Cachris69

Ha! I actually found my wife in Asia. Taking her with me Beijing May 24th on this deal. Going the weekend before by myself...

WAS

Does the DOT actually have the power to force an airline to reinstate tickets at the original price, or can they only fine the airline for a violation?

United747

It might be one or the other. Either A) AA reinstates the reservation; or B) Get fined.

citsfo

Is anyone able to book a ticket or called in about a ticket that was "on hold"

Xyzzy

Keep in mind that when DOT fines airlines they usually collect half of the fine and waive the other half if the ffense is not repeated within a year.

lewende

You are not serious, right? All these fares you quoted are in economy class. I know this is FT but we at least need to be honest to ourselves to make an apple to apple comparison.

smitty06

Yes. Same flights.

Rusdude

Last night I put on hold IAH-DFW-PEK-DFW-IAH for $1132 ($686 base + $446 fees). This morning, when all the DCA-PEK holds were being reported as cancelled, it was still showing up on AA site. However, as of now it's showing "Cancelled" so they managed to track down other low fares as well.

Will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I don't see how they can wiggle out of this one though.

lewende

Because this happened before and I can't see why people not see this is coming - last time when AA loaded a $100+ fare having crazy routings across the US, people who held their itins without ticketing got cancelled very soon, but those who ticketed immediately were able to fly.

eajusa

I will remember this if such a situation arises when I am booking.

Tblack15

How is that legal?

They're required to allow 24 hours for you to "change your mind" if you will. So their work around is to provide a 24 hr hold. "No worries, you don't even have to pay us until your ready".. but then they void all these reservations? Granted, maybe they just don't want to ticket them while they're finding a way to cancel all these ticketed ones

No lie, I feel like that's shadier than the DKK fares, which did require site manipulation in one way or another, etc.

http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.dev/fil...al20130530.pdf

eajusa

I didn't realize this was a law. Good to know.

sbrower

Actually, that isn't what Lucky even says. AND he ends his post asking if any lawyers agree with him (showing that he is smart enough to know that the words matter).

One of the problems is that the "Hold" itself has some funny issues (in the consumers FAVOR). For example, if you hold a fare, and the fare gets reduced overnight, when you return to buy your ticket you get offered the LOWER fare (it has happened to me several times).

I think the problem is that people are confusing the DOT rules on the right to EITHER hold or cancel within 24 hours, with the rules on rights given to people who have PURCHASED a ticket (which hasn't happened with a reservation on hold).

But this issue seems to have enough traction that we will likely see a ruling, from the DOT, within a few days.

P.S. - Based on my questions (below), I predict that even if the DOT says "on hold" should have been honored, the people who were on hold will get NOTHING and it will just be a prospective ruling. And, upon even more thought, there is no chance that the DOT will give any rights to the "on hold" people, because it just doesn't make any sense.

QUERY - What would be the effect of a DOT ruling here FOR THE PEOPLE who were on hold? [I don't mean the long-term cost/benefit, I mean the direct result.] For example, since their reservations were cancelled, would they be put back on the same flights, for the same dates, even if the flights are now oversold with "regular" customers? Who would get bumped? Since it has been more than 24 hours, and the right to cancel has expired, would everyone who had a reservation on hold be REQUIRED to purchase the ticket, even if they no longer want to fly? Or will they be given the option to choose the dates they want to fly (which is BETTER than what the ticketed people will get)? Or will they get a $25 certificate good for future travel?

Gunner14

Read the original post, please. He stated that these fares would be grey area even if they were in economy.

miffSC

And I do want to cancel one. Wonder how they will handle that? Cheerfully refund my money?