I got the following reply, along with an E-voucher for $80. I haven't purchased a ticket in years, I fly on company business. I don't know what I'll do with an E voucher - I could print it out but I don't have a birdcage.
Thank you for contacting American Airlines Customer Relations.
We understand your objection to the fees that now apply to AAdvantage® award tickets
issued through American's U.S. reservations offices and airport locations. This type
of fee is fast becoming an industry standard and represents a way for us to continue
to offer full services as well as to keep our pricing competitive.
We understand that the charge is most objectionable when it is applied to
AAdvantage®-award tickets that cannot be booked online. Before we announced the
implementation of the service fees, we carefully evaluated excluding tickets, such as
those issued from Promotions or AAdvantage® Airline Awards, that are not available on
AA.com. Since the number of transactions that fits this criteria represents such a
small percentage of our business, we felt that it would be less confusing overall to
our members and employees if we went ahead and charged the fee for all award tickets
initially issued through American's U.S. reservations offices and airport locations.
Since members typically book these types of awards in small quantities, we felt that
the imposition of a modest fee would have little impact on the overall value of
participating in promotions or using your AAdvantage® miles to travel.
As a gesture of goodwill and to encourage your continued business, we've made
arrangements for an eVoucher (see details below) for you to use toward the purchase of
a ticket to travel with us. I hope you will accept our gesture in the spirit of
compromise. The next time you travel with us, we'll do our best to make sure your
trip is a good one.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our rationale behind this fee. We
appreciate your patronage as an AAdvantage® member and look forward to your continued
business.
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