American adjusted their official ticket hold policy as of April 1, 2016. The Department of Transportation requires passengers to be able to change their mind on tickets within 24 hours, when booking at least seven days in advance. In practice airlines have the choice of offering this in the form of a 24-hour hold, or…
Continue reading: American Is Beginning To Limit Free Ticket Holds
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Perhaps the itnernational version of the site may offer hope if a ticket does not have a free hold option?
Are we sure they actually changed anything? I have had mixed luck getting the hold option for a bit now but I always thought it was related to proximity to flight time than anything else.
Just another reason to give up on AA. Between changes to their frequent flyer program and overall issues with their customer service standards, one cannot favor flying the airline. I don't take this view lightly. I'm a 3 million miler on AA. Platinum for life, but, of course, that status is worth virtually nothing on AA. I have 4 systemwide upgrades that expire in Feb. I looked at dozens of itineraries (domestic and international) and dates between now and 2/28/17. Literally not one flight available to upgrade from a PAID coach ticket to Business class. Pathetic.
I am very dismayed to hear this. being able to put a potential booking on hold is extremely important to me. I don't have a credit card, so I need to arrange the ticket, click Hold, and zip out to the airport to pay in person.
Thank you for publicizing this.
I find it really funny that people with millions of miles keep saying "another reason to give up on xxxxxx". How many options does a consumer really have when it comes to flights? Unless you are in a major hub like JFK or LAX, a consumer really has 1-2 options getting a less expensive flight.
To BlueMountain: While domestic options could limited unless you flying from a reasonably large airport, there are plenty of options when connecting internationally. Personally, because of changes in AA earlier this year, I did fly paid business with JAL and paid first with China Eastern. I think my next trip overseas will be on BA - this will be the first time for me in 20 years to cross Atlantic not on AA metal. As a disclosure, I am 3MM with AA.
I think it is not a very smart move by AA to stop offering free hold. Free hold was one differentiation AA had and it was only available on AA website, thus, generating additional traffic. Without the hold, one should always use OTA because of an ease cancelling tickets within 24 hrs and additional points. However, OTAs will also give you different options and other airlines. Thus, in effect, AA is pushing away booking traffic away from their website and towards the competition. Would they generate more sales without the hold? I highly doubt. Not very smart move at all!
To Giving up on AA.
I think you have overly high expectations for how SWUs work. They are not guaranteed at the booking.
I have a 100% sucess rate on SWUs. None were available at booking. All cleared before departure.
As for this change - we have only so-called "consumer advocates" to blame for. Not this blog, but several others were very vocal in saying AA's policy of hold but no free 24hr cancel was anti-consumer. And AA bought it.
Funny. And sad. With all the other dealbreakers I pondered leaving AA. But then I noted how great the 24 hour hold was. And now that's gone? I am certainly open to shopping airlines again if so. Especially after the spend counter starts up and affects upgrades (for me at least) even more (as in getting them less).