[mblanchette]

We booked four round-trip seats on Boston-Paris flights for August about six weeks ago, figuring that the best time to book was about three months in advance of the trip (according to industry wisdom). At that time, the fare was over $1200 per person. But since that time, the airline has reduced the airfare to Paris significantly, down to over $900 per person.

Given the over $300 difference per person in fare, I contacted AA to see if we could re-book under the new fare. The representative told me that I would OWE THEM money if I made this change. The reason is that they charge $250 per person to change an international ticket. That means that our party would have to pay $1000 to take advantage of the fare reduction.

In effect, AA is penalizing those who booked early at higher fares. They took the money and impose policies that make it nearly impossible to take advantage of lower fares. I find this policy both outrageous and customer unfriendly, not to mention abusive of customer loyalty. As a result, I will go out of my way to avoid AA whenever possible in the future.