Award Canceled After Midnight
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PHL
Programs: UA Plat, 2MM
Posts: 1,860
Award Canceled After Midnight
I had booked an Award ticket International at 9:30 PM which required me to call AA to be issued (not sure why). I had until midnight. I called ASAP and had to get a call back which came 3 hours later and thus after midnight, and the ticket canceled. The agent said that they could not get the flights again. I am on hold for another 45 minutes while they try to get the International agent. If they require you to call to issue the ticket with a deadline after which it cancels, then answer the phone !!!! If nit, don't cancel it at midnight, at least give it 24 hours. Pathetic service. Get more phone agents.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,588
I had booked an Award ticket International at 9:30 PM which required me to call AA to be issued (not sure why). I had until midnight. I called ASAP and had to get a call back which came 3 hours later and thus after midnight, and the ticket canceled. The agent said that they could not get the flights again. I am on hold for another 45 minutes while they try to get the International agent. If they require you to call to issue the ticket with a deadline after which it cancels, then answer the phone !!!! If nit, don't cancel it at midnight, at least give it 24 hours. Pathetic service. Get more phone agents.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PHL
Programs: UA Plat, 2MM
Posts: 1,860
The travel was March 11 and included Japan Airlines. It did not give me the option to put on hold, it did it automatically and said to issue it I had to call AA Res. I made the res around 9:00 PM and I had until midnight to get it issued, and I called ASAP but no one called back until after midnight so it canceled and the agent said he could not recreate it. They should give at least 24 hours to get it issued if they do not have agents to answer the phone.
#4
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Utqiagvik (Barrow) Alaska and Ann Arbor, Michigan
Programs: Charter Member Delta Diamond Medallion, Lifetime AA Platinum, IHG Diamond, Hilton & Marriott Gold
Posts: 630
The travel was March 11 and included Japan Airlines. It did not give me the option to put on hold, it did it automatically and said to issue it I had to call AA Res. I made the res around 9:00 PM, and I had until midnight to get it issued, and I called ASAP but no one called back until after midnight so it canceled and the agent said he could not recreate it. They should give at least 24 hours to get it issued if they do not have agents to answer the phone.
#5
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: STL/ORD/MCI/SAN
Programs: AA CK MM, AC SE100K, BA Gold, UA 1K, DL Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,989
The travel was March 11 and included Japan Airlines. It did not give me the option to put on hold, it did it automatically and said to issue it I had to call AA Res. I made the res around 9:00 PM and I had until midnight to get it issued, and I called ASAP but no one called back until after midnight so it canceled and the agent said he could not recreate it. They should give at least 24 hours to get it issued if they do not have agents to answer the phone.
Have you tried simply rebooking it? Someone else got the last award space between midnight and now?
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the perceived level of anger from the OP seems out of proportion to what actually happened.
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Is this a common issue? I've never seen it. Are there some partners you have to call in for?
#7
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: WAS/TYO
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP (3MM), DL PM, BONVOY TITANIUM, HYATT GLOBALIST, HILTON DIAMOND, IHG DIAMOND AMB, et al
Posts: 5,913
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Bye Delta
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Posts: 16,273
A 2.5 hour window to resolve a ticketing issue when AA hold times exceed three hours is certainly unreasonable.
#9
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: STL/ORD/MCI/SAN
Programs: AA CK MM, AC SE100K, BA Gold, UA 1K, DL Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,989
It's going to be a tough summer for travel. People will need to be more flexible than usual when it comes to agent hold times, booking/re-booking issues, etc. AA isn't the only airline with these issues, and frankly, it seems AA is doing much better than some of their domestic competition at weathering the storm. I'll stick with what I wrote about the OP's apparent anger level being out of proportion to what actually happened.