First AAward booking... Is it always that easy?

[trooper]

Wow... I was on the phone for less than 15 minutes....

Fed the (very pleasant) agent the QF/CX flights I'd checked on Awardnexus... no problems at any stage..

Except paying the taxes.... She had some trouble with State and Zip code...

Seats assigned..... itin already available on AA.com...

Must say that was easier than my (admittedly more complex) bookings with USDM!

And now there is another miles sale on.... it's a no brainer.

 

[grussellt]

Yes as long as you know which flights you want then booking is generally painless. I assume you rang the US Office. How much did they charge you for the service fee?

 

[trooper]

Yes... 1-800-882 8880....turns out it was Dallas..... Taxes plus $25 which seemed entirely reasonable to me...especially given the taxes (CBR-MEL-SIN-CMB) were $109...

Total cost was USD$918 so..... what? AUD$900 at most? Cheapest Y fare (non-mileage earning) was $850 ex SYD... Unbelievable....

I must do a search now... presumably there will be a QF Confirmation code somewhere...

Quite happy with the seats I was given...(side aisle in row 3 on the MEL-SIN looks pretty good, and IIRC means the new seats) but it'd be nice to be able to make changes if desired...

 

[peachy3333]

Hey there,

I've gone through the forums a couple times but couldn't find any help...

How did you pay with the US office? I have called many times and they reject the AU credit cards. I then call the UK office, they put through the payment, but twice afterwards the AU office calls and charges me the full AU office fee... jacking the price up at least to $100 per person

Did you simply use a US billing address?

Thanks!

 

[AV8]

Does anyone know at what time (SYD) are the AA awards updated to include the next day?

 

[trooper]

When we (apparently) hit a snag with the credit card payment I sorta casually mentioned to the agent the things I had done online to make payments work on various US websites.... I think these workarounds have been discussed here before!

I don't know what (if anything) she did about the State field entry... but she was happy to add a zero to the front of the post code... and then remarked that "it now worked"... I wasn't game to question her on exactly what she had done!!

I have another booking to make this weekend... I am now not at all confident the next time will be quite so easy....

 

[Pollywaffle]

Good to hear it went well.

I need to call in about a month for my flight. I hope my transaction goes as smoothly.

 

[grussellt]

When we (apparently) hit a snag with the credit card payment I sorta casually mentioned to the agent the things I had done online to make payments work on various US websites.... I think these workarounds have been discussed here before!

I don't know what (if anything) she did about the State field entry... but she was happy to add a zero to the front of the post code... and then remarked that "it now worked"... I wasn't game to question her on exactly what she had done!!

I have another booking to make this weekend... I am now not at all confident the next time will be quite so easy....

I think it depends on the knowledge of the agent. I booked 2J to Europe in 2011 and had no problems and paid a $25 fee. In 2012 I booked 2Y SYD-LDH and copped a fee for $80 when I asked for the supervisor to do it. She assured me that was the standard charge. I have emailed AA for confirmation that this charge is valid (on top of normal $25 fee).

 

[Princess Fiona]

I called last night and put a hold on two J seats to LAX. I'm actually hoping for something better in a couple of days but these are a fallback.
Didn't say my Aadvantage number properly, phone answered in 30 secs. Fed the operator the date and flight no and off phone with record locator inside 3 minutes. Checked this am and can see the held U booking on AA.com
Hopefully the experience can be repeated

 

[grussellt]

It helps if you pronounce your AAdvantage number with an American accent - and don't giggle too much!

 

[serfty]

It helps if you pronounce your AAdvantage number with an American accent - and don't giggle too much!

... or use the phonetic alphabet ... come to think of it I sometimes need to do that with some Qantas Agents ... :shock:

 

[trooper]

I always use the phonetic alphabet for this sort of thing (14 years Navy service makes it impossible to say something like "Ohh,... B for Brad!")

I can COPE with D for Dog, B for Baker, C for Charlie and some others.. as they are from the original phonetic alphabet...:mrgreen: (Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox etc...IIRC!)

Always nice when you get an agent that uses it well....

And I'm with serfty.. I find lots of folks hard to understand these days... so many people MUMBLE! (Say it like you've got a pair OK?):shock:

 

[Princess Fiona]

Funnily enough I did try to get through a few hours earlier in the evening and used the phonetic alphabet ( proficient thanks to MIMMS training ) and got put in some special zero status advantage holding pattern where no-one answered and I gave up 15 minutes later. Maybe the mumbling in the second attempt incorrectly identified me as Exec Plat?

 

[DC3]

... I can COPE with D for Dog, B for Baker, C for Charlie and some others.. as they are from the original phonetic alphabet...:mrgreen: (Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox etc...IIRC!)

But C is for Charlie, phonetically, in the ADF. So I'm wondering what does the Navy use for "C", if not Charlie?

 

[trooper]

True.. I was getting lazy and not excluding Charlie on the grounds it hasn't changed! I shoulda!

 

[dfcatch]

Funnily enough I did try to get through a few hours earlier in the evening and used the phonetic alphabet ( proficient thanks to MIMMS training ) and got put in some special zero status advantage holding pattern where no-one answered and I gave up 15 minutes later. Maybe the mumbling in the second attempt incorrectly identified me as Exec Plat?

I had EXACTLY the same experience today.

I'm about to try again......

 

[turtlemichael]

Does anybody ever book on line rather than by phone?

 

[dfcatch]

Does anybody ever book on line rather than by phone?

I do where possible - but I'm changing an award from U to P and the system won't let me do it online (plus over the phone I can avoid the reinstatement and service fee penalties as I'm upgrading the award)

 

[turtlemichael]

I do where possible - but I'm changing an award from U to P and the system won't let me do it online (plus over the phone I can avoid the reinstatement and service fee penalties as I'm upgrading the award)

I'm looking at a BA itinerary which will (I hope) become available in a few weeks when we get to 330 days. I've dummy booked it as far as I can go and it seemed to be set up to allow Australian cards so here's hoping.

 

[dfcatch]

I'm looking at a BA itinerary which will (I hope) become available in a few weeks when we get to 330 days. I've dummy booked it as far as I can go and it seemed to be set up to allow Australian cards so here's hoping.

Over the phone I still use the El Segundo method just because it works easily regardless of AAgent competence.

Online I now book using Aussie card and ADDRESS 2 line.

Last night got through in 2 mins, AAgent wasn't the best but got what I want and got the Reinstatement Fee waived (after suggesting that it could be done), got charged the $25 service fee though . I'm sure Customer Relations will sort that one for me

As always - if you have your segments ready to go and have already checked availability with EF or similar - then simply instructing the AAgents as to precisely what you want has yielded me a 100% success rate.

Good AAgents will be proactive in offering the same "solutions".