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[PREM FARE GONE] AA: GIG/GRU- multiple locations (HKG/LAX/MIA/SFO ETC) ~$200 Y ~$360

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Old Aug 31, 2015, 9:17 am
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Last edit by: footastic
Sequence of events:

American Airlines (AA) Brazil website misprices revenue tickets in initial calculation on purchase page. Repricing the same reservation by changing billing country resulted in the correct price, even when reverting to Brazil.

Vast majority of tickets appear to have gone unticketed for ~1 week. It appears that tickets were issued manually, not automatically.

AA states repeatedly and to several outlets that they will unconditionally honor all fares.

AA begins cancelling tickets. Subsequently, they send out cancellation emails implying that the "country of residence" was misrepresented. Of course, this is not the case, as AA never actually asks for the "country of residence" but the billing address which includes the country of the billing address.

Since AA repeatedly and publicly stated that they would unconditionally honor the tickets, even when specifically asked about it, many purchasers relied upon AA's representations and made non-refundable plans. DoT regulations require airlines to reimburse purchasers who relied upon mistake fares to make non-refundable plans. It may be worth writing into the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to complain about AA's handling of the situation and ask for compensation even without having non-refundable reservations, because AA went to great lengths to assure purchasers that tickets would be unconditionally honored.

DoT air travel complaint form: http://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm

DoT air travel complaint mailing address:
Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590

DoT air travel complain phone line information:
You may call the ACPD 24 hours a day at 202-366-2220 (TTY 202-366-0511) to record your complaint. Calls are returned Monday through Friday, generally between 7:30 am and 5:00 pm Eastern time.

As mentioned by classyflyer and posted by pb9997, if your flight had some kind of legal nexus within Brazil, their consumer protections should apply to your ticket. Here is the contact information for the relevant consumer protection agencies within Brazil. Please be clear in your communication and REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMUNICATIONS IN PORTUGESE.

To translate your communications before submitting them:
http://translate.google.com

www.reclameaqui.com.br
Quote from pb9997: "This site is known to be the most popular, most viewed upon by companies who care about reputation; Though not official, it has proven to be the most respected by consumers and corporations, who may delay answers on their own channels but do take care to have teams focused on answering for this public site. Information written, from both parties, is public."

www.consumidor.gov.br
Quote again from pb9997: "This is the official PROCON site where consumers and companies present their complaints and arguments. It is official, additional care ought to be taken.

I would highly suggest following the order presented; With the first site the company has room to assess impact, prepare an amiable answer and protect their public reputation.

On the second site... well, it's official and what is written by both parties is the basis to act afterwards in a court of law. Ideally the complaint presented should have the Law that explains why a consumer has been impacted and the expected remedy, according [sic] to the Law."

As of 9/8/15 - Individuals who had tickets cancelled in the first round (8/28) have yet to see refunds post to credit cards.

Feel free to update this Wiki with more complete information.
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[PREM FARE GONE] AA: GIG/GRU- multiple locations (HKG/LAX/MIA/SFO ETC) ~$200 Y ~$360

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Old Aug 21, 2015, 4:59 am
  #151  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: LGA/EWR/JFK
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Posts: 311
Brazil site is back up.
DLinYUL is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 5:22 am
  #152  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 355
Originally Posted by PbodyPhoto
If AA were to decide to honour these but opt not to award mileage does anyone think they would tell people in advance to give them the chance to cancel if not getting miles was a deal breaker?
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's less than 24 hours after booking and these reservations haven't even ticketed yet.

If you're banking on getting AA miles and the AA miles are indeed a dealbreaker, you should probably cancel because 1) AA has already said that they won't award mileage for mistake fares/pricing errors, and 2) "AA were to decide to honour these"...... do you really need AA to tell you that you booked a mistake fare/currency conversion error ticket?

Assume you won't get mileage if it tickets, whether AA tells you or not. Whether you still try to credit to AA is up to you and your comfort level with that risk.
dr88 is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 5:31 am
  #153  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 355
Originally Posted by pb9997
There are reports of passengers who booked early, in the Brazil morning, and having received their e-tickets.

Agree that most may be purchased only, without an e-ticket so far.
I can corroborate. The ticketing queue gives priority to reservations by date of travel.
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Old Aug 21, 2015, 5:48 am
  #154  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: MAD/BCN/MUC/FRA
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Originally Posted by dr88
I can corroborate. The ticketing queue gives priority to reservations by date of travel.
In this case, is there any way to push reservations up to the top of the ticketing queue? Read somewhere else, that hotline agents could push them in manually, so it would be ticketed within minutes. True?
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Old Aug 21, 2015, 5:54 am
  #155  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 355
Originally Posted by alexzl
In this case, is there any way to push reservations up to the top of the ticketing queue? Read somewhere else, that hotline agents could push them in manually, so it would be ticketed within minutes. True?
Change your date of travel to today The ticket may reprice though.
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Old Aug 21, 2015, 5:55 am
  #156  
 
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Originally Posted by alexzl
In this case, is there any way to push reservations up to the top of the ticketing queue? Read somewhere else, that hotline agents could push them in manually, so it would be ticketed within minutes. True?
If you call the AAdvantage line, the agents can usually call ticketing and have it pushed through immediately. In this case, however, I imagine there is an internal hold on all these bookings to prevent anything from being ticketed until they've sorted out the mess.
DLinYUL is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:18 am
  #157  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NY
Programs: The local deli gives me 1 free sandwich after I buy 10
Posts: 4,026
I have a question for a currency conversion expert.
In the OP's example the cost is shown as 1.255,42BRL. Note the placement of either the decimal or comma:
If you put 1.255BRL in any conversion tool is equates to $.035USD
If you put in 1,255BRL it equates to $359.87USD.

Was the placement of the decimal and/or comma one of the factors in this low fare?

Caught up in the 'buy now ask questions later' I purchased a ticket JFK-CHC. The printout says R$17.743,70. However, you can't get any conversion results if you put in R$17.743,70 as configured into any currency converter. If I put as shown 17.743 it equates to 5.08USD. If I change it to 17,743 it equates to 5,087USD
Clincher is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:43 am
  #158  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 165
Ticket still pending. I have 6 more on hold, which are all still there. Last time I woke up when I had those PEK/PVG holds, they were gone...
747kona is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:48 am
  #159  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 355
Originally Posted by Clincher
I have a question for a currency conversion expert.
In the OP's example the cost is shown as 1.255,42BRL. Note the placement of either the decimal or comma:
If you put 1.255BRL in any conversion tool is equates to $.035USD
If you put in 1,255BRL it equates to $359.87USD.

Was the placement of the decimal and/or comma one of the factors in this low fare?

Caught up in the 'buy now ask questions later' I purchased a ticket JFK-CHC. The printout says R$17.743,70. However, you can't get any conversion results if you put in R$17.743,70 as configured into any currency converter. If I put as shown 17.743 it equates to 5.08USD. If I change it to 17,743 it equates to 5,087USD
I'm no currency conversion expert, but I've taken a few classes on internet sleuthing (googling) at a local community college. It appears this link will help you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark
dr88 is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:51 am
  #160  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BOS
Posts: 107
I had a flight scheduled for this afternoon so called to see if this was ticketed as still said pending on AA.com. I was told by the rep that everything is all set as long as I pay at the airport.
patriots12 is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:53 am
  #161  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: BRU, AMS
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Originally Posted by patriots12
I had a flight scheduled for this afternoon so called to see if this was ticketed as still said pending on AA.com. I was told by the rep that everything is all set as long as I pay at the airport.
They didn't say what amount you have to pay though. Do you carry reals with you ?
tymoon25 is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:56 am
  #162  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: MAD/BCN/MUC/FRA
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Originally Posted by patriots12
I had a flight scheduled for this afternoon so called to see if this was ticketed as still said pending on AA.com. I was told by the rep that everything is all set as long as I pay at the airport.
That's really exciting! Keep us up to date, please!
alexzl is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 6:59 am
  #163  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: BSB
Posts: 260
What I found interesting is that the taxes were charged correctly, they werenīt conversed on a wrong rate. It seems that this also happened in Chile. Prices seems to be around 1/10 of regular value, but I donīt think this was due to a misplaced comma.
Maybe AA can absorb the loss caused by an intern/trainee :-), but their major loss might be the compensation to CX, JL and QA for those that booked their first classes.
Carq is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 7:03 am
  #164  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: GVA
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Originally Posted by Clincher
The printout says R$17.743,70. However, you can't get any conversion results if you put in R$17.743,70 as configured into any currency converter. If I put as shown 17.743 it equates to 5.08USD. If I change it to 17,743 it equates to 5,087USD
In Brazil a comma is a dot, and vice versa... so you paid BRL 17k or U$5k for your flights which is consistent with today's exchange rate of around 3.45 BRL to U$1. Looks like that is no mistake fare, so unless you think U$5k is a good deal I'd advise you to cancel within the 24h window...
RafKa is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2015, 7:07 am
  #165  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NY
Programs: The local deli gives me 1 free sandwich after I buy 10
Posts: 4,026
Originally Posted by RafKa
In Brazil a comma is a dot, and vice versa... so you paid BRL 17k or U$5k for your flights which is consistent with today's exchange rate of around 3.45 BRL to U$1. Looks like that is no mistake fare, so unless you think U$5k is a good deal I'd advise you to cancel within the 24h window...
Thank you for clarifying. And....yes, I cancelled this particular ticket
Clincher is offline  


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