STAND UP to these Airlines!!!
 

Where the heck is this Passenger's Bill of Rights, anyway? I am so tired of this crap...it almost makes me want to DRIVE across country.

Last week my sister bought an $800 ticket and two days later it was on sale for $600. She called to get a refund or credit or voucher, NOTHING. American Airlines, you stink! That's poor customer service and you just lost a customer forever. Even Kmart will give you a refund if the price of something that you bought goes down 2 days later.

Anyway, back to MY story. I found a good fare a while back and decided to buy 3 tickets....by the time I had filled out all the information (they want your cell phone number now, and your billing address, and your this and your that, then they want you to read the fare rules, and they want you to buy trip insurance yada yada yada)...........and after I enter my credit card number and click "purchase"; (finally!) ...I get a message that "the fare you were quoted is no longer available....the new fare is $250 more). WHAT? I called and they basically said tough luck. Well, I checked their "customer service commitment" page (or something like that ), and it says that they guarantee all fare quotes for 24 hours unless you change your itinerary. So I called them back, and after four switches-of-personnel and after being on hold four times for 10 minutes each, I finally talk to a web-specialist who says sorry, "fares change quickly".
"But your website says fare quotes are guaranteed for 24 hours"
"Huh? Where does it say that?"
"Halfway down the customer committment page"
"Tell me how to find this so I can read it with you".
"Log on. Click here. Click there....see? "
"Hmmm...hold on"
10 minute wait
"Well, I'm sorry , but the fair changed before you completed your purchase"
"Yeah but only because it asked me for 10 minutes worth of information"
"You can check tomorrow, it will probably go back down"
"WHAT? That's not customer service! Your fares are GUARANTEED for 24 hours!"
"No, the guarantee is only AFTER you've purchased, not while you're purchasing"
"HUH? What sense does THAT make? Why would I need you to guarantee the fare if I already bought the ticket. You can't raise the fare AFTER I bought the ticket and have possession of the ticket! And the guarantee says that fare QUOTES are guaranteed. I logged on, you quoted me a price, I clicked "purchase", and ten minutes later the price was gone! What kind of a 24 hour guarantee is THAT?'
Then of course she got real snooty like they do (I don't blame her, it's not HER fault that the company she works for is so RIDICULOUS with their rules)... and puts me on hold for another ten minutes then finally comes back to act like they're doing me a big big big ONE TIME ONLY favor by fixing my record so that I can get the quoted price. Like they're going out of their way to do something for me. HEY ! I'M NOT THE ONE THAT PUT THIS GUARANTEE on your website....didn't anyone ever take you up on it before???"

And by the way, would we accept it if Macy's put a big sign up for "PANTS ON SALE!", and then when we got there they said "WE ONLY HAD TWO PAIR OF THEM ON SALE. WE STILL HAVE 50 PAIR IN STOCK, BUT WE SOLD THE TWO THAT WE HAD AT THE SALE PRICE, SORRY!"

No, we wouldn't. But that's what the airlines do, have a sale and close it down after they sell two or four seats at the sale price. Bait and switch. These airlines have been getting away with too much for too long, and I for one am getting good and sick of having to do a cartwheel, jump through a hoop and land on my tippy toes just to get a decent fare.

Amen, sister!

How about some of MJ's Xanax there sister.

Enjoy the drive.

I recently had a flight delayed for two hours...AND the line to check-in for the flight (and possibly reshedule missed connections) also took ALMOST THREE HOURS. Unbelievable. As we were finally speaking to someone, they were giving the final boarding call for our flight.

The manager admitted that they tried to call in more staff once they realized the Continental desk would be swamped, but "In this age of caller i.d., no one decided to answer because they all wanted the day off." There were 3 people helping all of the passengers from TWO delayed Continental flights that morning. Ridiculous.

If that kind of thing doesn't frustrate you, I don't know what will.

Xanax? Really? I didn't realize it was that rare to become frustrated. Anyone who doesn't get aggrevated every once in a while must lead a pretty charmed life.

You have a choice in airlines. If you have problems with one airline, fly another next time. I once had a lousy experience with American Airlines. I used to fly them a few times a year. After my bad experience (I was poorly treated by more than one person), I've put them at the bottom of my list of airlines to patronize. In the last few years I've had great luck with Southwest - and I fly them every time if I can (not to go overseas, of course) and have yet to be disappointed. Others swear by JetBlue (never flown them) or Alaska.

I'm with Andrew. Southwest is fabulous. It's the only airline left that doesn't charge for baggage. They have great, friendly, helpful telephone agents. Their fares are usually the lowest if you book well in advance. They charge no fees for changing your reservation or getting a voucher-refund. They are always my first choice.
I have used Alaska and Jet Blue and in my experience they have also been problem free.

I share the same sentiments as Andrew. SWA first. AA last.
Flying, in general, isn't as enjoyable as it used to be.

AA allows a "hold" for 24 hours and that's when the fare is guaranteed.

Other airlines allow a refund within 24 hours, but no "hold" so you have to purchase before the 24 hour refund becomes available.

Both ways have advantages and disadvantages.

Won't go into that right now, but basically your rant is about nothing.

I think AA rocks, but that is JMHO. :-)

Sorry - in fact stores do that all the time. Esp when they have huge reductions - as on Black Friday. The ads will clearly say - Sony 31" flat screen TV on sale for $299 (only 5 available - or only first 5 customers or only before 7 am or something). And if you buy number 6 is goes back up to $700 or whatever. And that is perfectly legal - it's just a loss leader.

The problem is when the company doesn't make these rules apparent to begin with.

Almost all of our travel is arranged by a corporate travel office (gets us better rates and special deals and contributes to the company's total business and volume discounts from airlines and hotel chains) but if we ever do anything ourselves we always print off a copy of the special deal or rules - so we have a hard copy in hand if there are any problems. (A friend once had the rules on the website change while she was actually watching it - so we don't take any chances.)

I've had my itinerary for a flight to Stockhom changed twice within 3 weeks. First, I had to move it back one day because "we aren't flying to Stockholm on that day anymore" and then today the flight was moved back yet another day.

Each change involved no penalty fees at least. If they move it back yet another day then I'll have to consider another airline. Fortunately i can be flexible with this but I've now reached the flexibility limit. But all of this isn't in any way surprising as the airlines continue to cut costs.

Good job making them honor their guarantee. Others might have just shrugged, popped a xanax, and paid the extra $250.

And no, stores don't do that all the time, without having to clearly state it in their advertisements. If there is a price tag on an item, you don't get it to the cash register just to have them tell you that the price changed during your two minute walk.

AAFrequentFlyer, that's ridiculous. AA allows a "hold" for 24 hours, but if you don't choose to "hold" the reservation for 24 hours and instead try to "purchase" it in the first 5 minutes, the guarantee does not stand? If you accept that kind of nonsense and still think that AA "rocks", keep flying them. (Unfortunately they'll probably be out of business soon. ) What the heck good is a 24 hour hold guarantee if once 23 hours has passed and you decide to "purchase", the fare could just change?

Add me to those who say this is no different from retail. I've been to stores that ran ads that clearly said, "All men's slacks 30% off" but got there and found it is all except Ralph Lauren, Nautica, etc., etc. -- in short, any I'd want to buy.

And also add me to the list that has never had a problem like that mentioned with American. I fly them almost exclusively -- and now have over a million miles with them total.

Let's be brutally honest here. How can anyone "guarantee" a price of anything won't go up BEFORE you purchase it, no matter what the reason? And if everyone gave back the difference between a previously purchased item and a new "sale" price -- then what would be a "sale" about it at all? You're suggesting everyone, no matter when they bought it should get the sale price if it ever goes on sale. You tried in two days and are upset. If you had tried in 5 days would you still be upset? How about 10 or 30?

<i> How can anyone "guarantee" a price of anything won't go up BEFORE you purchase it</i>

But Neo, isn't that the point, that they did guarantee it, in writing, for 24 hours? Or am I confused?

<i> I've been to stores that ran ads that clearly said, "All men's slacks 30% off" but got there and found it is all except Ralph Lauren, Nautica, etc., etc. -- in short, any I'd want to buy.</i>

As for this, I know each state's law differs, but in California this would be illegal unless stated in the same ad, as are loss leaders that are actually sold below cost.

I have no problem with them making their own rules, but I do have a problem with them <i>not following</i> their own rules.

"But Neo, isn't that the point, that they did guarantee it, in writing, for 24 hours? Or am I confused?"

Yes, you are confused.

They didn't guarantee that a price shown on the screen will still be available by the time you actually buy it or place it on reserve. Just like they can't guarantee that if there is only one seat left on the plane and they show it as available that it will still be available 10 minutes from now after you've completed the attempted purchase of it. How could they? How can they prevent someone else from buying that seat before you do? If they have a limited number of seats at a certain price how can they guarantee that those seats won't be snapped up in the next 30 seconds?

What they are guaranteeing on their website (and I think it is spelled out pretty clearly) is that once you have actually submitted the billing information or confirmed that you want an advertised seat at that price, AND it comes up as available with your name on the reserve then it will be held at that price for 24 hours. And they guarantee that then they won't change the price before you complete the actual booking. Why is that so hard to understand? Meanwhile, there aren't many airlines that will do that to my knowledge. There is often no "reserve" and if you wait a day to complete the purchase, there is no guarantee the price won't go up.

This is no different than driving by a car lot and seeing a price on a car guaranteed to be $500, parking, going in, talking to a salesman and finding out that while you were doing that someone else already bought the car. How could they guarantee that they wouldn't sell it to someone else while you were getting ready to buy it? What right would you have to complain that someone else bought the car before you did? On the other hand if you went in and filled out the paperwork and they agreed to sell you the car at that price -- THEN you'd have a right to be angry if someone came out an hour later and said it was no longer available at that price.

I interpreted it as the airline guaranteeing X number of seats at $X each. If it takes you 10 minutes to fill out the form and someone else buys those seats in that 10 minutes, then they don't have any more seats to sell at that price. Pretty much like Neo's car lot analogy.

<<"WHAT? That's not customer service! Your fares are GUARANTEED for 24 hours!" "No, the guarantee is only AFTER you've purchased, not while you're purchasing"
"HUH? What sense does THAT make? Why would I need you to guarantee the fare if I already bought the ticket. You can't raise the fare AFTER I bought the ticket and have possession of the ticket! And the guarantee says that fare QUOTES are guaranteed. I logged on, you quoted me a price, I clicked "purchase", and ten minutes later the price was gone! What kind of a 24 hour guarantee is THAT?'
Then of course she got real snooty like they do>>

I understand that the OP was frustrated, but if the OP was snappy with her, I'm sure she did get snooty. It can't be pleasant enforcing rules she has no control over and dealing with people who yell at her because of it.

We all have a choice of airlines, so if you don't like the way American operates, then as Andrew says, vote with your feet.

"I understand that the OP was frustrated, but if the OP was snappy with her, I'm sure she did get snooty. It can't be pleasant enforcing rules she has no control over and dealing with people who yell at her because of it."

Or listening to someone telling her that they had no right to sell seats while she was filling out her form and they should now offer MORE seats at that price. . .

Regarding this price guarantee on AA.com for 24 hours while "HOLDING" the reservation (before purchase) - actually, more than once, when I went back to purchase the ticket within the 24-hr window period, I was informed that the ticket price has actually <b>gone down</b> and I can purchase it at the lower price. So, their "gurantee" is actually only good for situations when the price goes up. If the ticket price goes down, you get to pay the lower price. :D

So the OP didn't "hold" anything, he just looked at the price tag and kept on looking?