Travel Reservation change charge in AA

butterfly36029

butterfly36029

Member
Dec 30, 2007
5,365
10
#1
I am flying next tuesday from my country to Miami, Florida and I originally bought the tickets for a bit more than 300 USD, now that i want to change my reservation they tell me I have the pay the difference of the new price in fare and the penalty, since when is this?

I have not had to change a plane ticket in a loooong time and before (around a year and a half ago if I remember correctly) I only had to pay the penalty, which used to have 100 USD and now it's 150 USD, which is understandable, but not the difference in ticket price! it's crazy!

I"d have to pay 500 dollars per ticket and the funny thing is that if I get an upgrade I have to pay way less than that if I traveled on the original dates I was going to travel...grrr anyone have any idea of why this is or if there is a way to avoid it? Mom told me to get a letter from my doctor LOL but I wouldn't do that :biggrin: Thanks for reading I needed to rant a bit...
 
#2
It is, it was, and it probably will be. What is the fare basis on your ticket? (what fare class??) Change fees and price differences are nothing new to the airline industry, especially if you are traveling on non-refundable tickets. I've had to give up at least 2 tickets in the past year as the change fee + price difference was more than just booking a new one. That's the way it is.


I'm not sure what you are saying about the upgrade.. but in all honesty I've used stickers on AA domestically and only *paid* 25K miles to do an international upgrade. so there is that (I'm not too bright. :smile:) More info?

Go to Flyertalk - there are plenty of more intelligent people than me on this matter. But the one main issue is that you are peeved about a change fee and a fare difference. This will be on any airline you travel (if not in Y or full J), not just AA.

I will say it is irritating! I fully agree with you there.

One thing - are you trying to jump to an earlier (same day) flight? Or change your dates completely? AA still appears to be flexible in their standby policies when traveling the same day.

(ps - you can also look up AA's policies on their website. I am too tired to do it now. Zzzzz... )

butterfly36029 said:
I am flying next tuesday from my country to Miami, Florida and I originally bought the tickets for a bit more than 300 USD, now that i want to change my reservation they tell me I have the pay the difference of the new price in fare and the penalty, since when is this?

I have not had to change a plane ticket in a loooong time and before (around a year and a half ago if I remember correctly) I only had to pay the penalty, which used to have 100 USD and now it's 150 USD, which is understandable, but not the difference in ticket price! it's crazy!

I"d have to pay 500 dollars per ticket and the funny thing is that if I get an upgrade I have to pay way less than that if I traveled on the original dates I was going to travel...grrr anyone have any idea of why this is or if there is a way to avoid it? Mom told me to get a letter from my doctor LOL but I wouldn't do that :biggrin: Thanks for reading I needed to rant a bit...
Click to expand...
 
#3
If you purchased a non-refundable ticket with an advance-purchase fare, I am not surprised that there is a big fare difference closer to the travel date. By advance-purchase fare, I mean that the fare is discounted because it requires you to purchase x number of days before you fly (some are 21 days, some are 14 days, etc). The change fee was changed from 100 USD to 150 USD sometime last year, and paying the fare difference has always been required unless the fare you paid is still available.

I think what you are saying is that the upgrade copay would be less than paying the change fee plus fare difference? Yes, that is sometimes the case with changing advance-purchase fares. It's annoying, but a reality with almost every international carrier that I have ever dealt with. I don't know of any way out of it, but you can try asking the agent to check if there are any lower fares available for your new travel dates. That could make the fare difference less. Good luck!
 
#4
hmmm, there used to be a flat fee of $50 or $100.
I'd try and see what the fares are on other websites or even on their website w/o speaking to an agent and then find out what happens when you "accidentally miss your flight" ;)
Dh has had to "accidentally miss a flight" to avoid fees before.
 
#5
Lol, t hat's another good idea Swanky...we have finally decided with DH to travel on the original dates...if we travel on the original dates and we get the upgrade to business it would be waaay cheaper than changing dates and traveling economy...I have checked fares with their site and they have gone up...snif...we were trying to stay longer so we could go to Disney but we might still be able to do it although it would be a bit tight...considering I"ve been to Disney 3 times in the past year and a half we'll survive if we don't make it, we are Disney freaks!
 
#8
That's how AA works! And it's been like so for 10+ years, although I think raise in change fee happened recently.

If you want to avoid paying that much more, perhaps you should try other dates and see if the fares for those dates are lower? I've sometimes had to pay less than $100 (change fee included) as the fares for new dates was much cheaper than my original dates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back