Discrepancy
 

My original roundtrip ticket from El Paso to Frankfurt, booked on 2/5/09,
cost a total of $ 907.90. Hoever, by the end of February American Airlines had lowered the ticket price to $ 546.20, taxes included. That is a price difference of $ 343.70. AA agreed to change the ticket, but charged a
$ 250 penalty fee. Thus the actual saving was only $ 93.00.

I find the penalty fee of $ 250 unfair, exploitative, and exorbitant.
Those who now book the flight for $ 546.20 pay $ 343.70 less than
the original fare at the beginning of February. By charging a penalty fee of $ 250, those of us who booked earlier, subsidize the cheaper fare! I am
penalized for booking early which is clearly unfair!!
As a valued costumer who often flies with American Airlines, I would like
for AA to explain this discriminatory policy.
Sincerely,

wolfgang schlauch

its the same way with gas stations...i paid $1.94 per gallon for gas, 2 days later it was $1.85...do you think it would be fair if you were charged $200 for a ticket the price went up to $500 per ticket, the airlines could charge the difference?? i think not. its the way it is

I paid for a ticket last month for a trip I'm taking in two weeks. Since that time, the combined fare for my wife and I has increased nearly double...probably due to spring break time. I would be VERY upset if the airline charged me additional. I usually check fares on Wednesdays, since that's when fares will normally change. That's the way it is with all carriers I'm familiar with, not just AA. I have paid less...I have paid more. You just take your chances.

I posted my reply on the other thread, so I hope noone minds but am gonna repost it here too ... :)

I have seen this complaint quite a few times on here, and although i work for an airline i will not defend them all the way, just a little :)

Ok, if you go to a clothes store and purchase a new shirt, next week the shirt has gone down in their sale due to low sales of said shirt, would you then go and ask for the extra money back? no you wouldnt, the same applies for airlines, if they choose to sell the seats at a price, and then realise that acutally, that flight is not selling too well, how do they fill it? reduce the price!

If anyone can tell me that the clothes store would call all customers and offer them their money back, then i will happily stand corrected, so in the same regard, why should the airlines?

American did not have to offer you anything back, (Unless there is a price promise or the likes in place) there is no law stating that they are unable to lower their fares, after the original fare has been published.

However, and this is where I do not agree with the airlines. This process makes all airlines look bad, and makes for very disgruntled passengers :( ... But it is not going to change, it does seem to be happening more and more of late, this of course is due to the "current economic climate", and less travellers etc, and the airlines effectively trying to keep afloat (Or in the air as it is :)) ...

Give me a workable way around this, and I shall once again stand corrected, however I cannot think of a way around this without losing a significant number of other airlines (Not a bad thing i hear some of you cry!) :)

AA, evidently has the "best" deal
 

Just checked, and Lufthansa gets $775 for an El Paso - Frankfurt r.t., (for an April 1st departure) via one stop/connection in Denver. Lufthansa's Contract of Carriage has NO provision for ANY refund in the event of a fare decrease. Still, I can't understand WHY someone would choose American Air, over Lufthansa. Frequent flyer miles?? Are American's attitudes and bad service worth it? If one can believe commercials Obitz Travel, supposedly, will refund you if the ticket price goes down and you booked through them. Although that then opens one up to all the aggravations of booking through a travel agent--no phone calls from the airline; problems if there are delays at the airport, etc. If you haven't, already, taken your trip hopefully this incident will not turn-out to be the LEAST of your problems, with American, once your trip is over.

Wolf, next time shop around before you jump on that price, that way you don't get bitten. Orbitz is a personal favorite. Also i hope you didn't pay the change fee, because you're not really changing anything you just want the lower fare.

The analogy with petrol, shirts, etc is not really a pure analogy, because the purchase is for a future product. Let me give you another analogy. You go into Sears and buy a cooker. The price is $1,000. Sears tell you that the cooker will be ready in 30 days for collection. When you go back to collect your cooker, the price of the cookers has been reduced to $750. Would you be happy to pay the full price?

The issue here is that the price was agreed. Therefore, the OP has no direct complaint. However, the change fee of $250 is outrageous and in no way reflects costs by AA of making the change. This type of agregious overcharging is the type of behaviour monopolies engage in. That will only change by legislation and regulation. Turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

Actually, if the consumer reacted logically to this approach by AA, they would not book ahead. The logical response to force the price down by not booking in advance and then booking when the price is low. This would work against the interests of the airlines, but they have such a grip on the market, they have no fear that this will happen.

ORBITZ TRAVEL site: Refunds for price reductions
 

The entire listing of rules, which is somewhat lengthy, can be found at:

http://www.orbitz.com/pagedef/conten...Disabled=false

Apparently the mere fact that an airline lowers its price doesn't, in itself, trigger a refund from Orbitz. A lower priced ticket, presumably for the same itinerary, class of service, dates, etc, must be purchased, by someone else, ALSO through Orbitz. If I read the rules right Orbitz caps refunds at $250.

Sorry Butch, I should have mentioned in my previous post that I use orbitz because of the low fares, not so much for that refund rule. I'm not a hunter for such deals. If i find a good price, i stick to it with no remorse.

"Price guarantees" in the retail (non-travel) sector
 

In response to the comments about price guarantees in the retail sector:

Just finished placing an order with Amazon.com. One of the items qualifies for a "price guarantee." Here are the terms:

Our Pre-order Price Guarantee covers one or more item(s) in this order. If the Amazon.com price decreases between the time you place your order and the end of the day of the release date, you'll receive the lowest price.

A relevent point is that it appears payment of a "re-stocking" or "change" fee is not a pre-condition to benefiting from this guarantee.

I think we fail to see that the analogy of gas, shirts, cookers, etc. doesn't work here. An airline seat is a perishable product. Once the cabin door closes, the empty seat is no good.

Airline tickets are so unique that they can not be compared to any other good. They are sold at a price that is a best guess of what the value may be upon departure. Other like tickets are sold along with other fares to adjust for supply and demand.

If I were to compare...my best analogy would be illegal drug dealing. One is purchasing a good at the current street value. The value of the good can be different at another street corner and on another day. If you try to get part of your money back from the dealer, you will be rejected or worse. And anyone with common sense knows that the dealer is shady to begin with.

Now there is an analogy I can live with. The airlines pricing is comparible to the pricing of street drug dealers!

I forgot to mention, both products get you "high." LOL.