart DCA non stop to GSP Wed 4-1-20 8pm $124 ??? seems like a cheap fix to the problem! if the18 tickets were purchased for work as a Lawyer or Professor I'm guessing someone else was billed for them??? My $ .02, you rolled the dice ,and got what you paid for.RT

RichardNixon

You should ask your daughter to file a lawsuit on your behalf. I'm sure there are a lot of FTers who would love to follow along with that exciting story. You may even find one or two more people on the Internet interested in a class-action!

arollins

OP seems to forget that at one time, the airlines did allow flexibilities on their fares, they even had bereavement fares for those that needed to make last minute travel arrangements during a difficult time. Blame it on the general public that abused this flexibility and now airlines have changed their views. We all have to accept it. At this point, my only suggestion is to see if there is any substantial schedule change in your ticket and perhaps you can just cancel it.

mosfet

Not to get too 'Eat Pray Love' or whatever but...

If I told you 12-18 months ago YOUR daughter would be speaking in-front of the US Supreme Court but the caveat is you're booked a non flex airline ticket the day after and it was annoying/ a little expensive to change to be there... wouldn't you say 'where do I sign!'

Enjoy this moment, it's a massive achievement and you must be so proud

PS - Have had a BE issue once on a ticket JFK-LHR and somehow the agent managed to refund the whole ticket as AA credit. Whole thing seems like everything AA, inconsistent!

jordyn

Amazon used to lose a lot of money, but now they're reasonably profitable. In Q4, their net income was ~$3B, which is more than the entire US airline industry.

FWIW, Delta has been making some noises about making tickets more flexible since these sorts of fees tend to make people unhappy. Who knows if they'll actually do something or what it will mean, but OP's situation (allowing a customer to simply drop a one-way segment of a ticket where it doesn't affect the price of the remaining ticket) seems like a place where airlines could make changes without compromising their ability to engage in effective price discrimination.

rickg523

This is a generalized comment.
I find FT a very useful site with lots of specific and often quite esoteric knowledge and information to be gleaned about flying and destinations.

But the one issue​​​ I have on FT Forums is the predilection to go "scolding schoolmarm" on posters who either aren't as familiar with the rules or, as in this case, someone who has complaints about the application of the rules (most often in the case of particular case circumstances) in a robotic fashion by clerks whose managers have no interest in customer service regardless of their job title.

Telling someone who acknowledges the rules, that "them the rules" is just plain snark.
Our moderator's post exemplified what needed to be said to this poster who has been disappointed in AA's lack of accommodation to his one off circumstance.
One poster actually did the thing that makes FT valuable and offered him an alternative suggestion.
One post gave an historical and business justification for the application of this fare rule.
​​​​​
Otoh, dozens of posts decided this was a time to engage in lecturing. It's supposed to be a discussion, but after the third post saying the same thing - "this is the rule, too bad" - I'd characterize it more as hectoring.

So then we have the repeated situation outlined in another post, of a new member posting to a specific airline forum a circumstance, getting a new one ripped by the majority of posters on that forum who of course have a long term vested relationship with that specific airline. And then the new member abandons the thread feeling like the customers of said airline are no better than the CSRs they've been complaining about and that we all deserve one another. Seems like an unhealthy dynamic for a social media site, unless insularity is the goal. (and maybe it is)

Just something to consider before hitting "submit".

SFTNYC

I think the idea (or my logic) is that either only one leg will change, and/or the price of the ticket is less than the change fee+fare diff so just discard the "bad" segment and buy a fresh one if change is needed