[chb]

Beware of this irrespectable business practise when booking online:

Since being able to change departure dates was a requirement for my reservation, i called and had an AA phone-operator verbally guaranteeing that flight dates could be changed for a fee. I returned to the website and was naive enough to believe the information given on the phone, booked my flight. I found this phrase on my e-ticket:

"You have purchased a NON-REFUNDABLE fare. The itinerary must be canceled before the ticketed departure time of the first unused coupon, or the ticket has no value. If the fare allows changes, a fee may be assessed for changes and restrictions may apply."

If the fare chosen allows change or not, is never displayed to the customer throughout the process of booking.

I was asked to purchase a new flight when trying to change departure date.

Purposefully withholding essential information that would influence purchase decisions is tricking customers, unethical, at the border of fraudulent and a highly irrespectable business practise.

[andreab64]

Originally Posted by chb

Beware of this irrespectable business practise when booking online:

Since being able to change departure dates was a requirement for my reservation, i called and had an AA phone-operator verbally guaranteeing that flight dates could be changed for a fee. I returned to the website and was naive enough to believe the information given on the phone, booked my flight. I found this phrase on my e-ticket:

"You have purchased a NON-REFUNDABLE fare. The itinerary must be canceled before the ticketed departure time of the first unused coupon, or the ticket has no value. If the fare allows changes, a fee may be assessed for changes and restrictions may apply."

If the fare chosen allows change or not, is never displayed to the customer throughout the process of booking.

I was asked to purchase a new flight when trying to change departure date.

Purposefully withholding essential information that would influence purchase decisions is tricking customers, unethical, at the border of fraudulent and a highly irrespectable business practise.

I purchased two tickets last Oct, due to unforseen circumstances asked for 1 ticket to be changed into my daughters name, this was 13 wks before departure, absolutely no chance, they saw £ signs flashing, told me to cancel it with no refund and purchase another at £2080, this was double the cost of the original, I have cancelled holiday and lined AA pockets with £2500, they are daylight robbers, cant believe I never found this web site previous to booking my hol... never again!

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Using the current “bankers” rate of $1.9730 = £1.00, that’s $4,932.50!

Here in the States one can hire a decent lawyer for about £100.00 an hour. If American wanted to appeal the case all the way to the House of Lords, you probably couldn’t afford it. However, having a go at them, in a lower court, might be worthwhile in this case. At best, American’s disclosures, prior to your making the purchase, were inadequate.

If you feel you must travel with a US-based carrier (UK to the US), I would suggest Continental. £2,500 might buy you a return business class seat (on Continental) to just about anywhere in the US, except Alaska or Hawaii. If your final destination allows it, flying trans-Atlantic to Cleveland or Houston is preferable to Newark because of the congested Immigration and Customs facilities in Newark.

Flying on a better airline, from the UK to the US, appears to involve some inconvenience. Many Continental passengers will start-out with KLM (Continental “code share”) to Amsterdam, then connect to Continental for the balance of their journey. Likewise, Lufthansa (“LH”) takes you through Duesseldorf, Frankfurt or Munich. Even with the out-of-the-way routing, and higher cost, LH is probably worth the price in return for the quality service. This year, even with high fuel costs, LH posted a profit into the millions of Euros.

The following link should provide some idea as to the comparative quality of US-based airlines:

http://aqr.aero/aqrreports/2008aqr.pdf

You’ll notice that, for every 100,000 passengers carried, American received about 56,000 more complaints than Continental, during 2007.

American: 1.65 complaints per 100,000 passengers
Continental: 1.09 complaints per 100,000 passengers

[Capn Ron]

Most airlines do not allow changing the name of passengers on flights (especially after 9/11) and part of this is due to the FAA. Yes, anytime you make a change of the ticket there is a change fee and a possible fare difference. Since you could not change the name you cancel your ticket and have one year from date of purchase to reuse it toward another flight. You had to purchase a separate ticket for your daughter and the fares had increased. Not hard to understand but sorry for you troubles.

Butch Cassidy, that would be .56 complaints per 100,000 passengers difference. That's a half a complaint!!!!!!!!!