AM low fare guarantee worthless
Feb 15, 2014, 2:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: AAdvantage, Skymiles, Priority Club, HHonors
Posts: 265
AM low fare guarantee worthless
On Feb. 2 I booked a trip on aeromexico.com for travel Sep. 17/21 from JFK-MEX-CPE-MEX-JFK for a wedding in Campeche. It priced at $768 with all taxes and fees, and I bought the ticket. I didn't, however, do as much due diligence or comparison shopping as I usually do, but I did check availability on all flights on Expertflyer, and it showed all booking classes fully open.
The next day, Feb. 3, a friend going to the same wedding asked for my flight info so he could book as well. He called me back and said that on aeromexico.com he was getting $743, but Orbitz offered a price of $684 --- for the exact same flights on the same days.
That got my curiosity up. I used to be a corporate travel agent and did a lot of international faring. It had been just over 24 hours since I booked, and in checking Expertflyer, neither the published fares nor availability had changed. The difference between my $768 booking on AM and my friend's $743 on AM was that he had input each flight separately on the multi-city search (return CPE-MEX, MEX-JFK, and I had booked the return as a through connection (CPE-JFK connecting in MEX). Using multi-city with separate legs on the return. AM broke the fare in MEX and used a lower fare class (R) MEX-JFK than what AM fared my ticket at for the MEX-JFK leg (N).
The Orbitz total was even lower because Orbitz used V class fares on all legs. I dug into the fare rules on Expertflyer (yes, I can speak the arcane language of fares rules) and faring the entire itinerary in V, like Orbitz did, seemed perfectly legal and within the rules. Orbitz wasn't using any availability hanky panky, either (i.e. sometimes a booking class shows available point to point, but not on a through connection search --- but not in this case. V class was available on both a CPE-JFK availability search as well as on separate searches CPE-MEX and MEX-JFK.)
The variable here was not changing fares or availability, it was the booking engine used. Aeromexico.com, I assume, is Sabre based because my itinerary is retrievable on Virtuallythere. Orbitz uses Travelport (Galileo/Apollo) as its on-tariff GDS. Price anything more than a simple round trip in different GDSs, and there will likely be some variation. It's the reason why international fare specialists at large travel agencies have access to multiple GDSs.
I screen grabbed everything, and sent a pretty detailed email to Aeromexico customer service. In their published service plan, they commit that “We will offer on aeromexico.com , on our telephone reservation system, at airport ticket counters, and at city ticket offices the lowest published fare for which you are eligible for the date, flight, and class of service requested.”
I maintained that they did not offer me the lowest published fare on Aeromexico.com, and requested a refund of the difference. Needless to say, I got a pretty canned and unsatisfactory response — "the rates published on our website are constantly changing as the publishing travel agencies with online sales, therefore regret to inform would not be possible to reimburse the amount, because the purchase you made directly in our website and was visible at all times the amount you would pay for Aeromexico."
That's not what their low fare guarantee states, that the price I'll play will be visible at all times. A low fare guarantee is that they guarantee to offer me the lowest fare, and that should be regardless of whether I buy directly through AM or through another online travel agency. I might get it if Orbitz had offered a specially negotiated off-tariff fare, but the Orbitz fare was a straight above board, published fare.
I also specifically asked AM to tell me why the lower fare Orbitz offered may not have been valid, and what in the fare rules would prohibit AM from faring this in V class, the class that Orbitz used. There was no mention of that in their reply. In fact, I don't think that any fare person even looked at what I sent.
Aeromexico may publish that it has a low fare guarantee, but it seems like there's no way for a customer to actually make a case that AM didn't offer the lowest fare. Two weeks later, I'm still able to replicate the difference between AM and Orbitz, so it's not an issue of changing fares or availability - it's the booking engine and faring algorithm.
I replied back to AM three days ago, but haven't heard anything back. The amount at issue here is only $84, but for me the issue is one of principal.
The next day, Feb. 3, a friend going to the same wedding asked for my flight info so he could book as well. He called me back and said that on aeromexico.com he was getting $743, but Orbitz offered a price of $684 --- for the exact same flights on the same days.
That got my curiosity up. I used to be a corporate travel agent and did a lot of international faring. It had been just over 24 hours since I booked, and in checking Expertflyer, neither the published fares nor availability had changed. The difference between my $768 booking on AM and my friend's $743 on AM was that he had input each flight separately on the multi-city search (return CPE-MEX, MEX-JFK, and I had booked the return as a through connection (CPE-JFK connecting in MEX). Using multi-city with separate legs on the return. AM broke the fare in MEX and used a lower fare class (R) MEX-JFK than what AM fared my ticket at for the MEX-JFK leg (N).
The Orbitz total was even lower because Orbitz used V class fares on all legs. I dug into the fare rules on Expertflyer (yes, I can speak the arcane language of fares rules) and faring the entire itinerary in V, like Orbitz did, seemed perfectly legal and within the rules. Orbitz wasn't using any availability hanky panky, either (i.e. sometimes a booking class shows available point to point, but not on a through connection search --- but not in this case. V class was available on both a CPE-JFK availability search as well as on separate searches CPE-MEX and MEX-JFK.)
The variable here was not changing fares or availability, it was the booking engine used. Aeromexico.com, I assume, is Sabre based because my itinerary is retrievable on Virtuallythere. Orbitz uses Travelport (Galileo/Apollo) as its on-tariff GDS. Price anything more than a simple round trip in different GDSs, and there will likely be some variation. It's the reason why international fare specialists at large travel agencies have access to multiple GDSs.
I screen grabbed everything, and sent a pretty detailed email to Aeromexico customer service. In their published service plan, they commit that “We will offer on aeromexico.com , on our telephone reservation system, at airport ticket counters, and at city ticket offices the lowest published fare for which you are eligible for the date, flight, and class of service requested.”
I maintained that they did not offer me the lowest published fare on Aeromexico.com, and requested a refund of the difference. Needless to say, I got a pretty canned and unsatisfactory response — "the rates published on our website are constantly changing as the publishing travel agencies with online sales, therefore regret to inform would not be possible to reimburse the amount, because the purchase you made directly in our website and was visible at all times the amount you would pay for Aeromexico."
That's not what their low fare guarantee states, that the price I'll play will be visible at all times. A low fare guarantee is that they guarantee to offer me the lowest fare, and that should be regardless of whether I buy directly through AM or through another online travel agency. I might get it if Orbitz had offered a specially negotiated off-tariff fare, but the Orbitz fare was a straight above board, published fare.
I also specifically asked AM to tell me why the lower fare Orbitz offered may not have been valid, and what in the fare rules would prohibit AM from faring this in V class, the class that Orbitz used. There was no mention of that in their reply. In fact, I don't think that any fare person even looked at what I sent.
Aeromexico may publish that it has a low fare guarantee, but it seems like there's no way for a customer to actually make a case that AM didn't offer the lowest fare. Two weeks later, I'm still able to replicate the difference between AM and Orbitz, so it's not an issue of changing fares or availability - it's the booking engine and faring algorithm.
I replied back to AM three days ago, but haven't heard anything back. The amount at issue here is only $84, but for me the issue is one of principal.
