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Old 02-28-2018, 05:41 AM
 
1,515 posts, read 1,498,710 times
Reputation: 2268

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If you fly American , you know they will hit you up for carry-on fees- not nice but not un-expected.

Recently we had a flight El Paso to Phoenix. - connecting Phx- Mazatlan.


We were a but over an hour early. but as we were not 90 min early they changed our flight and added $150. We used Orbitz which did not iniorm and even on AA' site its only a rec.

At Phx lisa in customer svc said AA was wrong.. When we wrote aferwards, they wouldnt rehe fund and don't give out the info which agency may regulate are used to SW Air -much nice.

Any ideas-its a matter of principal really- AA is the largest and they feel they can do what they want..
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Old 02-28-2018, 07:26 AM
 
16,339 posts, read 12,291,362 times
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There's more to this story. An airline won't change your flight if you aren't 90 minutes early. And I've never been charged a carry on fee on American.
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Old 02-28-2018, 07:41 AM
 
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
10,297 posts, read 7,877,742 times
Reputation: 27606
Quote:
Originally Posted by WestGuest View Post
If you fly American , you know they will hit you up for carry-on fees- not nice but not un-expected.
I think you mean a checked bag - American does not charge for carryons.

Quote:
Recently we had a flight El Paso to Phoenix. - connecting Phx- Mazatlan.


We were a but over an hour early. but as we were not 90 min early they changed our flight and added $150. We used Orbitz which did not iniorm and even on AA' site its only a rec.

At Phx lisa in customer svc said AA was wrong.. When we wrote aferwards, they wouldnt rehe fund and don't give out the info which agency may regulate are used to SW Air -much nice.

Any ideas-its a matter of principal really- AA is the largest and they feel they can do what they want..
Your story is a bit confusing, but I think I know what happened, and you're not going to like it.

Forget what time you arrived at the airport. That simply doesn't matter. What time was it when you were actually standing in front of an agent at the check-in counter?

All airlines (not just American) have a hard cutoff time for checking luggage onto a flight. On international flights (which yours was), that cutoff is 60 minutes. (For domestic flights, its 45 minutes). Arrive at the ticket counter under that time limit, and the airline can't check your bag.

I'm betting that by the time you parked your car, schlepped your bags into the terminal, stood in line to check in, and then actually go to the counter in front of a check-in agent, you were just under that 60 minute cutoff time for checking bags. The agent couldn't check you AND your bags in on that flight, so he/she rebooked you on a later itinerary so your bags could be checked in, and then hit you with a ticket change fee of $150 (which is actually a bit lower than average for a change to an international ticket).

You can complain all you want, but it won't do any good. Arrive EARLY before you fly on an international ticket! (And by early I mean 3 or more hours before the flight departs.)

Last edited by Aredhel; 02-28-2018 at 07:52 AM..
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Old 02-28-2018, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,254 posts, read 22,650,364 times
Reputation: 16387
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aredhel View Post
I think you mean a checked bag - American does not charge for carryons.

Sounds like Orbitz sold them an economy basic ticket, where American and United do charge for carry ons. The online travel agencies are not good about letting you know it's that kind of ticket at time of purchase.

Airlines change schedules all the time- Delta is actually well known for having 'Schedule Change Saturday' when they mess with their system at a point when the fewest number of customers logged in. It's usually only a few minutes of difference but sometimes can be more substantial. One of the reasons that you should always check in the day before from computer or phone is to make sure you have the current departure time for your flights before your travel day begins.

And yes, there are additional security reasons why international baggage check deadlines are often longer than domestic ones, and the airline employee cannot override the system if you're close. Given general airline staffing levels, even at Southwest, you need to account for that extra time on departure day.
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Old 02-28-2018, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
10,297 posts, read 7,877,742 times
Reputation: 27606
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmouse View Post
Sounds like Orbitz sold them an economy basic ticket, where American and United do charge for carry ons. The online travel agencies are not good about letting you know it's that kind of ticket at time of purchase.
That's also a possibility, yes. American doesn't allow carryons on Basic Economy tickets if you don't have their credit card or status with them, so technically you're being charged to check your carryon as a checked bag.

Yet another reason to avoid OTAs - in these days of Basic Economy fares, you want to know for sure exactly what type of ticket you're buying before you actually purchase it, so you can plan accordingly.

Quote:
Airlines change schedules all the time- Delta is actually well known for having 'Schedule Change Saturday' when they mess with their system at a point when the fewest number of customers logged in. It's usually only a few minutes of difference but sometimes can be more substantial. One of the reasons that you should always check in the day before from computer or phone is to make sure you have the current departure time for your flights before your travel day begins.
Knock on wood, so far I've had good luck with the airlines promptly updating me on schedule changes, but it's certainly a good idea to double-check the day before just to be 100% sure.

Quote:
And yes, there are additional security reasons why international baggage check deadlines are often longer than domestic ones, and the airline employee cannot override the system if you're close. Given general airline staffing levels, even at Southwest, you need to account for that extra time on departure day.
I think one thing that trips infrequent travelers up, too, is that they don't realize that all legs of an international ticket (even the purely domestic ones, like El Paso to Phoenix) fall under the international rules when it comes to luggage check-in times. I suspect that if the OP had just been flying to Phoenix, instead of continuing on to Mexico, there would have been no problems.
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Old 02-28-2018, 09:43 AM
 
24,503 posts, read 17,956,220 times
Reputation: 40189
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmouse View Post
Sounds like Orbitz sold them an economy basic ticket, where American and United do charge for carry ons. The online travel agencies are not good about letting you know it's that kind of ticket at time of purchase.
Yep. For the life of me, I don't understand why anyone would use an online travel agency to book an airline ticket. You don't save any money and it adds a layer which pretty much guarantees bad service if something goes wrong.

My life is too short to ever fly 'basic economy'. No seat assignment means you're getting a middle seat back by the blue toilet water flanked by the 300 pound woman and the NFL linebacker. Your 'personal item' barely big enough to hold a toothbrush is at your feet so you have nowhere to put your legs in that 30" seat pitch seat designed for Hobbits and Dwarves.

I pretty much never check bags but if I don't have status with the airline and I need to check a bag, I'm at the airport early and use curbside check-in if that's possible.
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Old 02-28-2018, 04:59 PM
 
17,375 posts, read 14,901,467 times
Reputation: 22604
It's an international flight.

AA Policy says that you must check in for the flight 60 minutes if no checked luggage.. 90 minutes if checked luggage.

So, the CHECK IN time is the critical part here. If you got to the airport with more than an hour to go, but hadn't checked in.. They were within their rights to rebook you..

If things went as you said, and they rebooked you and you did CHECK IN with more than 60 minutes and had no checked luggage.. You would file a complaint through the DOT.

https://www.transportation.gov/airco...umer-complaint

I'd also recommend posting at Elliott's consumer advocate forums.. Elliott's help forums

But, to do a little advocacy for yourself first, you could use these AA contacts.. American Airlines customer service contacts

Being brief and POLITE.

And, much, much clearer than your post here. So write it out, and even have someone spell check and proofread it first if need be. A business looking at your post here would probably just send a canned response rather than try to noodle through what you might be asking.
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Old 02-28-2018, 06:57 PM
 
Location: Honolulu/DMV Area/NYC
30,454 posts, read 17,876,776 times
Reputation: 34148
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aredhel View Post
I think you mean a checked bag - American does not charge for carryons.



Your story is a bit confusing, but I think I know what happened, and you're not going to like it.

Forget what time you arrived at the airport. That simply doesn't matter. What time was it when you were actually standing in front of an agent at the check-in counter?

All airlines (not just American) have a hard cutoff time for checking luggage onto a flight. On international flights (which yours was), that cutoff is 60 minutes. (For domestic flights, its 45 minutes). Arrive at the ticket counter under that time limit, and the airline can't check your bag.

I'm betting that by the time you parked your car, schlepped your bags into the terminal, stood in line to check in, and then actually go to the counter in front of a check-in agent, you were just under that 60 minute cutoff time for checking bags. The agent couldn't check you AND your bags in on that flight, so he/she rebooked you on a later itinerary so your bags could be checked in, and then hit you with a ticket change fee of $150 (which is actually a bit lower than average for a change to an international ticket).

You can complain all you want, but it won't do any good. Arrive EARLY before you fly on an international ticket! (And by early I mean 3 or more hours before the flight departs.)
This sounds about right. I got to the airport today 30 minutes before my flight and American wouldn't check my bags as I was late. My fault so can't be mad at the airline. I'm curious about the fee to rebook, though. I've been too late to board on both domestic and international flights, but airlines have always rebooked me on the next available flight at no additional charge.
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Old 02-28-2018, 08:23 PM
 
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
11,936 posts, read 12,993,985 times
Reputation: 27076
I'm sorry but I couldn't understand what the OP wrote.
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Old 02-28-2018, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Saint John, IN
11,583 posts, read 6,664,706 times
Reputation: 14786
I avoid AA as much as possible! They are never on time, extremely rude and over priced! No thanks!
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