[knuzzo]

I have recently contacted AA Customer Relations about my problem and of course, right after - 11/25/09 - 12/02/09, Thanksgiving weekend. I purchased 3 tickets on their website on 11/25 after 2 of the tickets came down in price. Fearing they would go up again, I bought them. On 12/2 I found out the tickets had dropped more - $687 more. So, I began calling and emailing and was told it would cost $450 to re-ticket and they would issue AA vouchers (not cash) for the difference - it was over 24 hours. After a couple of conversations, I felt pressured and not knowing what else I could do, I said okay. But, I cannot get over how unfair and unreasonable this practice is. I could see a charge - but not $450. The last response I received from AA was they hoped I could get past this and it wouldn't affect how I feel about my trip. How can it not affect how I feel? I feel ripped-off. I'm currently unemployed and the $687 would have helped with other expenses of this trip. At this point, I would not recommend that anyone use AA's web site to make reservations. If you have to fly AA, use Orbitz.

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by knuzzo

At this point, I would not recommend that anyone use AA's web site to make reservations. If you have to fly AA, use Orbitz.

Huh???

[The_Judge]

After thinking about it, my previous post was unhelpful. I'd like to report myself and offer some more insight.

Airline tickets are somewhat of a unique purchase. There are so many restrictions placed on the consumer that it's very difficult to receive satisfaction if difficulties arise. This is one of those times.

One of the main restrictions is you won't receive cash back for a refund in this type of transaction. Pure BS in my opinion. I could understand if the original purchase was with a voucher then you would receive credit back but when you pay with money, one should expect the refund to be in the form of money.

That being said, I'll use the old standby from the other side. If the price had gone up 687usd, would you have gone running to AA to pay the difference? No, I wouldn't think so.

Also, if you would have purchased this through Orbitz, (or similar online agency) I doubt you would have gotten anything other than the run-around. Going through a middle-man, imo, is not smart when purchasing airline tickets. Just one more hassle to go through. My advice would be to always purchase directly from the airline.

[Silent Bob]

Or how about take my advice: Once you purchase a ticket, don't look back. Listen, you put yourself in this position. Why bother rechecking the cost of the ticket after you purchase it? And on top of that in order to save money, you spent MORE money and they give you back the difference in a voucher? Here's the thing, you can't really cry foul if going in you know what to expect. (That 450 is 150 change fee for 3. And what's the change? A price difference.)

After a couple of conversations, I felt pressured and not knowing what else I could do, I said okay.

How can you feel pressured? you called them! You could have just said no thanks and walked away.

So essentially you saved a whopping 237 (if that's per ticket..... well either way I still wouldn't have done it). Just a future tip: Once you buy your ticket accept what you paid for and don't bother looking back just to save money because as we've learned, it's really an uphill battle.

Going through a middle-man, imo, is not smart when purchasing airline tickets.

I disagree. Going orbitz, expedia, travelocity, etc offer better protection in case of misconnects, cancellations, and delays (strangely enough not a lot of people know this) than the airlines. Most airlines would rather you stay with them than to transfer to another airline (Actually I would pass that down to individual agents as I've been rebooked on other airlines in such cases), where as Orbitz would simply rebook you with what's available. Myself, family and friends have had nothing but success using orbitz and in most cases the prices are lower than the airlines (true with tighter restrictions).

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by Silent Bob

I disagree. Going orbitz, expedia, travelocity, etc offer better protection in case of misconnects, cancellations, and delays (strangely enough not a lot of people know this) than the airlines. Most airlines would rather you stay with them than to transfer to another airline (Actually I would pass that down to individual agents as I've been rebooked on other airlines in such cases), where as Orbitz would simply rebook you with what's available.

Have you not seen horror stories on other consumer-based websites about these types of businesses? If not, I would investigate them. They are not a help. It's just one more phone call the customer has to make. I can't count the number of times when I was dealing with a customer during a delay/cancelation and after given their "options" (all passengers want their options) they say the will call their travel agent. Like that will get the problem fixed. Well, after their call, losing time and their place in line, they make it back up to me to have their ticket reissued to EXACTLY what I offered them before. A middle-man is no help and I'll stand by that till I go to the grave.

[jimworcs]

This is the result of the ridiculous "dyanamic" pricing system adopted by the airlines. What other service or product is priced like this? It is gambling... trying to figure out when to buy. It is a frustrating and ridiculously opaque system, which leaves people feeling exploited. The only other purchase you could compare it with is buying shares... "the price you pay may go up or down, past performance is no guarantee of future results". Utterly ludicrous.