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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
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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 Feb 25, 2016, 11:47 am
  #1411  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AA Exp
Posts: 836
Originally Posted by flipside
I'll actually answer your question...

Yes, you should be able to re-route. Be warned though that AA is pulling the refurbed aircraft out of brazil slowly but surely.
I am not saying it is impossible to make changes, I am just saying that it is also possible that the changes that AA actually makes, are quite a bit more drastic than hoped ;-)
gnargel is offline  
Old Feb 25, 2016, 12:05 pm
  #1412  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
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Don't think it's greedy to push this (i.e., change the flight due to an inferior equipment), since I do all the time for regular revenue/award tickets.

But, that being said, it is very risky to do so (ask AA to change your tickets) in the sense we survived from a horrendous cancellation aftermath. I feel very fortunate to have my tickets stick (fingers crossed) and I won't risk anything to bring up AA's attention to this.
lewende is offline  
Old Feb 25, 2016, 12:21 pm
  #1413  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 845
Not greedy at all if I want to change my ticket due to inferior product. Not my fault AA decided to have a sale on tix bought on their Brazilian site

Anyway, I will just let it rest as you guys point out, no need to draw any attention to this ticket. Will rather have an angled seat that nothing.
B747forever is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2016, 4:19 pm
  #1414  
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Join Date: May 2001
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So my long adventure with these fares came to an abrupt ending last night. I had just got back from my GIG-JFK-HKG(CX F)-SIN-HKG-JFK(CX-F)-GIG trip and was about to start my GRU- LAX-SYD and back trip. Cue torrential downpours in Rio. Normally it takes me about 30 minutes to get to GIG (so I could catch my GOL flight to GRU). This time it took me 3.5 hours and caused me to miss my flight to GRU with the next one not leaving for 2.5 hours (arriving 15 minutes before GRU-LAX leaves).

First thing I did is go right to the AA counter at GIG to see if they would route me via JFK or MIA (more than an 2 hours until either flight leaves). Sure they could accommodate me on either one for $8,000. gulp.

My only hope at this point was to catch the next and last flight to GRU, arrive late to the counter and hope they would put me on the 12:30am to Miami then to LAX. I'm sitting in the GOL standby line, they call my name at 9:30 and say sorry they can't help me because there isn't enough time for me to pay the fare difference and make the flight.

I call the EXP desk to see if I could get on the next days flight and they quoted me the same $8100 price. No thanks, I'll take a voucher. I also lost my pre-paid hotel in Sydney.

So that's that. All said and done I got 7 trips in J out of this including 2 legs in F on Cathay from JFK-HKG

Total miles earned 660k
204k EQM this year.
flipside is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2016, 4:34 pm
  #1415  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,041
Those are very, very impressive totals.

Sorry to hear you lost out on the last one, but you did very well overall, and certainly helped out a TON of us along the way.

Many thanks.
josephstern is offline  
Old Mar 2, 2016, 6:48 am
  #1416  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Location independent
Programs: AA PlatPro, Asiana Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 287
Originally Posted by flipside
So that's that. All said and done I got 7 trips in J out of this including 2 legs in F on Cathay from JFK-HKG

Total miles earned 660k
204k EQM this year.
Congrats on an awesome run with these fares. Thanks again for sharing!

Hopefully next time AA won't cancel mine and I can buy you that drink I promised!
FlyerJT is offline  
Old Mar 8, 2016, 8:34 pm
  #1417  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SAN
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, Lufthansa Frequent Traveler, Delta Hunk-Of-Irregularly-Shaped-Metal Medallion
Posts: 13
Intriguing. I'm curious if one could change the flights after departure and AA would let it stay. American hasn't played nice about this, so I don't know if they would even obey far rules.

Last edited by alexrg; Mar 8, 2016 at 8:41 pm
alexrg is offline  
Old Apr 6, 2016, 7:58 am
  #1418  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: AMS
Posts: 579
Thanks again to OP and, of course, American Airlines for letting me fly this. Just returned from Brazil to Aussie trip via US mostly in F, including LAX-SYD flagship First, for less than 170EUR. Instant AAdvantage Platinum as a bonus, which I will try to convert to ExPlat by the end of a year mostly on AA as my way of saying thank you to the airline.
maxvor is offline  
Old May 15, 2016, 9:51 am
  #1419  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: madam's organ
Posts: 269
Just got another reticket, this time the fare class on flight 3/6 got changed from J to I ( all other flights are still J or F). I am planning on changing flight 6/6 to the following day (F), does anyone know if that single I segment kills my change chances to change, or if calling after the I segment is flown will be ok? thanks
citsfo is offline  


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