Award booking fee and other issues

[tsergori]

Hi

I just booked an all-partner award (thanks to those who provided answers to questions I posed in a different thread). First I called the US number to get the flights (because it was a weekend or holiday and the Australian number was closed). On the next business day, I called the Australian number to pay for the awards since I wanted to be charged in AUD.

I was charged a AUD$60 booking fee *per ticket* On looking at a link posted on the flyertalk board, (I cannot post the link since I have less than 10 posts, so replace the three underscores "_" with "." to get to the correct site www_aa_com/i18n/AAdvantage/programDetails/awards/makingAwardReservations_jsp), I think I would have been charged US$20 per ticket had I paid for the award when calling the US number. Is this correct?

Also, it seems that although AA charged me in AUD, my credit card company (ANZ) still imposed a foreign transaction fee. Their logic was that the merchant was based overseas

Finally, now that I have this precious booking, I'd like to be able to select seats. When I put the record locator into AA.com, I can see all flights, but cannot choose any seats online. When I put the AA record locator into BA.com, I can find a different booking reference number that works on the Qantas and BA websites (and I can choose seats for the QF/BA flights). But on both the QF and BA websites, one of my CX flights is missing (BKK-HKG) though the other CX flight (HKG-SFO) is shown. I'm not worried that QF/BA websites do not see one CX leg since this is shown on the AA website. Though perhaps I should be worried? Anyway, I'd like to check whether the CX website can see all flights and choose seats (once I am within the 180 day period). But the CX website doesn't recognise either the AA or BA/QF booking references. Is there a way to get a booking reference that CX will recognise without having to call AA or CX?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

 

[imagineertobe]

...I think I would have been charged US$20 per ticket had I paid for the award when calling the US number. Is this correct?

According to the website, and my recent (yesterday) experience, the AA telephone ticketing fee is indeed US$20 when reservations are made with the US Reservations line.

Also, it seems that although AA charged me in AUD, my credit card company (ANZ) still imposed a foreign transaction fee. Their logic was that the merchant was based overseas

It's where the merchant charges you AND in what currency that counts. For example, if AA charges me in the US in EUR to my American credit card, Visa/MasterCard/AmEx will impose their standard (~2%) foreign transaction fee. Same thing goes for a charge in EUR from the Eurozone, or in USD from the EU to that same card. The only way I'm not going to pay the charge is if the merchant charges me in the US in USD.

This is unfortunately likely a large charge to be learning your lesson on, but you should be aware that just because you're being charged in your card's currency, you won't necessarily be avoiding the overseas fee.

NOW, many large companies are nice enough to charge their customers from their economic zones: AA does this for the UK (from the UK) and the Eurozone (from Ireland), but I guess not (yet) for Australia.

Finally, now that I have this precious booking, I'd like to be able to select seats. When I put the record locator into AA.com, I can see all flights, but cannot choose any seats online.

AFAIK, aa_com doesn't let you choose seats on other carriers' metal.

When I put the AA record locator into BA.com, I can find a different booking reference number that works on the Qantas and BA websites (and I can choose seats for the QF/BA flights). But on both the QF and BA websites, one of my CX flights is missing (BKK-HKG) though the other CX flight (HKG-SFO) is shown. I'm not worried that QF/BA websites do not see one CX leg since this is shown on the AA website. Though perhaps I should be worried? Anyway, I'd like to check whether the CX website can see all flights and choose seats (once I am within the 180 day period). But the CX website doesn't recognise either the AA or BA/QF booking references. Is there a way to get a booking reference that CX will recognise without having to call AA or CX?

I can't offer you much help on the intricacies of CX's reservations system, but a quick search pulled up this (2-year-old) thread at FlyerTalk:

www_flyertalk_com/forum/cathay-pacific-asia-miles/715925-cx-pnr-amadeus_html
CX PNR and Amadeus

Peace

 

[Dave Noble]

Hi

I just booked an all-partner award (thanks to those who provided answers to questions I posed in a different thread). First I called the US number to get the flights (because it was a weekend or holiday and the Australian number was closed). On the next business day, I called the Australian number to pay for the awards since I wanted to be charged in AUD.

I was charged a AUD$60 booking fee *per ticket*

Unfortunately AA Australia decided to join om the QF bandwagon and charge high telephone booking fees, I would recommend using AA US ( If Gold/Platinum/EXP) since their fee is USD20 which they may waive for an award for non AA travel , otherwise the UK which may charge iirc GBP15 (AUD26)

Hi
Also, it seems that although AA charged me in AUD, my credit card company (ANZ) still imposed a foreign transaction fee. Their logic was that the merchant was based overseas

That is an issue with the credit card. Some credit cards charge fees for overseas transactions regardless of what currency the transaction was in. It is their way of avoiding not making money when someone uses dynamic currency conversion overseas

But on both the QF and BA websites, one of my CX flights is missing (BKK-HKG) though the other CX flight (HKG-SFO) is shown. I'm not worried that QF/BA websites do not see one CX leg since this is shown on the AA website.

Just phone AA or CX and get the seats assigned for CX. The Amadeus booking ( the BA/QF reference number ) will show details for flights on BA/QF but since CX uses a different reservation system only CX flights which are relevent to BA/QF will show suc as connecting flights

Dave

 

[serfty]

Interesting, my most most recent purchase using the AA Oz portal were with Amex and charged in AUD with no such fee.

The retail entity shows as:

AMERICAN AIRLINES PSP-EUR & PAC
434.00 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS BILLED A
434.00 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS BILLED A
TKT:00112345678901 AMERICAN AIRLINES IN
SEATTLE (TACOM :SAN FRANCISCO AA F
REFERENCE NO: 123456
$0.00

The transaction date is Dec 25, although I purchased the day before.

 

[serfty]

...
Just phone AA or CX and get the seats assigned for CX. The Amadeus booking ( the BA/QF reference number ) will show details for flights on BA/QF but since CX uses a different reservation system only CX flights which are relevent to BA/QF will show suc as connecting flights

Dave

If you can call CX and get their specific booking reference you may be able to select seats yourself online.