WARNING: Beware of booking Hawaii with AA Vacations
 

I would like to warn all you nice people to be very careful of booking with American Airline Vacations. They have been screwing things up for me for the last three months! Not only did they completely drop the ball and leave me without a hotel room on Maui, they have had my money for three months, and are now shorting me on my refund.

Back on June 3, I paid AA vacations in full for 4 nights in a suite at the (5 star) Fairmont Kea Lani. Almost two months later, less than a week before my trip, they called to tell me they'd made a mistake (actually, they first tried to blame the hotel) and I had no room at all. They tried to offer me a 3 star hotel instead, claiming it was the only hotel room on the island. Another travel agent found me a room at the Ritz, but AA refused to pay the difference and insisted I take the 3 star hotel. I thought they were supposed to guarantee you the class of hotel you paid for? I refused and found a four star room on my own. AA said they'd send me my refund and a small voucher for my trouble. Ha! It's now been three months, I've paid for the second hotel already, and I finally got the refund from AA.......... MINUS $400! No voucher either. I'm sure it will all eventually work out, but having to float two hotel bills, squeeze my family into a small room, and go through hours of endless phone calls has left me very wary of AA vacations--and I'm a platinum Advantage member. Sorry for the long message--had to vent! By the way, we loved Maui and Kauai, and the Kea Lani was gorgeous. Sigh.

Thanks for the head-up, hax; I hope everything is settled to your satisfaction soon, and that the atmosphere on Maui helped you to relax and not think about the tooth-grinding!

I guess I'm not sure how a refund on part of a "package" works. Did this "AA Vacation" include airfare or anything else? If so, then I understand not getting a full refund on the hotel as you're paying a discounted price for it as part of the package. Or was the hotel the only thing you were booking through them and now they're keeping $400 of what you paid them for the hotel alone?

I'm not trying to excuse them from booking you and then telling you that you had to stay somewhere else.

Move up the food chain and get the name of a real <b>BOSS</b> at AAvacations.

Then do the same for aa.com's AAdvantage crew and get a Plat. person with authority (in fact, thinking about it, in your case I'd do that first - <b>put the onus on them to keep their Plat users happy).</b>

Then, if all else fails, write a good old fashioned letter to him/her summarising the problems, offered solutions and what *you* consider an adequate response/reimbursement or compensation.

Then wait a few weeks but you will get a response. Being a Plat member needs to be made clear too.

We had a problem with AA Vac. four years ago and after a while we had an acceptable resolution using this method.

I've since used them twice with no problems, sometimes their rates are both competitive and coupled with FF miles *sweeteners*.

Interesting. The last (and ONLY) time I ever used AA Vacations was in about 1987 for a trip to Cancun. We got to the gate for the flight and were told that we didn't have a guaranteed seat...that we were flying standby!!! I'm a lawyer and always think I read the fine print, and I SURE didn't see anything in the materials about flying standby. Fortunately we got on the flight.

Sorry for your misfortune, that does sound frustrating. I've only booked one package w/AA Vacations and that was in January 2005 for a trip to Paris. We had no problems at all. But I can understand why you wouldn't do it again. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

Assuming that you paid for the original trip (the hotel you did not stay at) on a credit card, can't you work with the credit card issuer to get your full refund, including the missing $400?

If you paid for a service that was not delivered, you're entitled to a refund, with proper documentation. Then it's up to the credit card to go after AAVacations.

In all the years I have been using AA, family has used AA, friends, etc... (we live in Dallas) I have seen very few problems. Loads of surly employees, that's for sure but no real problems outside of typical delays and such.
We have taken a dozen or so AA Vacations over the years and have never had problems, either.
Hopefully you will be able to resolve this to your satisfaction.
My suggestion is that you tell them in that letter exactly what you need to be satisfied...
Good luck.

Posts like this make me feel even better about making my own arrangements for trips to Hawaii. Thanks, Hax for posting.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. It does help to vent!

I did call Diners Club, and they have reimbursed me the $400, but have still not gotten a return call from the supervisor at AAVacations. The supervisors there (and I've talked to many) refuse to move you up the food chain to THEIR supervisors. They confer with their supervisor themselves and then get back to you.....but I'm still waiting. Will try the Platinum desk and writing letters next. Still no word of my promised compensation voucher.

Patrick, in answer to your question, this was not part of a tour or package. I only booked four nights out of nine through AA Vacations. I paid them $1574 and they only refunded me $1174--no idea why. I booked the other nights myself and we flew free on miles. Next time I'll book everything myself--the &quot;savings&quot; isn't worth the hassle.

Sorry for the troubles you've been having. We booked our honeymoon to Kauai/Big Isle through AA Vacations in August of 2004 and did not have any problems whatsoever.