AA AU website showing more expensive fares

[justinbrett]

Yesterday I booked a revenue LAS-LAX flight in F.

AU website was showing A$702 oneway.

Google flights / Expedia were showing ~A$550 - and AA US showed ~US$330 (equivilent to the ~A$550).

I tried several times to get the same fare on the AU site but it just wouldn't show. In the end I booked via the US website - but as I don't have a US credit card I just put the reservation on hold and called up to pay via phone. They charged me in USD which is fine.

I certainly will be checking these fares more closely from now on and not just take it for granted the AU site will be the same.

 

[serfty]

I certainly will be checking these fares more closely from now on and not just take it for granted the AU site will be the same

Certainly something I have been doing since I discovered YUPPs in the 00's.

Always pays to double check, occasionally the AU (Amadeus) site can be cheaper.

Also, aa.com "tries" hard to force the session into AU.

 

[RooFlyer]

I tried several times to get the same fare on the AU site but it just wouldn't show. In the end I booked via the US website - but as I don't have a US credit card I just put the reservation on hold and called up to pay via phone. They charged me in USD which is fine.

Do you need a US credit card? Or wouldn't it accent your Aus one? When the $ was at parity, I recall buying AA miles in $US on their US web site with my ( then) local 28 Degrees card.

 

[justinbrett]

Do you need a US credit card? Or wouldn't it accent your Aus one? When the $ was at parity, I recall buying AA miles in $US on their US web site with my ( then) local 28 Degrees card.

Yes, it won't accept an Australian card.

Back in the day before AA flew to Australia and they didn't have an AA website, you used to be able to use the UK site and put your country down as United Kingdom - with all of the other address details correct - and it would successfully charge AU cards. I didn't try that this time.

But the US site has a great feature of putting your reservation on hold, then once you call up you can pay with any card. I actually find it easy to leave the currency in USD as otherwise whenever you request a change the agent has to convert the fare to/from AUD and back. Normally if you call the AU number they'll convert the booking to AUD (or give you the choice) but I really don't see the point.

 

[RooFlyer]

Normally if you call the AU number they'll convert the booking to AUD (or give you the choice) but I really don't see the point.

You can bet it will be at a poorer FX rate than you'll get on Latitude cards & the like!

One of the first lessons I learned on AFF was not to use the Australian AA site. I was doing a hellavalot of US/Canada travel and was heavily into AA miles, especially abt 2012 when the $s were about equal

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As serfty pointed out this has been the case since like… forever. The US site not only has cheaper fares, but also lots more connections available.

The downside is the credit card issue… but calling in resolved that. Don’t know whether you can still use the ‘el segundo’ address method to get around it (entering in a ‘fake’ US address). I’ve never used that so don’t really know the ins and outs of it.

 

[Pushka]

How do you get the site to stick with us site? My search keeps reverting to .au. VPN?

 

[AV8]

As serfty pointed out this has been the case since like… forever. The US site not only has cheaper fares, but also lots more connections available.

The downside is the credit card issue… but calling in resolved that. Don’t know whether you can still use the ‘el segundo’ address method to get around it (entering in a ‘fake’ US address). I’ve never used that so don’t really know the ins and outs of it.

Certainly can still use the 'El Segundo' method - transaction completed online in less than 1 minute with AU credit card yesterday.

 

[serfty]

Upper right, click.the Oz Flag, choose US English.

 

[serfty]

Yes, it won't accept an Australian card.

Just saw this - an Oz CC will be accepted.

There are already references to El Segundo in this thread - also search the AFF site for more.

 

[SYD]

Certainly something I have been doing since I discovered YUPPs in the 00's.

Always pays to double check, occasionally the AU (Amadeus) site can be cheaper.

Also, aa.com "tries" hard to force the session into AU.

Ah, the heady days of YUPPs!

For Sydney Siders, if you happen to live in Beverly Hills, you could be forgiven for entering zip code 90210

 

[serfty]

Ah, the heady days of YUPPs!

For Sydney Siders, if you happen to live in Beverly Hills, you could be forgiven for entering zip code 90210

I generally slummed it in 90245 even this year.

 

[TomVexille]

Also a good TA will be able to ticket this for you

 

[NM]

I have found the issue with using Australian credit cards is that when entering the billing address you MUST enter a 5-digit Zip Code. Luckily my actual post code works just be adding a leading zero to my 4-digit Queensland post code. I have used this 5-digit with leading zero method both on-line and over the phone with several different Australian credit cards.

 

[Daver6]

You can book the US rates in AUD but using Amex Travel. I did this recently. Save on the rates and save on FX fees.