Best way to book an AA (US dom) flight?

[Dave Noble]

This seems a pretty poor exhange rate conversion (~ $0.70). Is this normal? Why is the fare so much higher when payment is from AU or UK? Will I have any more luck ringing the US AA number?

I would just try going to your saved booking online done with US country and just trying to pay with your credit card online and see if it goes through ok. Getting US to accept non US cards over the phone can be hard work. Is it a domestic or international flight?

Dave

 

[Shano]

I would just try going to your saved booking online done with US country and just trying to pay with your credit card online and see if it goes through ok. Getting US to accept non US cards over the phone can be hard work. Is it a domestic or international flight?

Dave

Flights are US domestic only. Have previously tried paying online with US as country of origin but it would not accept the AMEX number I entered.

 

[Dave Noble]

Flights are US domestic only. Have previously tried paying online with US as country of origin but it would not accept the AMEX number I entered.

What did u have as the country for AMEX? istr that when u specify the CC, it asks for addres and country for the CC ... put UK in at that point for the card and see what it prices as

Dave

 

[straitman]

This happened to me too. Our AA numbers were on the aa.com booking and the etids email, but they didn't print on the boarding passes. We did eventually get the QF miles posted. I noticed this in PPT but the LA office had closed so we had to wait until IPC and I went into the LA office and they manually added our AA numbers to each flight segment and all LA flghts posted miles promptly after the flight.

The AY segments-the AA numbers posted on the boarding passes and as per my other thread, we have yet to get those miles posted.

Tiki,

I forgot to mention though that ours posted correctly and within about two days.

 

[Shano]

Dave, thanks for the tip - this worked!

Previous held reservation had expired, so had to redo the booking - but fare had gone up. Followed your advice and the ticket was repriced in GBP. The end cost in $A was actually equivalent to the quoted fare on the website. Not sure why there was a fare abnomality before but I just saved myself a few $$

 

[Dave Noble]

Dave, thanks for the tip - this worked!

Good to hear

Dave

 

[Mal]

I have booked some more flights via AA.com. The quoted price on the website is US$622 which equates to ~ A$760.

If I redo the booking selecting UK as country of residence, the quoted fare is GBP350, or about A$860.

Yeah that does sound out-of-whack. A recent purchase of mine was ~$US650 which converted into ~GBP325 which converted into (Amex) ~$A820.

Probably would have saved around $30 by booking and ringing up AAIndia, but wasn't in the mood for the hassle when I booked.

 

[Shano]

I have booked some more flights via AA.com. The quoted price on the website is US$622 which equates to ~ A$760.

If I redo the booking selecting UK as country of residence, the quoted fare is GBP350, or about A$860.

Yeah that does sound out-of-whack. A recent purchase of mine was ~$US650 which converted into ~GBP325 which converted into (Amex) ~$A820.

Probably would have saved around $30 by booking and ringing up AAIndia, but wasn't in the mood for the hassle when I booked.

I now think that the problem may have been a rollover from a KUPP14YN fare to a KUPP7YN fare.

I believe that when I put the booking on HOLD, the fare class was KUPP14YN, but when I called AA IndiAA to pay, they re-priced it as a KUPP7YN fare. I am not sure why they wouldn't have honoured the original held fare?

In hindsight I left it too late to organise payment, as even if I had waited to ring the AA US number on Saturday night, the xx14xx fare and my booking had expired for the date I wanted to travel.

Oh well, live and learn.....

 

[Dave Noble]

I believe that when I put the booking on HOLD, the fare class was KUPP14YN, but when I called AA IndiAA to pay, they re-priced it as a KUPP7YN fare. I am not sure why they wouldn't have honoured the original held fare?

I don't know the date you are travelling; was it within 24 hours from making the booking until contacting AA India? if not, then it is perfectly correct that they would reprice. Also, was it < 14 days prior to departure when you paid since the 14 in the fare basis indicates the advance purchase restriction of that fare

Dave

 

[Shano]

I don't know the date you are travelling; was it within 24 hours from making the booking until contacting AA India? if not, then it is perfectly correct that they would reprice. Also, was it < 14 days prior to departure when you paid since the 14 in the fare basis indicates the advance purchase restriction of that fare

Dave

Travel is on the 21st September.

I put the booking on hold at about 3pm Friday 7th (confirmation email received at 3:46pm) and called India just before 2pm Saturday 8th. It is probably marginal (by a few minutes) whether I got in before the specified time limit when I put the booking on HOLD (11:59pm EDT). So those few minutes ended up costing me a few $$$.

If I had waited to talk to AA US the booking and 14 day advance purchase would have expired.

So it appears that AA India were probably correct in their re-pricing.

It is important to not cut it so fine when there is a 7 / 14 day advance purchase cut-off.

Lesson learnt.

 

[serfty]

Booked and held a KUP fare last week. I actually booked two, but somehow at 4pm on Thursday managed to book the wrong return date.

So on Friday morning I cancelled the original and rebooked then ticketed using IndiAA Friday Afternoon.

Interestingly, the expiry for the hold in both cases was Sunday 9th September, 10:00PM CDT.

This was somewhat longer than I have experienced previously. Maybe due to the weekend or perhaps the fare type (refundable).

 

[Shano]

I did notice for my bookings for this Wednesday that once I had contacted AA they extended the validity of the booking when viewed under "My Reservations" on AA.com. I can't remember by how much.

It actually took about 3 days from placing the booking on HOLD to having the booking show as ticketed as it took a couple of calls to IndiAA to get them to email the CC authorisation to me.

 

[JohnK]

The UK option is fine if the flights are AA only or other carriers flights do not go on waitlist. The risk is to be prepared for the booking to be cancelled if for any reason the booking is not confirmed by computer and you have to get in touch with the call centre.

 

[serfty]

...

PS Mods, please cast this thread free and/or lock it. The first few pages contain a lot of information that was very relevant in 2007, but is quite miisleading today.

Might investigate splitting it - there is good contemporary information.

 

[Mal]

I had a look at AA.com.au .. the flights i wanted didn't even come up in the search, and ones that i didn't want where about $700 more expensive

Yeah, the search engine on AA's (AU) site is a little less flexible than the one on the AA (US) site. I do see that problem at times too. There are a few options:
- Book on AA (US) the dodgy way.
- Create reservation on AA (US), put booking on hold and complete via AA's Australian call centre.
- Find the routing you want, visit a travel agent and hope they can find it.

I really want to get GDS access one day so that I can book my own fares...

Might investigate splitting it - there is good contemporary information.

Yeah, that's a good compromise. The main issue I see is that now the AA (AU) site exists, most workarounds aren't needed for run-of-the-mill type tickets, and now that AA (India) call centre is no more, there is better incentive to call up.

 

[SYD]

Deleted. Some browers problems had me a few pages behind the times...

 

[serfty]

Might investigate splitting it - there is good contemporary information.

Current information split to new sticky thread:

• http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ines-advantage/best-way-book-aa-ex-29112.html

 

[Grooba]

Great stuff Mods! Such a useful thread for us USA SC runners