Don't make my mistake!

[figmentgirl]

I just need to share this because I'm bummed out

DH and I booked our March 2010 trip in July for us and DSS8 and DSS12 from the 13th to the 18th. We got plane tickets through American Airlines with a credit we had at expedia. In October the buy 4 get 3 free deal came out and we extended our trip for a full week only to find out from AA that the plane tickets have a $150 change fee for EACH ticket Not only that, but the tickets are $100 more than they were so we'd have to pay that too. That's $1000!!!
We had hoped to save extra money but after two family emergencys (DH hurt his back and his ex-wife had a heart attack) our money situation won't accomodate paying for the airline ticket change.
We have to go for 5 nights instead of 7 and I am BUMMED. Espicially since the 2 nights we're giving up ar FREE
Of course I'm still glad we're going but my brother and dad don't understand why I'm upset so I wanted to share this with people who understand why I'm bummed out...

DON'T BOOK WITH AMERICAN. USE SOUTHWEST IF YOU CAN. NO CHANGE FEES.

 

[nicki.momof3]

I think most airlines have those fees - I know northwest does.

I feel for you - that is a huge bummer

 

[Tuliplvr]

That really stinks.. I can't stand American.. I've had more problems with them than I can even list.. I definitely fly south west when I can..

 

[PearlySwan]

^^^ So sorry to hear that! Any chance you can book new flight tickets with SW and have AA credit your account or use for a future trip? It would be a shame to let those two free days go to waste. Truly! See if you can work around this monkey wrench. Worst case scenario, ask to speak with a manager at AA, and or write to corporate. Some times they will make exceptions to the rules. We never fly anything but SW these days. Soooooo much easier in soooooo many ways.

 

[lugnut33]

That really stinks.. I can't stand American.. I've had more problems with them than I can even list.. I definitely fly south west when I can..

+eleventybillion!! I ate American.

 

[MerryFlora]

sorry Figmentgirl! That stinks!

You know you have time still to watch those fares, they may still go down enough to deflect the cost change fee. Can you hold onto the room ressies for a bit longer?

 

[figmentgirl]

^^^ So sorry to hear that! Any chance you can book new flight tickets with SW and have AA credit your account or use for a future trip? It would be a shame to let those two free days go to way. Truly! See if you can work around this monkey wrench. Worst case scenario, ask to speak with a manager at AA, and or write to corporate. Some times they will make exceptions to the rules. We never fly anything but SW these days. Soooooo much easier in soooooo many ways.

These are great ideas but I already looked into it and SW tickets would cost $1500 plus AA would take $600 out of our credit because it is again another change in tickets. AA has been unbelivably rude through all this. I was suprised since I'm a nice person and I hate confrontations and believe a good attitude goes a long way but these people are just mean! I think they need a trip to disney

 

[PearlySwan]

These are great ideas but I already looked into it and SW tickets would cost $1500 plus AA would take $600 out of our credit because it is again another change in tickets. AA has been unbelivably rude through all this. I was suprised since I'm a nice person and I hate confrontations and believe a good attitude goes a long way but these people are just mean!

^^^ UGH! I can't stand AA. They sure know how to stick it to you. I USED to fly AA when we lived in Chicago and it was always the same thing, though not quite as bad as they've been in the past few years. $600 in fees for changing your tickets is quite a whack in the wallet. Highway robbery if you asked me! But to get back to your issue and try to find a solution: do keep calling and try to ask with a different supervisor each and everyday. Keep your good attitude and it just might take you all the way to your goal (i.e., staying at WDW those 2 extra free days). Here's wishing you the best

I think they need a trip to disney

^^^ That's probably why they are so grumpy! Hey may be if you send them the "I'm with Grumpy" T-Shirts they'll be nicer to you. No but seriously don't give up. As MerryFlora said, there is still time and if the AA fares come down, you might be able to deflect, or at least minimize, the cost of changing the air tickets.

 

[seashoreCM]

Make the room reservation for the added two days at the end.

Keep checking your flights. Should the airline, due to cancellations, modify your homebound flights to be earlier, immediately and quietly ask to re-modify the flights to be later instead, and at first hand pick alternate flights including the extra days or at least one of them. There should be no charge to remake the change to be on the desired side (before or after) of the original flight.

Should you not succeed in modifying your flights that much, cut back your room reservation upon check in.

>>> let those two free days go to waste ...

They're not free at this juncture. They cost at least $300. apiece representing four family members changing their airplane tickets for $150. each.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

 

[MAH4546]

AA is not being rude.

In exchange for getting a substantial discount on your ticket over the regular fare, you agreed to pay a $150 change fee if your plans change. It's that simple.

Sorry for sounding like a jerk, but as somebody who has worked on the finance side of airlines, that's how things work. If people could just book tickets and cancel them free of charge, there would be no such thing as $99 one-way fares.

Southwest has a totally different business model than the other carriers which is friendlier for refunds, but in exchange it doesn't reward frequent flyers as well as American Airlines.

$150 is the industry standard change fee used by the major carriers, including United, Delta, US Airways and Continental.

 

[doconeill]

$150 is the industry standard change fee used by the major carriers, including United, Delta, US Airways and Continental.

Change fees seem to have skyrocketed...last time I even considered changing it was "only" $50, but they have often waived the fee. Even JetBlue lists it at $100 now.

 

[MAH4546]

Change fees seem to have skyrocketed...last time I even considered changing it was "only" $50, but they have often waived the fee. Even JetBlue lists it at $100 now.

They have, but airfare continues to be at record lows. It's cheaper to fly today than it ever has been. Forget adjusting for inflation, you don't even need to do that.

In 1995, it would cost $500, in 1995 dollars (about $700 in today's dollars) to fly cross country, and today you can often do it for less than $300.

It's a fair trade if you ask me.

 

[Hardy]

one of the many reasons why we drive......sometimes I really wish I could skip the 12 hour drive (especially coming home!) but when it comes down to it, I'd rather save the money and the hassle of relying on the airlines to get where we need to be. If the drive was more than 18 hours we'd probably have to start flying, but I only plan on moving CLOSER to Disney from now on!

 

[bgohre]

AA is not being rude.

In exchange for getting a substantial discount on your ticket over the regular fare, you agreed to pay a $150 change fee if your plans change. It's that simple.

Sorry for sounding like a jerk, but as somebody who has worked on the finance side of airlines, that's how things work. If people could just book tickets and cancel them free of charge, there would be no such thing as $99 one-way fares.

Southwest has a totally different business model than the other carriers which is friendlier for refunds, but in exchange it doesn't reward frequent flyers as well as American Airlines.

$150 is the industry standard change fee used by the major carriers, including United, Delta, US Airways and Continental.

You are 100% correct. $150 is the industry norm for the major airlines. Sometimes smaller carriers charge less but you generally don't have the flight options that the major carriers do.

When you buy your ticket for say Jan 1 to Jan 10 and you decided to change your return to Jan 08, you will almost always pay a difference in airfare. Sometimes it goes down and that can deflect the cost of your $150 change fee, sometimes it goes up. If the airlines didn't do that, people would always book the cheaper day and just change to the busier days later.

I'm sorry this happened and you had to pay the fee, but the airline did nothing wrong.

 

[tiggspring]

one of the many reasons why we drive......sometimes I really wish I could skip the 12 hour drive (especially coming home!) but when it comes down to it, I'd rather save the money and the hassle of relying on the airlines to get where we need to be. If the drive was more than 18 hours we'd probably have to start flying, but I only plan on moving CLOSER to Disney from now on!

Totally agree! We drive 16hrs in part because of my health. Honestly though I dont know why people pay to be agrivated the way they are by flying. Any time you can drive in eight hours or under dosen't seem to be worth it with the wait times, screenings etc. By driving not only did we save the $1000-1500 ticket fees we also saved $300 by bringing our own bottled water to WDW. Factoring in the cost to drive and two nights hotel we saved $800-1300 with no agrivation or anxiety about missing our flight. I know many can't do this but I would hate to fly today and flying used to be FUN!

 

[pixarmom]

This is exactly what happened to us in February of this year - we could have had 2 extra free days! But the change fees wiped out the savings, so we only had one free night instead of three. We flew midwest, but in our experience, most airlines charge change fees and notify of that at booking. Still crummy! So hard to manage the Disney reservations and the flights for best deals.

 

[DebbieB]

You are 100% correct. $150 is the industry norm for the major airlines. Sometimes smaller carriers charge less but you generally don't have the flight options that the major carriers do.

When you buy your ticket for say Jan 1 to Jan 10 and you decided to change your return to Jan 08, you will almost always pay a difference in airfare. Sometimes it goes down and that can deflect the cost of your $150 change fee, sometimes it goes up. If the airlines didn't do that, people would always book the cheaper day and just change to the busier days later.

I'm sorry this happened and you had to pay the fee, but the airline did nothing wrong.

Not all airlines work that way. I know USAir will not apply the difference of a lower fare towards the $150 change fee. If the new fare is lower, you still pay the $150 change fee and lose the difference.

 

[bethjones]

American Airlines does NOT have wonderful frequent flier rewards. My husband had to make 14 trips to Guatemala before he finally got enough points to get a free flight on a decent schedule. The only flights they have for FF are a 2 day itenerary unless you accumulate massive mileage. We fly Southwest for everything domestically now.
Beth

 

[kschafer]

Sorry about your airline frustrations! Have you looked into Disney's new offer? It's good for most of the spring and only has a 5 night minimum. It's not quite as good as the 4/3 (get a Disney gift card with resort/ticket package) but at least you can take advantage of a deal and not have to bear the expense of changing your flights

 

[tfoster]

I love SW, but do be careful of SW Vacations. We booked our recent trip with them assuming it was part of SW. I later learned it is totally independent (guess I should have read the fine print at the bottom of the page), even though it even shares the same plane logo. Fortunately, we didn't need to make any date changes, but when I called to talk to them about a possible adjustment due to new lower air fares, I learned that most changes result in a charge of $100 per person. That would have been $600 for us!

Booking through SW Vacations was a couple hundred dollars less than anything I could find through Disney, but next time I think we'll book through Disney and order the plane tickets separately from SW so I don't need to be worrying about our being hit with a huge fee if we have to change our dates due to illness or something.

OP, sorry about your experience. I understand how frustrated you must feel, but I do hope you have a great vacation!