Since when do you need to make a reservation before you buy an airline ticket?

Again for the uninitiated:

You log on
You plug in the dates and the destinations
They quote the fare and you buy it.

And again, why would they ask you to choose your seats if they haven't held a spot for you? In my experience you don't get the "choose your seat" option until AFTER the fare has been quoted.

And again, for the hard of hearing, American Airlines will tell you, on the phone, that if the fare should change in the middle of a telephone booking, you get the previously quoted fare.

Not read all the replies so I'm sure I'm repeating something here. I can understand the hold for 24 hours thing not applying to when you purchase. The thing is, there are a # of seats for a certain price on a plane. Catch it early and you still can get the discounted price. When you put something on hold, it actually takes that seat at that price off the inventory (so when someone else logs on and does a search, that seat/price isn't available). Purchasing does't put that seat on "hold". When the CSR replied to "check again tomorrow", I think she means she thinks that it may just be on hold so to try again tomrrow to see if it's been released. Bottom line is, airlines put only a number of seats on sale and when they're gone, they're gone. It takes that other person the same amount of time to put in the same information you had to. They just got to it just a little quicker than you.

Anyway, I know your frustrated and I know that sometimes ranting about it helps but at least you got them to "honour" your price "quoted".

When you choose a flight on aa.com, it brings you to the page where you enter the name of the passenger. At the top of this page it says
"To continue with your reservation, enter your name".

So there...she had a reservation and was "continuing with it". It does not say "to continue MAKING your reservation. it says "to continue with your reservation". You cannot "continue with" something that you don't have.

SO, she had a fare quote, she had a reservation, she chose her seats.....

All this blabbing for nothing......American Airlines understood this guarantee once it was pointed out to them, why don't you?

Here clark,

I made a dummy "HOLD" on AA come

Book Flights
Hold Reservation Summary
Thank you for making your reservation on AA.com! You will receive a confirmation of your held itinerary via email if provided, or you may print this page for your records.

Note: This is not a receipt. Fares are guaranteed up to 24 hours. This reservation will automatically cancel if not purchased by the date indicated in the status field.


To complete your purchase you may use one of the following:
AA.com - NO FEES APPLY to purchase online.
Other Options - FEES APPLY. Select from several options, including cash payment via a Western Union Agent location.



To: Enter the email address(es) of your desired recipient(s). Separate multiple addresses with a comma.




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Email Subject:
C. WORLD 09/22/09 Itinerary


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Include Record Locator (This is used to retrieve or modify your reservation.)


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C. WORLD 09/22/09 Itinerary


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Reservation Details ?
Record Locator
IOUBVJ
Your record locator is your reservation confirmation number and will be needed to retrieve or reference your reservation. Status
ON HOLD - Purchase By:
Jul 14, 2009 11:59 PM EDT Reservation Name

Your Itinerary ?
Carrier Flight
Number Departing Arriving Cabin

Booking Code
Flight Status
Notification Flight
Details Seats
City Date & Time City Date & Time


AMERICAN AIRLINES 1247 TPA Tampa Sep 22, 2009
08:10 AM ORD Chicago Sep 22, 2009
09:55 AM Economy

Q

25A


AMERICAN AIRLINES 810 ORD Chicago Sep 29, 2009
08:15 PM TPA Tampa Sep 29, 2009
11:45 PM Economy

Q

24A

Fare Summary ?
Average Fare per Person: Departure - 114.00 USD Return - 114.00 USD
Passenger Type Used in Pricing Adult
Departure Fare per Person 114.00 USD
Return Fare per Person 114.00 USD
Total Fare per Person 228.00 USD
Additional Taxes and Fees per Person * 21.20 USD
Total Price 249.20 USD
View Fare Rules and On-Time Flight Information.
Residents of Latin America or the Caribbean must be present and show Credit/Debit Card at time of check-in.
Flights not on American Airlines, American Eagle, or AmericanConnection® are on a request basis only. Fares and
availability are subject to change.
In order to comply with federal security regulations, we may provide government agencies access to data
you disclose to us. For more information, view our Privacy Policy.
* Foreign taxes based on itinerary or non-U.S. billing address may apply. Additional Fees, such as checked bag charges, may apply.

Summary Details ?
Passenger Summary

Passenger Name(s) Frequent Flyer Number Program

(1) CLARK WORLD
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Contact Information


Business ExtrAA Account Number:


If you are not a resident of the US, UK, Canada, or select countries in Latin America or the Caribbean, tickets can be purchased at an AA airport or ticket office or by calling AA Reservations. Please note that additional foreign taxes may apply.

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I shoould have highlighted the following as well:

Reservation Details ?
Record Locator
IOUBVJ
Your record locator is your reservation confirmation number and will be needed to retrieve or reference your reservation. Status
ON HOLD - Purchase By:
Jul 14, 2009 11:59 PM EDT Reservation Name

And the system does not ask for the credit card number until AFTER you click the "PURCHASE" button. So what exactly were they asking her to "PURCHASE" if she didn't have the seats reserved at this point in the process? As stated earlier, why are they taking her credit card information, name, address etc if they have nothing to sell her?

"To continue with your reservation, enter your name".
So there...she had a reservation and was "continuing with it". It does not say "to continue MAKING your reservation. it says "to continue with your reservation". You cannot "continue with" something that you don't have."

Are you serious? What is your native language? Surely it isn't English.

Continuing with your reservation is NOT normally interpreted as "continuing to MAKE your reservation". Where did you learn English? How do you "continue" doing something that is already done? That makes even less sense that what you tried to say made no sense!

A recipe for hollandaise says, "continue the sauce by beating the eggs". Oh. I get it. That means the hollandaise sauce is already done then, right? Or at least the eggs are already beaten, huh? NO! That's just plain absurd! Any normal person who speaks English would interpret that as "continue MAKING the sauce". Same exact thing!

Clark, now you're just being silly with your semantics. But you're losing at that game, buddy!

And Clark, once again. American did not admit that the guarantee meant that. In a moment of CUSTOMER SERVICE they agreed to something in an attempt to make a customer happy. You are naive if you think that any time a business gives in to a customer to provide some customer service that it means they are admitting they were wrong.

It's sad when people say that a company has no customer service. But it's even more sad when a company gives credit for something to make a customer happy even when they KNOW they weren't in the wrong, and the customer then says "Aha! See they admitted they were wrong" instead of just happily saying "that was nice of them to give me credit".

And the guarantee says "when you MAKE a reservation", not "when you've MADE your reservation".

When you log on, click "reservations", get a fare quote, choose your seats and click "purchase", you're making more than a reservation, you're making a purchase.

Again, American Airlines understands it, why don't some of YOU?

"Continuing with your reservation is NOT normally interpreted as "continuing to MAKE your reservation". Where did you learn English? How do you "continue" doing something that is already done?"

Already done? Patrick you just admitted that she already had a reservation. My point exactly!

You're not the brighest star in the family are you,

Read my lips, you can purchase the AVAILABLE fare right then and there OR you can put it on HOLD, chose your seats, get a record locator and thus making it an official reservation without PAYING for it for up to 24 hours. THAT's WHAT THE GUARANTEE IS ALL ABOUT. It states that you will get the reserved fare as long as you purchase the ticket within 24 hours.

Availability computer glitchesa happen and that's where the misunderstanding happened. I explained to you earlier in the simpleast possible way why on occasion (as rare as it is), IT HAPPENS!

GOT IT???

Probably not and I don't even know why I bother anymore.....

Nope, I don't get it. Call American, they agree with CLARK, the dumb guy.

And as for AA's crackerjack customer service, how do you explain this line on their reservations page:

FARES ARE NOT GUARANTEED UNTIL TICKETS ARE PURCHASED

This is a direct negation of their "24 hour hold" guarantee. Indeed they're telling you to PURCHASE the fare if you want to guarantee it, which is exactly what she did. She clicked "PURCHASE", then they asked her to pay for the ticket. Only AFTER all this did they change the fare quote.

I'm not an attorney but do have the, um, pleasure of working with attorneys and have spent a good amount of time with my head in legal documents. My take on the language in question:

"When you make a telephone reservation with American Airlines or when you make a reservation via AA.com, the fare quoted will be guaranteed for 24 hours"

The clause "when you make a reservation via AA.com" is clearly a qualifier of the promise to guaranty the fare quoted. In otherwords, the guaranty is only applicable "when you make a reservation via AA.com". The question then becomes what constitutes the making of a reservation.

Folks siding with the OP seem to believe that the process of selecting a flight and filling out the information qualifies as making a reservation, while others believe that only a successful hold or purchase constitutes the making of a reservation. While I can see how an argument could be made for the former, I think the latter was what AA intended when they wrote the guaranty. I do think they could state it more clearly though.

WHEW! This must be a slow day at the office.

Brian_in_Charlotte well said. In any case, why all the hostility? The bottom line is the OP got her tix at the price she wanted. The airlines made an exemption (not admitting to the "mistake"). I can clearly see what the airlines thinks but perhaps it will help if they can just be more clear because apparently not everyone understands how the seats and prices work!

"Already done? Patrick you just admitted that she already had a reservation. My point exactly!"

Say what? Have you ever made Hollandaise sauce,
Clark? How could you possibly interpret my comment as AGREEING that "continuing with the reservation" is the same as saying "the reservation is already made". I was poking fun of your insane interpretation of the language, and you somehow think I'm agreeing with you? Are you for real?

Clark, you're digging yourself in deeper and deeper. You take what YOU said and I quoted, and then you act like I agreed with you. Your comprehension skills are -- well -- BEYOND comprehension!

So Brian, how do you feel about the language "to continue with your reservation, enter your name"? And the language "when you make a reservation on AA.com" instead of "once you've made your reservation on AA.com". If she receives a fare quote, and is making the reservation, and is asked to pick her seat, and is asked to click "purchase", and is asked to join as a frequent flyer, and is then asked for all her credit card information, isn't all of that "making a reservation on AA.com"? Legally speaking? So wouldn't the fare quoted be guaranteed?

And the reservation doesn't say that "the price of your ticket if we decide that we have one to sell you" is guaranteed, it says that the "FARE QUOTED" is guaranteed when you make a reservation on AA.com.

As for NeoPatrick and AAFrequentFlyer....they sure do like to avoid my questions.

Such as:

FARES ARE NOT GUARANTEED UNTIL TICKETS ARE PURCHASED
What sense does this line make on the AA website if they have a 24 hour "hold" guarantee?

Why does AA ask you to choose your seats if you do not yet have a reservation? Why are they taking these seats out of inventory before telling you what the price is?

Why would American break their rules for just this one passenger, if that's what you think they did? Are you saying that they cave to pressure? Should we now tell them that we dont' want to pay the $150 change fee, will that work, too, if we exasperate the agent?

What other business asks for your full credit card information and then tells you that they haven't got the item that you're buying?

I don't think it's reasonable to believe that it is AA's intention to guaranty a price quote for an open-ended period of time while the customer enters in all the information through multiple screens which could conceivably, during periods of heavy internet traffic, take a very long time. I would not even expect them to hold a seat on that flight until a hold was placed by the customer or the purchase was completed.

I don't disagree, however, that their "guaranty" is poorly worded and should be fixed.

And yes, is has been a slow day at the office. Thank god for fodor's.

it has...!