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 25, 2015, 9:08 am
#691
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: QF LTG
Posts: 1,200
AA is being incredibly rude when trying to make changes to these tickets. Outright refusing to honour the fare rules stating that historic pricing should be used for changes after the outbound has been flown.
Aug 25, 2015, 9:30 am
#693
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: QF LTG
Posts: 1,200
I am incredibly happy they honoured it however I believe when they honour a fare they should honour the fare rules of the fare as well.
Aug 25, 2015, 9:35 am
#694
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 82
AA is extremely grateful in this case to issue tickets for USA departure which they probably can easily refuse to. Probably u asked too much?
Aug 25, 2015, 9:44 am
#695
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Midwest United States (and anywhere a cheap fare takes me)
Programs: Marriott (Gold), Hilton (Gold), SWA (CP), Hertz (5*), UA (Nobody), AA (Lifetime Gold)
Posts: 854
As an update, October is ticketed, the two June reservations are "Ticket Pending" and "On Request". The $1 pending on Amex has fallen off (as expected due to the length of the hold). And I still haven't said anything to my mother (whose one "travel wish" is to fly in the front of the plane) since I don't believe any error fare is real until I see the ticketed confirmation. I've played this game before. (This is the 87th since 1993.
)(I don't think that Mom reads Flyer Talk. I haven't seen her handle at the bottom of the page.
)
Aug 25, 2015, 9:50 am
#696
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: NYC-YUL-CDG-SVO
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum, AAdvantage, Hilton/Hyatt/Marriott
Posts: 160
My Canadian cc booked, October JFK-GIG still hasn't been ticketed yet I caled the cc company to make sure it wouldn't be declined. I also haven't received any email from aa at all. I'm starting to worry I might have made a typo with my email address when I booked the ticket.
I'm wondering if the "ticket pending" status changes to something else if the cc card gets declined. I'm thinking about calling them today in case they sent me an email a few days ago, but don't wanna mess up with anything.
EDIT: Just called AA Brazil now they're telling me that all tickets will be processed on or before August 28th. He told me more people than usual booked tickets last Thursday I tried to sound very surprised.
I'm wondering if the "ticket pending" status changes to something else if the cc card gets declined. I'm thinking about calling them today in case they sent me an email a few days ago, but don't wanna mess up with anything.
EDIT: Just called AA Brazil now they're telling me that all tickets will be processed on or before August 28th. He told me more people than usual booked tickets last Thursday I tried to sound very surprised.
Last edited by Chuvash; Aug 25, 2015 at 9:59 am
Aug 25, 2015, 9:50 am
#697
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Multiple locations
Programs: AAdvantage ExPlat LT Gold, BA Silver, Aegean Star Gold
Posts: 5,037
Honestly, AA could have told everyone (non-Brazil) to pound sand but they did the good thing and honored the fare.
But on an overall note, these fares usually break the normal rules of changes,etc. Usually forcing flyers to fly the original route/dates, not a bad compromise.
Additionally the system has still been processing tickets until a few hours ago, maybe once things die down a bit,you can call and get another answer.
Aug 25, 2015, 9:52 am
#698
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: DL plat
Posts: 316
Has anyone else had a situation with AMEX where they received a request for payment from AA Brazil, but it doesn't show as pending or confirm the tickets? I received a foreign transaction notice a few days ago but no pending charge or eticket. Then again today the same email for the same itinerary. AMEX says they were waiting on a merchant invoice from AA the first time but didn't receive one so nothing happened. AA then resubmitted the transaction again today but still without a merchant invoice, so I again assume nothing will likely happen. Any one else have this experience?
On another note, I talked to AA Brazil about two different itineraries just before. They said they are still backed up but both are in the queue, she said to wait another 20 hours. One was a declined transaction on Sunday which was then requeued, the other hasn't been touched since purchased Thursday. I also did see all the $1 pending charges from AA disappear from AMEX, but no other effects from this.
On another note, I talked to AA Brazil about two different itineraries just before. They said they are still backed up but both are in the queue, she said to wait another 20 hours. One was a declined transaction on Sunday which was then requeued, the other hasn't been touched since purchased Thursday. I also did see all the $1 pending charges from AA disappear from AMEX, but no other effects from this.
Aug 25, 2015, 9:56 am
#699
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,028
Trying to figure out if I need to call.
Have people had tickets complete with no interaction with AA whatsoever? Or does it take some type of contact with them to get the ticket to enter the queue?
Have people had tickets complete with no interaction with AA whatsoever? Or does it take some type of contact with them to get the ticket to enter the queue?
Aug 25, 2015, 9:59 am
#700
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: madam's organ
Posts: 269
I for one purposefully looked for full flex tickets (still "on request") specifically because of the fare rules, and if it processes through I will pay nearly double the non flex fare.
Aug 25, 2015, 10:00 am
#701
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: NYC
Posts: 117
So my pending Citi CC charge (since Aug 23) has finally been moved to an actual credit card charge, yet my ticket is still "ON REQUEST."
Anyone else in this situation?
Should I call AA Brazil? Wait it out and relax since the charge has hit my statement?
Anyone else in this situation?
Should I call AA Brazil? Wait it out and relax since the charge has hit my statement?
Aug 25, 2015, 10:01 am
#702
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: NYC
Posts: 117
Aug 25, 2015, 10:49 am
#704
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 76
That's exactly my doubt, I've paid almost 2-3x more just to get the flexible fare and really don´t have a clue how is it going to be, if I have to change it or cancel it.
Aug 25, 2015, 11:16 am
#705
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: madam's organ
Posts: 269
Read your fare rules. most fully flex will say you can change anything without a price increase after the FIRST flight is flown. If you change before that time you are subject to pay the fare difference. That is why pbody tried to make a change after flying to hkg.