darthbimmer

I need help getting AA to give me a better alternative after they canceled a flight on an award booking. Last week I booked PWM-ORD-SJC for June at a great points rate. Monday AA notified me of an itinerary change-- due to the ORD-SJC flight being canceled from the schedule. They auto re-booked me on BOS-LAX-SJC. That's a completely unacceptable alternative. BOS is 102 miles from PWM!

I checked online for better matches to my original tickets and found multiple flights PWM-ORD-SFO with award inventory, including one with departures and arrivals within an hour of my original itinerary. Today I called AA to ask for that routing. The agent refused, saying award tickets of the same type were not available. He said the only thing he could give me is PWM-ORD-LAX-SJC - a three-hop route that requires me leaving over 3 hours earlier.

AA.com shows ample award availability on the route I want. Yes, the award tickets today are more expensive than the ones I booked last week - 38k vs 25k each. The agent told me if I wanted that routing he could refund my points and I could go back and book the higher rate. Well, AA clearly raised their prices since I bought my tix on sale last week. But I didn't choose to cancel my flight; AA did. It feels like they're penalizing me for their cancellation.

I argued with the agent several times for the most comparable, reasonable itinerary, but he wouldn't relent. I asked for a supervisor; he gave me his name and said he is the supervisor and there is absolutely no one above him I can talk to. I thanked him for his help and said I wanted to think about it before making a decision. Before I try again, what else should I know about what my options really are?

Often1

You got a bad agent. Best to thank the guy and politely end the call when he first said "no" and then call back.

AA will rebook on any reasonable routing space, but not redemption, available. Thus, what you asked for ought to be easy.

I would simply call back and start by saying that you are calling because AA has cancelled and you would now like to be rebook on xxx. Then read off the flight numbers and city pairs.

The reason not to argue with the bad agent is that what you want to avoid is having the agent go the bother of entering PNR notes explaining what you asked for and that it has already been denied. Makes it harder the next time round.

mvoight

If there is ample award space on what you want, why not put that on hold and cancel the existing reservation?
You normally have 5 days to ticket awards. The award miles usually comes back the same day, if you cancel and request redeposit in the same call.

seawolf

There is a price difference in terms of miles not in OP favor.

Definitely HUACA; you have a misinformed agent. PWM-SFO accommodation due to PWN-SJC being cancel is allowed without fare/mile difference assuming same class of service.

People mention luck getting this done thru Twitter.

redtop43

HUCA (Hang Up Call Again) is your friend.

I had a similar situation a few days ago. I was booked PHL-LAX-LAS, I had booked PHL-LAX because it was a B788 with way nicer seats. They swapped in an A321. I wanted to change to a nonstop because why go out of my way with no purpose? First agent wouldn't do it, next day I found one who would.

darthbimmer

Thank you all for you help. I am trying again and will update with the results.

darthbimmer

My second call to AA was a 180° turn from the first. I explained to the agent what happened (flight canceled from the schedule) and said I already had an alternate routing in mind. I gave her the flight numbers, she looked them up, and within 3 minutes had it all ticketed.

I've encountered bad phone agents before (it's hardly my first rodeo) but the first one I spoke to really took the cake. Usually a bad agent is someone who just doesn't know how to do something. Agent #1 spoke confidently and with detail about the rules he claimed I was asking him to violate. Are rotten apples like that common at AA?

USFlyerUS

Every company has agents who make stuff up, including banks and IT companies. HUCA is often the best option before the first agent at whatever company has a chance to document the conversation in great detail.