Remember American's China Mistake Fares? An Interesting Follow-Up...

Why they have to honour hold on tickets? You snooze you looselook for other errors and purchase straight away. I don't think we would like to see airline going to chapter 11 again.

J on AA is around about $4,500 R/T, so $3,000 after the discount....I think I'll just wait for the next mistake fare 😉

I don't care about the miles, but I'll take the $450 economy flight if someone in this situation is willing to just unload it, unless it is name specific and not bookable in the name of someone else. I'd be willing to fly to china on economy class at that price.

@Gintare They should have to honor the ticket holds because that is their alternative to allowing free cancellation within 24 hours of booking. They're really not the same if AA is allowed to cancel any holds they don't like, but not allowed to cancel any ticketed reservations.

I think AA is going above and beyond what the people who booked the fares deserve!
We all know it was a mistake fare and I personally believe people who take advantage of mistake fares are thieves, plain and simple. A misticketed price tag on an item of clothes that someone knows is too good to be true is a small example of people's ethics and what they would do. I would always bring it to the clerks attention for correction.

@Mike B: The tickets cannot be transferred to anyone else; in addition to the points noted in the email above about passengers, the end of the email states "This offer is non-transferable, applies only to passengers identified in the original reservation, and only in the origin and destination of the original booking. "

@Lucky: As someone who filed a complaint with the DOT and got the same response, I'm pretty amazed (and not in a good way) that this response is the best AA could manage after more than seven months. IMO, it does not address the central point of the complaint about AA being obligated to honor a held fare for 24 hours since they do not provide a 24 hour period for free cancellations. Also, they have clearly violated the DOT requirement to provide a substantive response to customer complaints within 60 days. The options offered are so clearly undesirable that they fall somewhere between a hollow gesture and an insult to one's intelligence. It will be interesting to see DOT's ruling, which is supposed to be made public after AA's response to complaints.

This needs to be fixed: "So in other words, American is willing to offer a free ticket in economy".

The ticket is far from free to the consumer ($450) or the airline (who pockets the carrier-imposed fuel fees misleadingly included in "taxes").

While it is is heavily discounted ticket, to be called free in the English language it must cost 0. Please have some journalistic integrity and fix the copy!

@ John Tarik -- You're absolutely right, was a typo on my part. Post fixed.

My tickets were cancelled while on hold. I have the copy of reservation. Could i go ahead and request a review now, or is it too late? I would be happy to take the business round trip for 1500.

@ Richard - I don't disagree with your point about ethics, but I do think the line between a mistake and a really good deal can be very blurry, my example: I bought several tickets on BA's business class sale earlier this month. A 48 hour sale where I got tickets for a couple different destinations at an average price of about $1,490 (with AARP discount). Earlier this summer, I purchased from BA business class seats LAX-CDG on AA metal. That fare was $1,390 (with AARP discount), and it was available for about 30 minutes after I jumped on it. Several other people found similar fares from DFW and maybe SLC. The second one seems like it was a mistake, just based on the size of the discount and the length of time that it was available, and yet it was only $100 less than BA's two day sale. $450 to Beijing is an obvious mistake, but given the history of discount J over the past 2 years it's not always that easy to know what is a mistake fare and what is a sale that is available for a day or a few hours. There were similar sales in September and October 2014, less than 24 hours as I recall.

An interesting response for sure. I received this email and am debating using the $0 (well $450 tax) coach fare this year, its still a good deal even in economy, brutal, but a good deal.

Ben, may I suggest that you don't refer to the fare as a mistake? Despite what AA claims and even though it's several months since they were around, we've known for a year or two that airlines who publish these types of fares are using references to blogs and travel websites to claim that passengers knew the fare was a mistake, arguing this is another reason the airlines shouldn't be held accountable. AA highlighted that in their response that you included in your post. I don't think we need to make it any easier for them than it already is to cancel these types of fares.

This bit of it is interesting "...and the mistaken fare was offered for only a few hours..." Maybe they just threw that in as icing on the cake, but if AA is going to use that as *part* of the mistake argument, it's pretty weak. Lots of fares, of all sorts, may only be around for a few hours.

On the one hand with obvious mistakes you take your chances to an extent. Yet the consumer is already in the weaker position, airlines may push this too far. The airlines have whole departments of people, and fancy computer programs, managing and publishing fares...the onus is on them to ensure they're not pushing erroneous fares. While $450 biz is obvious to just about anyone, what about the next one that's not such a drastic departure from the norm?

I had my ticket booked by a Brazilian, in Brazil, and paid with a BR credit card. I just - after weeks/months of hassle - got final word that AA will not honor my fare, despite them claiming to honor all fares for Brazilians.

My question, is whether or not it's worth it for me to file with the DOT to get the ~$350 in cancelation fees reimbursed. I'll be subjected to about that amount when canceling my on-the-ground reservations and interior flights and wonder if it's worth the hassle.

Anyone have experience with this stuff?

For those who think we, the general public, should recognize a mistake fare, I have to ask. When Frontier offered a $1 fare ( plus tax) recently, should I assume no airline in their right mind would offer a fare that low and so it must be a mistake? If you find an extremely high price, do you assume the other lower fares for the same seat must be a mistake and just pay the highest amount? How many different prices are paid for the same seat/class on every flight? Dozens? Which ones should I know are mistake fares? And for practically every website I join, I have to enter my email twice, just to be sure. Do airlines not have some sort of similar control to verify their info beforehand?

TucsonJohn - Stop being flippant. Not one single person has said the general public should recognise ANY mistake fare.

If you don't recognise $450 return to China in business as a mistake then it's for the best if your ticket gets cancelled anyway. Anyone who is so naïve will struggle to get by in somewhere like China (or pretty much anywhere unfamiliar) without being scammed!

Now what about the F tickets from PRG to USA/MX two months ago?

I think this is a fair and reasonable response from American, and I really don't understand all the complaining.

The comments around whether or not this should be construed a "mistake fare" are irrelevant, as American is honouring all tickets issued, regardless of whether or not it was a mistake. DOT 399.88 clearly only applies when "the full amount agreed upon has been paid by the consumer"

The original purpose of the 24 hour cancellation rule was to allow consumers to cancel if they had buyers remorse or found a better fare. The DOT subsequently allowed airlines to offer a 24 hour hold instead because it provided essentially the same protection for buyers remorse as a 24 hour cancellation.

Since DOT 399.88 doesn't apply to holds, what should American do? I think offering a substantial discount off of the normal fare is a reasonable response. The offers would be significant for a normal traveller who wanted to buy a ticket to China, as evidenced by people asking to take other's vouchers (I'd like one, too, please!)

Finally, since American cancelled the original holds within 60 days, they met the substantive response within 60 days requirement. Just because JN didn't like their response, and they decided to come out with a sweetened offer ~7 months later does not violate any DOT response requirement.

They probably feel confident making the "ruling" b/c they have an inside track on what the DOT is thinking on their final ruling. I have very little doubt the DOT is in contact w/ the major domestic airlines either directly or via lobbyists to "aid them" in their final ruling ... it's just the way politics in the good ol' U. S. of A works.

@Sam it's $1500 OFF a biz ticket...not a $1500 ticket...good luck getting that

Ok, they clearly state no AAdvantage miles, but what about earning with a OW partner?. If it books into a mileage earning class of service could no credit to say CX?