But where else will you take your business? As far as I can see, the only time anyone needs to call the dedicated number is if they want to book an ASA at a classic award points rate, and that is only desirable for people who want to earn SC and points on an award booking - otherwise just book the classic award on-line or use the Points+Pay if a classic award is not available for the flight you want. I am not aware of any other airline FF program that provides an on-line booking capability for award flights that earn FF points/miles and status credits/miles/points. So where else will you go to find this capability? If you know of one, please let everyone know so they can consider their options to similarly vote with their feet.
I have been booking AAdvantage awards for several years and have always made the bookings over the phone. I use various tools to locate the award availability and then pick up the phone to make the booking. While I would like to be able to do this on-line, its not difficult over the phone. And I normally make the call during USA business hours (but not always) because I am more likley to be able to complete the process in one call and not need to wait until the CSR can talk to someone in authority about a question that may arise.
So yes, there is a level of inconvenience for booking an ASA at classic award rates after last week's changes. We now have a few choices:
- Book the classic award for the lowest points and $$$ cost
- Book as an ASA on-line (albeit at non-classic award rates)
- Call the reservations centre to make the ASA booking at Classic Award rates over the phone
And hopefully
Red Roo's feedback to the reservations call centre management will address the unacceptable issue of inconsistent customer service and agent knowledge about the booking of ASA awards at Classic Award points rates. To me, this is the biggest issue and legitimate source for complaints. If that process was working as planned, the angst here would be greatly reduced.