Advise on Talking to American Airlines..?

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Situation - we have to fly over to England to visit MIL (it's been a few years). Going later this month mainlly because it's a cheap time to fly. Booked the tickets (in Nov) directly with American (their price was a dollar or so more than other sites like Expedia, Orbitz etc - not much of a difference and I felt better booking directly with the airline).

The price has now dropped significantly - grand total of $436.30 for our 3 tickets. Exact same flight, exact same days/ times. That's $400 - a chunk of change in our book.

Is there anything we can say / argue to get them to refund the difference? Dh talked to a regular person and a supervisor tonight on the phone - no luck with them. He's asked that a manager call him back tomorrow.

I know it's a long shot - and I'm sure the price dropped due to the whole Christmas day fiasco (quite frankly I wish we didn't need to fly right now!). But if we can get $400 back - I would be one happy camper!

Suggestions welcome! Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[msmayor]

If you bought fully-refundable tickets then getting the difference back isn't a problem.

But I'm guessing that like most folks, the fully-refundable fare was far more than you wanted to pay, so you purchased a non-refundable fare...which is subject to very strict rules.

Can you get the difference? Sure...but most likely by paying a change fee that I think runs about $150 per ticket. Eats up the savings. But unfortunately, those are probably the rules of the fare you purchased, and the airline isn't going to budge on that.

 

[hipchickie]

The chance of you getting a cash refund are close to none. You may possibly be able to get a travel voucher equal to the difference in price, but each airline has different rules on what qualifies (# day since booking, for example)

AA has one of the higher fees though - IIRC it is at least $200 so it is probably not worth it.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

My son was going on our Disney trip and he told us 2 weeks ago he cant go because of a fight he has signed a contract for. I called AA and talked to them and even with all the flying we do with them the result was a credit of $9.59 LOL yep that is another reason why we dont book to take him with us LOL .
We even asked if my Grandchild could use his seat since he was going to come . The answer was "they will probably resell his ticket when he does not check in 10 min before flight "

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Thanks everyone - I had a feeling that would be the situation!

Sigh - it's money we've already spent and I'm OK with that overall but I sure was hoping somehow they'd magically feel a need (goodwill or whatever) to refund the difference

 

[kaytieeldr]

The problem with good will is, then everybody expects the same treatment.

But, respectfully, in your case there is no reason for the airline to comply with your request. You purchased a nonrefundable fare, and before you made the purchase the website gave you the opportunity to read the rules of the fare - including that there would be a $150 per ticket charge to make any changes. Change could be a cancellation, or a different flight, or even a different fare.

Think about it. If the fare went up, how willing would you be to offer AA more money than what you paid?

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My dh is a million mile guy. Lets just say AA is not know for their customer service. We had some issues with our aa disney vacation and lets just say they werent too helpful either.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just so you know - your AA Vacation was probably not administered by AA, but by a travel company with which they contract? The 'big' one is Mark Travel; they provide the service for several airlines' vacation divisions.

 

[brymolmom]

I don't think I'd even try in this case. When you buy non-refundable, you should expect no refunds. I've been caught by something similar in the past and it is frustrating. But then I've saved thousands of dollars over the years by buying non-refundable, so I figure I've made up for that one time when it might have helped me out.

 

[salleys]

This is one of the several reasons we use Southwest whenever possible.
Salley

 

[Chicago526]

I'm a TA, so I'm really familure with the fare rules.

Just because it's a non-refundable ticket, doesn't mean you can't get a credit for a fare drop. However, there is a catch when dealing with the major airlines.

American should allow you to put the differance on a credit voucher good for future travel, minus a $150 fee per person. They used to not charge the fee, but they started charging it a few years ago. All major carriers do this now, unfortunatly, except USAirways, which doesn't allow credits at all. Southwest and the other discount airlines do allow credits at no fee, but don't fly international routes.

At any rate, really it's not worth doing unless the drop is over $200 per ticket, due to the fee. Your drop is only about $145 or so per ticket, which means in this case you're really out of luck.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Southwest and the other discount airlines do allow credits at no fee, but don't fly international routes.

Well, JetBlue does fly to some destinations in the Caribbean.

At any rate, really it's not worth doing unless the drop is over $200 per ticket, due to the fee. Your drop is only about $145 or so per ticket, which means in this case you're really out of luck.

Several years ago, when the legacy carriers were much more liberal even with nonrefundable fares, I got my Delta fare credited four or five times (although one time, when the fare only went down a couple of dollars, the CSR laughed at me and refused ). In fact, at one point I was able to change the return date completely, and even with the penalty, saved money!