bocastephen

But what we�re saying is illegal is AA or any other airline offering Joe at Big Company a refundable fare without a Saturday night stay for $450, offering Joan a single member LLC small business owner without a profit the same fare for $325, Carl the high net worth retiree who spends freely on dining, new cars and clothing the same fare for $525, and Kristin, the unemployed single mother the same fare for $225 - all simultaneously - because their revenue management system accessed thousands of data points on these customers and their employers the moment they started their fare search, and estimated how much each was able and willing to pay for the same ticket.

Acidity

Yeah I know, I was providing additional context that airlines (and many other businesses) already engage in (legal) imperfect price discrimination, to partially make up for the their inability (both legally and practically) to perfectly price discriminate.

chriseng

This hit me for the first time this week. Multiple itineraries in F pricing out at between $490 and $520 on aa.com were all pricing out at $911 via my travel agency and Concur. They can't even see the lower fares. I still do not understand how this is legal.

Aliquot

What exactly do you think should be prohibited?

seawolf

AA offers access to all fares with NDC. Your agency is not willing/unable to implement NDC to access those fares.

USFlyerUS

How would it be illegal? Businesses have a right to choose the distribution venues for its products. Just take a look at the ULCCs. In this case, AA is choosing not to offer certain products through vendors who do not meet certain criteria. This happens in business all the time, every day. None of these products are unavailable to consumers direct through AA or through a TA that has adapted.

There's an easy solution for this: Put pressure on your CTA to adapt or find a new CTA.

1kprem

If you are the head of your company this may not necessarily apply to you. You could ask your company if you can purchase the tickets yourself directly from aa.com. Then you can manage your own booking. Of course, you may find that terribly inconvenient as aa.com doesn�t make managing your booking convenient especially if you have to engage their agents to help you. But those are the things you take on when you deal directly with the airline in order to get the savings.

The reason the CTA may not be participating with AA NDC bookings is the process of handling those bookings is not yet as streamlined as the GDS bookings. You can attribute that to AA�s lack of planning or a GDS company�s lack of planning or the CTA saying it�s not worth their effort. But your company should have a way to allow you to book on your own. That�s not a CTA�s responsibility. That belongs to your company. Or your company can find an agency that takes on that responsibility.

LovePrunes

BINGO
the agencies unable/unwilling are the problem. AA has changed how it distributes/sells, and it's still for sale to anyone. You can always call AA or book it yourself online without the agency.
The agencies don't like you going around them or the employers don't want you going rogue and booking without the agency.
The agencies are too cheap to update their tech, or standing on some sort of illusionary "principle" many of us find laughable.
I'm enjoying corporate "natural selection" at work here, as agencies try and hang on by their fingernails to an old business model, when the situation is something they have to either adapt to or simply acknowledge they've lost their value proposition.
I don't think many agency peeps on here are going to admit defeat, but it's fun to watch, so I'm making more popcorn.

Dave Noble

I cannot understand how it would not be legal - if the agency doesn't want to use the booking method that alllows access to those lower fares, then the agency customer cannot get them that way.
If your company insists on using the agency for booking, then book the higher fare and enjoy the higher LP earnings - or book on another carrier

Microwave

This thread isn't about the legality of removing fares from GDS view or only showing certain fares via NDC, so let's stay on topic and keep things relevant to flying AA and earning on AAdvantage.

~Moderator

chicagoflyer1976

Seeing the impact of this now on our CTA. The only AA fares available to purchase are ~200 - 300 higher than what is on aa.com, and of course the AA fares are much higher than United. I'm not sure what I will do.

Colin

an easy decision for me to not renew amex biz plat, as now $0.0154 in value per amex mr point redeemed for paid AA first class is essentially no mas

bocastephen

FYI American will now require everyone to buy tickets on their website in order to earn ANY miles going forward.

Certain travel agencies like ours are exempt from this restriction, but it appears this is the final blow to their relationship with travel advisors.

USFlyerUS

(deleted)

LovePrunes

would love to see the source for this claim. i mean it's their right if they want to, but have not heard of this new development you stated.