Jeremy says:
My organization has a wonderful, articulate but disabled lady who has agreed to speak to a certain state's legislature about patient's rights, a very timely and powerful message in the times where scrutinizing healthcare is front and center in our national debate.
I made the reservations for her to fly down and back on my American Express — something we do all the time — through American Airlines because we are a corporate rewards BusinessExtrAA member. All things being equal, we usually pick American because of the rewards my organization get through flying with them. I clicked through the reservation online, trying to be considerate of her every option — wheelchairs and aisle seats all around, because of her disability. Because of her being generous with her time, we wanted to take care of everything for her. I thought it odd that there wasn't a way to prepay for luggage, but made the reservation anyway and figured I had missed it and could add it later.
As an avid Consumerist reader and a chart nerd, I regularly click through to read what the baggage fees are on certain airlines and get incensed, feeling glad I mostly fly Southwest. I often saw discounts for other airlines for pre-paying for luggage on a reservation, I wondered why I hadn't been given the option to do so with my American Airlines reservation. I logged back into the reservation online and looked for the option to prepay for luggage. Where is it? I searched their website for clues, and, figuring that it was one of the options they don't allow you to change with your reservation online, called the reservations line.
The first woman, Lisa, couldn't answer my question and didn't know how to pre-pay for luggage, and having been a former call center representative myself, I very politely suggested that I hold for a few minutes while she ask the information from a supervisor. She came back a few minutes later and told me — it would be $20, and a $100 pre-payment fee. $120 total. Each way. I blanched, not expecting that answer at all. I very politely suggested that she may have gotten the information wrong and asked where I could find that information online to verify this, but she couldn't answer my question. I then asked to speak to her supervisor directly, because I needed this information documented for possible tax reasons or because of corporate reimbursement policy. I think she was glad to get rid of me.
Pat answered and as a savvy supervisor as a call center can, she listened to my story and answered my questions with politeness and clarity. She repeated the information she had given me about the pre-paid baggage fee - $120 - and I said I could wait on hold for a few minutes while she checked with the people who work at the website helpdesk to see where this fee was published online. A few more minutes on hold and she came back to me, telling me that there is no information published on the aa.com website that mentions this fee. There isn't anywhere this information is published.
I asked why, and by this point Pat and I had developed a polite rapport. She admitted that they must not publish it because of its exorbitance — although I suspect she regretted saying that, because you're trained as a call center supervisor to never directly express your contrary opinion to corporate policy. She didn't have the power to waive the fee, and there were no other options for me. To her credit, she actually said this out loud instead of transferring me to someone else. I decided not to fight it any more.
$120 pre-paid baggage fee! This is not an option for my organization going forward when we have to curry favor for someone to speak for us. I think that my organization's policy on "all things being equal" for choosing American Airlines just got a little more unequal, BusinessExtrAA member or not. As for our disabled passenger - she will get to the event, thanks to pre-paid AmEx cards (wait, can you even use those to pay for luggage??) — but thank god there's no "wheelchair fee" - YET!
Has this happened to anyone else?
(Photo:Oliver 62)
]]>You stole my line!
]]>Yeah agree. I did Luthsansa non-stop Denver/Germany and was amazed at the different from UAL.
]]>@Absent minded or just absent:
No, the problem wasn't that the fee he "wanted" to pay was too high. The problem was that they were charging him $100-- EACH WAY-- to pay it in advance.
He wanted to pre-pay her baggage fee, which was $20. He did not want to pay an extra $100 each way for no reason other than that he was paying the $20 in advance.
]]>@Tiber: It's the new "Unemployed Executive Severance Fee".
]]>That's great - unless you don't happen to be retired, live in the western U.S., or have unlimited free time to drive 2,500 round trip for a weekend getaway.
I take many weekend getaways, travel with just a small bag, - read, don't complain and enjoy being able to hop around the country for under $275. Which is far less than gas and car wear and tear would be.
I sound like an airline shill - but even with the BS involved I still enjoy traveling and flying.
]]>If they don't have their system set to provide this service it makes sense that there would be an additional fee. I wonder how many people ask for refunds on prepaid luggage they decided not to use.
]]>@chiieddy:
Oh sure--hidden right in front of me :)
]]>So am i understanding correctly they are just charging $100 for the privilege of pre-paying the $20 baggage fee?
]]>Delta has some weird policies too. They are gracious to take along multiple baby items (stroller, car seat, etc) as free items to check. However, they are not eligible for curbside check-in. Also, if you do carry a baby item, you are not allowed to pre-pay your normal luggage at the $5 discount.
so you get your baby items for free, but that means you have to pay @ the counter (can't curbside check) and the full price.
the only way around this is to pre-pay and curb-side check your regular luggage, but to gate-check your baby items. with that comes lugging around your carry-ons, baby items, along with your baby/babies all throughout the airport.
]]>I think I'll stick with driving wherever I wish to go as long as there's not an ocean involved. It will be a less stressful and more honest experience than dealing with the airlines (not to mention skipping the dealings with the TSA).
]]>Well written. No anger. Good read for a change.
WHAT THE FARK.
WHO IN THEIR STUPID LITTLE MIND CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF CHARGING THE CUSTOMER AN EXTRA $100 BUCKS FOR THE PRIVILAGE OF TAKING THEIR MONEY FOR A $20 FEE.
]]>@TCama: Yeah, but United will break your guitar!
]]>Having had to book flights for speakers in a former life in a galaxy far far away, most speakers wouldn't come if I didn't book them first class.
Its too bad, but that is the way it is, and I hope people avoid using AA for just this kind of crap.
]]>@kerrington.steele: Yeah, definitely looks to me like an example of "selective numbering." Sort of like when people take long lists of measurements of things like the Great Pyramid or the Washington Monument, compare them to other numbers (such as dates) or to themselves (and find a frequently-recurring number) and from all this data pluck out apparently-meaningful coincidences. (See e.g. Ch. 13 of Martin Gardner's Fads & Fallacies to see how this works.) A sufficiently large sampling of numbers to play with, will always turn up convenient coincidences of this type. In the case of AA, their complex fee structure, including fees for many different things, is large enough to allow this to happen. Here, it's easy to find a bunch of fees that add up to $120.
]]>I think the funny farm has a new CIEIO.
]]>TEMPTED, I mean.
]]>You have no idea how many times I've been attempted to do just that.
]]>As for our disabled passenger - she will get to the event, thanks to pre-paid AmEx cards (wait, can you even use those to pay for luggage??) - but thank god there's no "wheelchair fee" - YET!
]]>It'd be nice if the Consumerist actually did a little research to figure obvious things out, but I guess unbiased reporting isn't your strong suit.
]]>@chiieddy:
I must have my dunce cap on today--where does it say anything about gift cards?
]]>This is a great submission, and a pleasure to read...I wish all articles were like this - clearly written and nice to read. Kudos to Pat for biting the bullet and being honest about corporate policy.
That being said, that fee is ABSURD. I can think of several viable reasons that someone might need to pre-pay for baggage, and flying other individuals in for business is high on the list. It happens a decent amount. Thank goodness the OP thought to look for this, or the guest would have been stuck at the counter, paying for it herself! Horrible policy on AA's part!
]]>@Absent minded or just absent:
You may be right; on re-reading it still seems ambiguous because he writes "got tired of fighting" and not an option *going forward*. I therefor leapt to the conclusion that he paid, but I now see that it doesn't actually say that.
@treimel:
first sentence, not headline.
The lesson here is plain: those silly affinity programs (like the BusinessExtraa mentioned) don't change the basic rule of domestic airlines; if you're concerned about rip-off fees, you simply can't fly legacy carriers.
Next time--Southwest, even in these circumstances.
Also--what does the headline mean by "attempted to charge" They *actually* charged him, right?
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