WOW!!! I had no idea the ticket numbers are on my CC statement. I will try that. Thanks.

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Not to defend AA, but this is completely beyond AA's control -- it's a global requirement of IATA. While you can have countless transactions in a PNR, you can only have one financial transaction per ticket, so if a base ticket itself changes it has to be exchanged for a new ticket, and if add-on services get bought they get charged via a separate Electronic Miscellaneous Document (formerly a Miscellaneous Charge Order or Special Service Ticket). Each distinct charge gets its own distinct document number.

I'm pretty sure I get a ticket number when I pay a guest fee for Delta SkyClub access. It's essentially the receipt/transaction number, which you even get on, say your groceries from Walmart.

Thank you. I found the ticket numbers for the Main Cabin Extra charges. It was the 13 digit numbers on my credit card statement. Checking on AA it clearly showed 2 were never refunded.So, they just held my money until I asked for it? They put me through hell figuring it out. I have the better part of a day working on this, for $161.52. I wonder how many of their customers might not even notice it, or be frustrated into submission? It is totally unacceptable for any company to expect their customers to navigate their unique processes with absolutely no assistance.

Thanks everyone, hopefully it will now be resolved. I found the ticket numbers for the Main Cabin Extra charges. It was the 13 digit numbers on my credit card statement. Checking on AA it clearly showed 2 were never refunded.So, they just held my money until I asked for it? They put me through hell figuring it out. I have the better part of a day working on this, for $161.52. I wonder how many of their customers might not even notice it, or be frustrated into submission? It is totally unacceptable for any company to expect their customers to navigate their unique processes with absolutely no assistance.

This is actually pretty routine for all carriers. It's not AA-specific. Think of it as a transaction ID and it doesn't seem as odd.

I have never had a carrier arbitrarily not give a refund when they very clearly were supposed to do so. And, I would certainly think that when I reported this issue to AA Customer Service they should have been able to either help, or give clear guidance. I really don't care if that is routine with all carriers, it is outrageous. Thankfully, Flyertalk member Antarius gave me the solution. Thank you Flyertalk I have always received great assistance here.

I had not heard the word 'kludge' in 35 years. Got a kick out of seeing it and recalling back in the 80s when IT was still 'computer programming'.

I never said not giving you a refund is routine. I said using ticket #s for all sorts of transactions is routine and that you should look up the ticket # on your CC statement and submit that at prefunds.aa.com. I believe this is the route you took.

One of my more idiosyncratic beliefs is that it was a huge mistake to rebrand Management Information Systems as IT, because managing/designing/implementing the information systems is the important thing, not the technology.

The IATA ticket thing is really interesting and explains why DL treats a gift card as a really flexible but nonrefundable ticket and why DL processes buying a ticket with a gift card as a ticket change (thus presents to Amex as eligible for fee credit).

Got it.

Still, there's no reason for it to be a totally standalone transaction from a customer perspective. You can't buy MCE separately from a flight, which makes the MCE purchase a subsidiary record of the flight purchase. Whether it is ledgered as its own transaction on the back end is one thing, how it's managed, displayed and transacted is another.
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I learned 3 important things as a result of this experience:

1: American Airlines has no real customer relations dept. They just let their computers send out sincere apologies without addressing the issues. See attached message I got after filing a complaint.

2: I can always count on members on FlyerTalk Forums to assist. I did locate the needed transaction numbers on my credit card statement and successfully used the online refund request. Today I received emails notifying me my refunds were being processed. Apparently I will never get an explanation why they held my money. They were not holding it as a credit, because I have since booked flights.

3: Probably the most important thing I learned is the definition of KLUDGE. It is a haphazard or makeshift solution to a problem and especially to a computer or programming problem. :-)


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0cc1d599f4.jpg

In case anyone is interested, here are the refundability rules for seat fees charged by AA:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...abin-extra.jsp

(Scroll down to "Terms and conditions.")

Lot's of good info, but of course since I booked with AAdvatage miles my miles were immediately reinstated and the MCE fee should have been refunded. BTW, the security fees were refunded. I should not have had to through this ordeal to find out how to get what I was owed. No human person was available who could fix it.