American Airlines booking engine for international flights

[serfty]

.... since I found a way to have more chance of an upgrade by calling QFF rather than using the online facility ... PM if you wish more information ...

 

[mr_matt_t]

Well hope I haven't opened up a can of worms. Spoke to AA in Aus today to change the waitlist flight to an earlier flight that had availability and asked the question as to how i could select the flight off the website if no availability. Long wait on hold and was then told the price in AUD to reticket (more than double) and the fact i couldn't book my ticket with Aus cc for the fare i selected (from UK). They also suggested i contact Cathay about the waitlist. I thought this was a good time to finish the conversation and leave my fare as is.

I spoke to Cathay today who couldn't really give me more information as the flight has not been officially ticketed and thus could only give me the information that there is no V class available on the flight. They can see it is waitlisted but as it is not booked by them can do little.


Rang AA again hoping to get a better result. This time more helpful and she couldn't understand why it had not ticketed (although showing ticketed against my record locator with one flight missing) as AA were showing V class availability for this flight. This is against what CX had just told me and what seatcoutner was displaying. All i want to do is get a flight on the day that has availability in my fare class. My understanding is the ticket won't be confirmed until the waitlist clears (and no deduction from cc until this time). She took my number to call me back after she had spoke to Paris? ticketing. I changed the subject about country of origin of cc. Still no call back.

1. Should there be a change fee if i get on an earlier flight?
2. If i just cancel the whole fare will there be a fee? (my understanding is no cc deductions yet as nothing finalised. Cathay also advised me ticketing had to be done before 5 Sept)
3. If i call UK AA office will this help my plight? (as Aus office keep wanting to charge me in AUD)

I know if i start from scratch and book from website (where i can see there is definately availability) my ticket should be booked as in my wifes case.

 

[mr_matt_t]

Phew - mini panic attack over. Ticket confirmed.

Just got of the phone to AA UK after marathon 40 minute call. Didn't really get any explanations as to why this waitlisting occurred except OneWorld carriers don't update AA databases reguarly on fares classes available. Didn't sound right to me but oh well.

Flight was moved to an earlier flight where there was availability. Still had difficulty booking this and her supervisor had to be consulted. Was also advised that the fare would be considerably more even though i had AA bookings page open with same fare showing as yesterday (actually 60p less). End result was no extra charges or change fees (rightly so). The kind girl also made sure my billing address in Aus was displayed correctly.

Lessons learned - check availability before booking these types of fares (especially CX metal). Call AA UK to resolve issues.

JohnK - sorry for highjacking your thread. Very similar circumstances.

 

[JohnK]

.... since I found a way to have more chance of an upgrade by calling QFF rather than using the online facility ... PM if you wish more information ...

OK, now you have me wondering. Send me an email if you think I can benefit from this information.

JohnK - sorry for highjacking your thread. Very similar circumstances.

It is always good to hear other peoples experiences with booking flights.

Now I am starting to worry as I have not received an email with the e-ticket information yet although the flights are still confirmed. I think it is time to call AA Sydney again to find out what is happening.

 

[JohnK]

Phew - mini panic attack over. Ticket confirmed.

Have you got the e-ticket receipt yet? Has AA billed your credit card?

I still do not have an e-ticket although the status is showing as ticketed. When I spoke to AA Sydney last week the lady called Paris and said that the itinerary was in the queue to be e-ticketed in the next few days. I am getting worried now. I think it time to call AA Sydney again....

 

[mr_matt_t]

Have you got the e-ticket receipt yet? Has AA billed your credit card?

Yes and Yes

E tickets received in less than 12 hours from confirmed ticket and credit card statement showing deduction approximately 4 days later. I assume you are paying in GBP?

I would call AA UK and don't bother with AA Aus.

 

[JohnK]

I assume you are paying in GBP?

Well that was the theory but I am not so sure anymore. The A$ is not performing well since I booked the flights so if I am not billed soon I will be paying considerably more than the original expectation.

I would call AA UK and don't bother with AA Aus.

What number did you call for the AA UK call centre?

 

[mr_matt_t]

As listed on website UK

 

[mr_matt_t]

Oops didn't display cut and paste (i even previewed first)

+44 (0) 207 365 0777

 

[JohnK]

Thanks I will try AA Sydney again today and if I don't get resolution I will call AA UK when I get back to Sydney tomorrow night.

I really do not understand why it is taking so long....

 

[serfty]

Have you got the e-ticket receipt yet? Has AA billed your credit card?

I still do not have an e-ticket although the status is showing as ticketed. When I spoke to AA Sydney last week the lady called Paris and said that the itinerary was in the queue to be e-ticketed in the next few days. I am getting worried now. I think it time to call AA Sydney again....

Do not worry yet.

Tuesday last week ticketed some November flights in AUD. Online the booking changed to "Ticketed" with no date, but my CC was not charged.

When nothing had happened for a few days I was getting a bit concerned with the change in Forex rates but on Friday the charges went though and I received "E-Ticket Confirmation" emails. I haven't received these before. I still have not received any "Snail" mail receipts as I did in previous purchases; perhaps they have changed their procedure and the email is it.

Anyway, I had written down AUD542.08 as the quoted conversion from USD522.50; in the end I was charged AUD542.80 - so maybe I wrote the figure down incorrectly.

 

[simongr]

Strangely I boked and ticketed a DONE4 before I went away for a month. It shows as Ticketed - No Date but I have the eticket receipt and the card has been charged...


Also - is there a reason this thread has exploded in width and doesnt shrink to screen size?

 

[JohnK]

The reason my booking has not produced an e-ticket is that I have an invalid address for the UK and the billing of my Australian credit card is failing. Notes have been included in the booking to indicatre that there is an address conflict. I don't know whether this is once off and only happening to me but it would appear that the booking of flights on the AA website using UK as the country of residence may not produce the desired results originally thought.

Anyway AA Sydney, or should I say Brisbane as that is where the call centre is located, felt sorry for me and decided to ticket, even though AA website showed as ticketed the booking was not ticketed, and billed me in Australian dollars using my Australian credit card. The original quote GBP540.05 and I think the amount mentioned this morning was ~A$1165 which looks more than a fair conversion considering the current exchange rate and the 2.5%-3.00% currency conversion fee if charged in GBP.

Hopefully the e-ticket will be issued within the next 24 hours and I can finally stop worrying and get some sleep.

 

[v8Statesman]

Believe the discount was from the fuel fines benefit they used to give on Qantas Itins.

They don't anymore?

 

[serfty]

Apparently not (it's been a year or two since they did).

 

[JohnK]

An update for anyone that is interested in my trials and tribulations in trying to book through AA. I have almost given up of trying to get this itinerary ticketed. I don't know what to do other than to call the UK and try to get them to ticket but I think this booking now has too many negative remarms on it.

Just before I was due to depart for BNE domestic earlier this afternoon I got a rather disturbing call from a rude, arrogant, disgusting person, I use this term very loosely because he is a lowlife and behaved more like an animal, who said there is no way this itinerary is going to get ticketed. When questinoned on a number of issues the excuses he gave kept changing from the booking is not valid for AA to issue, only BA and QF, I used UK as the country of residence even though I live in Australia etc. When I questioned him on why the airfare was available on the AA website but not for sale his stupid remark was they had to list all available airfares but do not necessarily have to sell them. What a load of hogwash.

Just a word of warning of anyone trying to book via the AA website with an Australian address and credit card but specifying the country code as the UK that the checking process has become more detailed. You may get away with it but you may also be left high and dry. Not really all the hassle. I could actually try to stuff them by using a valid UK address but right now I want nothing to do with AA or their poor excuse for an airline.

I have managed to find a similar itinerary on Expedia for only ~A$210 more than AA website but the routing is BKK-SIN-SYD-BKK. I can leave BKK the day after with the exact same itinerary as mentioned on this thread, BKK-HKG-SYD-BKK, for only ~$220 more than the airfare on the AA website. This looks to be the best option.

And in order to calm me down when I got to the airport I was given a boarding pass of 1J for my flight to SYD. It is almost as if QF knew I was in a state of distress. To serfty thanks for the phone call and the advice.

 

[MelUser]

I think AA is best used for DCIRs/DONEs etc via the ATW desk in Dallas and ticketed in a place with AA presence [eg Tokyo]

 

[Mal]

The reason my booking has not produced an e-ticket is that I have an invalid address for the UK and the billing of my Australian credit card is failing.

Interesting trials and tribulations. Which credit card did you use?

 

[JohnK]

Interesting trials and tribulations. Which credit card did you use?

Amex. It is all a pointless exercise. I will book the flights via Expedia.

End result was no extra charges or change fees (rightly so). The kind girl also made sure my billing address in Aus was displayed correctly.

Lessons learned - check availability before booking these types of fares (especially CX metal). Call AA UK to resolve issues.

You are one lucky person. AA UK cannot resolve the issue and I had a very helpful person who tried to do everything for me. They are unable to accept an Australian credit card with an Australian address. Even though these airfares appear on the AA website they cannot sell them as there isn't an AA flight involved. Apparently there are changes on the way to the AA website to stop these flights from appearing in the future.

There is a huge YMMV on this one but I would strongly recommend against booking flights on the AA UK website and using an Australian address. They are very strict in enforcing the rules now....

 

[medhead]

Amex. It is all a pointless exercise. I will book the flights via Expedia.

Did you check with Amex to make sure their auto fraud protection system didn't kick in or something?