Aug 31, 2015, 9:17 am
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.
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.
[PREM FARE GONE] AA: GIG/GRU- multiple locations (HKG/LAX/MIA/SFO ETC) ~$200 Y ~$360
Aug 28, 2015, 5:19 pm
#826
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LIM
Programs: SPG, Lifemiles
Posts: 8
So I finally got mine ticketed. My cc is from Peru, it is an Amex. When I called yesterday they said that I needed a Brazilian cc or otherwise I would lose the reservation. So today I called my bank and told them I was traveling to Brazil, so that my cc would be authorized without being denied as a suspicious transaction. Then I called AA Brazil (in english) and told them to charge the credit card, that indeed it was from Brazil and went ahead and gave them an address from a hotel. They questioned whether if it really was from Brazil or not and that they would try one last time but that if they learned that it was not from Brazil that they would cancel my reservation. I agreed and 2 hours later got it ticketed.
Aug 28, 2015, 5:21 pm
#827
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: MAD/BCN/MUC/FRA
Programs: UA Premier 1K, AA EXP; A3 Gold; DL Plat, AZ Freccia Alata; Hertz PC
Posts: 54
Who else is waiting desperately? Could we somehow know what percentage of tickets has already been through? My patience is really put to a severe test here.
Aug 28, 2015, 6:27 pm
#828
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
Oh shoooot, during last Thu. sale, I booked a ticket but 2 hours later it was not ticketed; so I booked an insurance ticket, mirroring all segments with variation of dates. When I tried to submit the insurance ticket for payment, I was errored out and thought it never went through. Two days later, I got my original ticket ticketed, happy ending, I thought.
I was wrong, but I got a nice problem; this morning, my insurance ticket went through as well. Since the insurance ticket was ticketed one week later, it was $200 cheaper than the original one!
I am very confident to get one of these tickets fully refunded from AA, but I am curious: how likely I may change the return date of this ticket after I fly the outbound without triggering a re-fare?
I was wrong, but I got a nice problem; this morning, my insurance ticket went through as well. Since the insurance ticket was ticketed one week later, it was $200 cheaper than the original one!
I am very confident to get one of these tickets fully refunded from AA, but I am curious: how likely I may change the return date of this ticket after I fly the outbound without triggering a re-fare?
Aug 28, 2015, 6:46 pm
#830
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
Thanks for your reply!
Aug 28, 2015, 7:54 pm
#831
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: GRU
Programs: *A Gold, OW Sapphire, SPG Gold, HH Diamond, Accor Plat
Posts: 3,367
Really, seems everyone is ticketed by now, but me. Status still "On Request". I called AA BR yesterday morning and they assured everything was fine and I should be ticketed very soon. But I'm starting to think that something must be wrong with my booking...
Who else is waiting desperately? Could we somehow know what percentage of tickets has already been through? My patience is really put to a severe test here.
Who else is waiting desperately? Could we somehow know what percentage of tickets has already been through? My patience is really put to a severe test here.
I would definitely contact AA if you want that ticket. Is it AA only ? Does it involve partners... if it does can you be allocated onto AA metal, eventually dropping the partner or starting instead from a city where AA operates from ? Everything ok with your payment ?
Aug 28, 2015, 8:12 pm
#832
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: IAH
Programs: SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, IHG Gold Ambassador, Marriott Gold
Posts: 519
To the best of my knowledge... since yesterday everything is ticketed, partners may have not authorized space, thus declined or within the three-day period the customer has to inform a new credit card or deposit money directly to AA BR bank account.
I would definitely contact AA if you want that ticket. Is it AA only ? Does it involve partners... if it does can you be allocated onto AA metal, eventually dropping the partner or starting instead from a city where AA operates from ? Everything ok with your payment ?
I would definitely contact AA if you want that ticket. Is it AA only ? Does it involve partners... if it does can you be allocated onto AA metal, eventually dropping the partner or starting instead from a city where AA operates from ? Everything ok with your payment ?
Both of my tickets are still pending:
(1) AA-only -- the charge went through on my card a few days ago but ticket hasn't been issued (I've discussed it on the last few pages). This time she didn't ask for authorization code but made notes on the reservation that the charge went through my card so maybe that will help.
(2) BA+AA flight -- they tried to charge me on 23-24th but Amex declined it due to fraud. I'd cleared the charge with Amex and called AA BR on 24th to ask them to re-queue it. So far nothing has happened. In the meantime, I'd change my Amex address to Brazil but, ironically, this is of no help at the moment as the AA lady said we can't/shouldn't change any payment info while it's in the middle of being resubmitted. So.... need to wait some more until they try to push it through (but I wonder if it'll fail because I now have Brazilian address on the card...).
So..... Have to hurry up and wait
Good luck to anyone else still waiting for their tickets!
Aug 29, 2015, 4:48 am
#833
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: MAD/BCN/MUC/FRA
Programs: UA Premier 1K, AA EXP; A3 Gold; DL Plat, AZ Freccia Alata; Hertz PC
Posts: 54
To the best of my knowledge... since yesterday everything is ticketed, partners may have not authorized space, thus declined or within the three-day period the customer has to inform a new credit card or deposit money directly to AA BR bank account.
I would definitely contact AA if you want that ticket. Is it AA only ? Does it involve partners... if it does can you be allocated onto AA metal, eventually dropping the partner or starting instead from a city where AA operates from ? Everything ok with your payment ?
I would definitely contact AA if you want that ticket. Is it AA only ? Does it involve partners... if it does can you be allocated onto AA metal, eventually dropping the partner or starting instead from a city where AA operates from ? Everything ok with your payment ?
Aug 29, 2015, 7:00 am
#834
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: LHR, MSN
Programs: WFBF, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 204
Really, seems everyone is ticketed by now, but me. Status still "On Request". I called AA BR yesterday morning and they assured everything was fine and I should be ticketed very soon. But I'm starting to think that something must be wrong with my booking...
Who else is waiting desperately? Could we somehow know what percentage of tickets has already been through? My patience is really put to a severe test here.
Who else is waiting desperately? Could we somehow know what percentage of tickets has already been through? My patience is really put to a severe test here.
My itinerary is all AA ex-US to HKG. Credit card is an Amex, which seems to be giving the most trouble.
Aug 29, 2015, 8:09 am
#835
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AA Exp
Posts: 836
My routing is a funny open jaw GRU-LAX-NRT-HAN / BKK-DOH-JFK-LHR, involving AA, JL and QR. This might be the problem. And AFAIK this routing can't be changed to AA metal. BUT: I'd pay quite a lot more than others. Payment seems OK (Amex Plat pinged successfully). Any chances I get this through?
Aug 29, 2015, 8:45 am
#836
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
Tried to cancel my insurance ticket at EXP desk, but the lady informed me it's a non-refundable ticket which will cost me $500 fee. No thanks.
Then I called AA Brazil. Before I told the girl I would like to cancel, I asked if I may make date changes to the ticket. The answer is yes but will cost me additional $8K. No thanks.
However, when I told her to cancel this ticket, she repeated this is a non refundable one and will incur penalties. I asked her to check with a supervisor, and she came back informing me the supervisor gave her a green light to cancel without a fee.
Then I called AA Brazil. Before I told the girl I would like to cancel, I asked if I may make date changes to the ticket. The answer is yes but will cost me additional $8K. No thanks.
However, when I told her to cancel this ticket, she repeated this is a non refundable one and will incur penalties. I asked her to check with a supervisor, and she came back informing me the supervisor gave her a green light to cancel without a fee.
Aug 29, 2015, 8:49 am
#837
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: ATL
Posts: 127
Has anybody had any luck following up about duplicate CC charges by calling AA US? I got one of the charges reversed with my bank yesterday but just want to make sure it didn't screw up anything with my reservation. Still showing as ticketed as of now, so I think it's probably good but I'd rather not find out at the gate if that's true or not...
Aug 29, 2015, 9:46 am
#838
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: MAD/BCN/MUC/FRA
Programs: UA Premier 1K, AA EXP; A3 Gold; DL Plat, AZ Freccia Alata; Hertz PC
Posts: 54
Just had a conversation with a (spanish speaking) AA rep in BR, trying to find out what's going on with my reservation which is still "On Request".
After talking to the 'ticketing dept' she informed me, that they still don't know how to proceed with foreign cc payments; that they were "awaiting orders" about it and that I would have to wait some more time.
Don't unterstand how other bookings with foreign cc's were ticketed without problems. And wondering where to get a Brazilian CC, which I can give them in case they eventually refuse my Spanish one...
After talking to the 'ticketing dept' she informed me, that they still don't know how to proceed with foreign cc payments; that they were "awaiting orders" about it and that I would have to wait some more time.
Don't unterstand how other bookings with foreign cc's were ticketed without problems. And wondering where to get a Brazilian CC, which I can give them in case they eventually refuse my Spanish one...
