AA policy for changing dates?

[Givadogahome]

I am flying back before I anticipated and so need to change my ticket accordingly. I flew AA through Miami and on to London. I wrote an email asking for costs involved and got a surprise with my reply. I have been told there is a $250US charge for change, plus the cost of the difference in the price of the ticket (who knows$?), plus an admin charge of $70 (I have adjusted these numbers into US$ to save confusion and is roughly the amount quoted). On booking I am sure I read the changing costs were significantly less than this, and no mention of these extra admin charges.
Has anyone changed with AA?

 

[belmont]

I am flying back before I anticipated and so need to change my ticket accordingly. I flew AA through Miami and on to London. I wrote an email asking for costs involved and got a surprise with my reply. I have been told there is a $250US charge for change, plus the cost of the difference in the price of the ticket (who knows$?), plus an admin charge of $70 (I have adjusted these numbers into US$ to save confusion and is roughly the amount quoted). On booking I am sure I read the changing costs were significantly less than this, and no mention of these extra admin charges.
Has anyone changed with AA?

Did you buy the ticket direct from AA. If you used a travel agency, the $70 admin fee might be a change fee charged by your travel agent to do the work in addition to the airline's fee.

 

[Givadogahome]

I expect the Admin fee is down to the agent, you are correct, but my entire trip is through AA and so once I have information to know where I stand I intend to bypass the agent and go direct to AA, any reason why this would not be possible?
I could handle one or the other, but all that is going to come to quite a lot. I just read online that AA typically charges between $50-100US to change tickets, and the ticket cost difference. I can handle that no issue, but $250+Admin(avoidable hopefully)+difference is going to be very expensive. The tickets original cost was $1789, if I'm pushed into December (hopefully not) this could make this the most expensive return I have had in 10 year at well over $2000.

 

[belmont]

The attached link has AA change fee $150-$300. Airline fee chart - Airfarewatchdog

BTW, where were you reading $50-$100. Maybe it was a link from 2008 or so.

What fare code do you have? It determines the change fee.

 

[Givadogahome]

Thanks Belmont, looks like I'll just have to suck it up then, if I'd have known it was going to cost this much an open ticket would have worked out cheaper. I should beable to bypass the agent still, although now I have my doubts, might even be cheaper to buy a separate return in the end, happy days!! I should know better by now.

 

[kimbjorkland]

There's a few things you can do before blindly paying:

#1 - look at your original reservation confirmation email. the fare rules there would be clearly spelled out. especially if you purchased the ticket in the UK, it's the law. It would be in the fine print at the bottom.

#2 - you could try to end-run the agent (Assuming you've bought from the agent), and try to change the ticket on the AA.com website or through AA.com customer service, but you may end up in the same situation because your original booking agent will probably have an imprint of your credit card, and will know your fare change and penalize you accordingly.

#3. If you find the after all the changes and other usuary charges, the ticket becomes really expensive (ie 2K to return to the UK), you could just abandon the ticket and buy another 1-way ticket home. There should be no penalty for a no-show. Though you may want to check. The cheapest way to get home to the UK right now would be to actually buy the ticket from a local agent - as they can try to get you on a thomson or other holiday charter flight back to the UK.

#4. in searching alternative flights back as a one-way ticket purchase, also consider that you don't have to leave out of the same airport. there are 5 good airports here that fly internationally. and getting around the country here to get a cheaper international flight is not uncommon. so aside from the local agent, try Matrix - ITA Software ITA software search engine recently purchased by google. You can put in 'SDQ' as the airport, and then pick all the airports that are 150km close by as your starting point. Similarly, you can set the destination airports being not just London, but anything that's up to 300 km away. Do you really care if you land in berlin and can take a 20$ ryanair flight back to somethingshire? if not, then consider this option too...

 

[belmont]

There's a few things you can do before blindly paying:

#1 - look at your original reservation confirmation email. the fare rules there would be clearly spelled out. especially if you purchased the ticket in the UK, it's the law. It would be in the fine print at the bottom.

#2 - you could try to end-run the agent (Assuming you've bought from the agent), and try to change the ticket on the AA.com website or through AA.com customer service, but you may end up in the same situation because your original booking agent will probably have an imprint of your credit card, and will know your fare change and penalize you accordingly.

#3. If you find the after all the changes and other usuary charges, the ticket becomes really expensive (ie 2K to return to the UK), you could just abandon the ticket and buy another 1-way ticket home. There should be no penalty for a no-show. Though you may want to check. The cheapest way to get home to the UK right now would be to actually buy the ticket from a local agent - as they can try to get you on a thomson or other holiday charter flight back to the UK.

#4. in searching alternative flights back as a one-way ticket purchase, also consider that you don't have to leave out of the same airport. there are 5 good airports here that fly internationally. and getting around the country here to get a cheaper international flight is not uncommon. so aside from the local agent, try Matrix - ITA Software ITA software search engine recently purchased by google. You can put in 'SDQ' as the airport, and then pick all the airports that are 150km close by as your starting point. Similarly, you can set the destination airports being not just London, but anything that's up to 300 km away. Do you really care if you land in berlin and can take a 20$ ryanair flight back to somethingshire? if not, then consider this option too...

He's flying the other direction. He wants to get back to the DR.

I flew AA through Miami and on to London

 

[Givadogahome]

Yes, I came back to the UK on business but am now returning home (to the DR) earlier than expected.

 

[kimbjorkland]

whoops. well the same applies, just in reverse no? it doesn't matter where you land in DR...

 

[RV429]

One other suggestion is in changing your dates be flexible as one day may be more than another. This can help mitigate the fare difference, the change fee isn't going away.

 

[zoomzx11]

AA a few monts ago. I cancelled a ticket and they gave me $250 off future ticket and took all the rest of the money. It was a five person reservation and it was an expensive change. Even if you are sick or in an accident it makes no difference, note from doctor makes no difference.

 

[AlterEgo]

AA a few monts ago. I cancelled a ticket and they gave me $250 off future ticket and took all the rest of the money. It was a five person reservation and it was an expensive change. Even if you are sick or in an accident it makes no difference, note from doctor makes no difference.

Anyone have experience canceling or changing when you have purchased flight insurance? We fly AA and the last few years we have bought the insurance - is it a waste?????

AE

 

[Bronxboy]

Anyone have experience canceling or changing when you have purchased flight insurance? We fly AA and the last few years we have bought the insurance - is it a waste?????

AE

In this situation it would have been a waste since the OP could of made changes w/o any charge except the change in airfare I assume.

 

[Givadogahome]

In this situation it would have been a waste since the OP could of made changes w/o any charge except the change in airfare I assume.

[video=youtube;4hiusEFixOU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hiusEFixOU&NR=1[/video]

That makes no sense, without any charges except with?

 

[Bronxboy]

In this situation it would have been a waste since the OP could of made changes w/o any charge except the change in airfare I assume.

I meant "it would not have been" lol

 

[bigbird]

Anyone have experience canceling or changing when you have purchased flight insurance? We fly AA and the last few years we have bought the insurance - is it a waste?????

AE

From Continental Website:

With Trip Insurance, you can purchase affordable coverage that includes Trip Cancellation / Interruption coverage* that reimburses prepaid, unused, non-refundable travel expenses should your trip be cancelled or interrupted due to any covered reason.

There are a number of covered reasons that could cause you to cancel your trip, or return home such as:
Inclement weather conditions cause a delay in beginning your trip and arriving to your destination as planned.
You or a member for your family is struck by an unexpected illness or death that cancels your vacation.
Travel delays cause you to miss your connecting flight and incur overnight lodging expenses while you wait*.

 

[Tarheel]

I changed a ticket with AA in September. $150 change fee plus difference in airfare. I believe my airfare was cheaper with the change so my cost was a little bit less than $150.