Yes, I could just call and see what the hell happens.

Checking google flights, I found a flight that's 20% cheaper than any others - instead of linking to a booking site, google says to call american airlines with the flight numbers

I checked american and a few other sites just to see if that particular list of flights were offered as a package like is listed on google flights with no luck.

How the hell do phone reservations work? Just call in, tell them I saw these flights on google flights for price $x, read off the flight numbers, and pray they don't laugh and want to charge way more?

3/1/2014 1:19:46 AM

This thread is a microcosm of your larger problems. I will pray for you, brother.

3/1/2014 2:56:35 AM

thanks man

3/1/2014 6:27:54 AM

You can still call in and book over the phone, and give CC info as well.
They may charge you a $35 (saw it this week) ticketing fee for their trouble.

3/1/2014 7:34:51 AM

There's no 'may' to it. American charged me $35 for the privilege of giving them $1000 when I had to call for reservations involving travel with an infant (can't book infants online).

The agent did contact their fares department to get the flights and fares I found online that weren't showing up on her computer. I have to imagine your mileage will vary on that, depending on your luck with the random telephone travel agent draw.

3/1/2014 8:23:32 AM

jeebus at the fee - I'll still wind up saving a ton, but wtf

thanks for the details guys

[Edited on March 1, 2014 at 8:37 AM. Reason : ]

3/1/2014 8:37:07 AM

If you're an airline CC holder or have flyer status, they waive the phone reservation fee

3/1/2014 12:21:39 PM

^ Well that sure is benevolent of them.

When did we get to the point that we have to pay for the basic customer service required to make a sale? I wish I could live my life without ever dealing with a company that won't pay someone $8 an hour to answer the fucking phone and take my money. Unfortunately that's just not feasible for the average consumer. The balance of power in our capitalist system is very heavily skewed in favor of large corporations right now.

Sorry for the rant. This anti-capitalist spew brought to you by Lowes.

[Edited on March 1, 2014 at 2:46 PM. Reason : l]

3/1/2014 2:42:41 PM

^ You don't HAVE to use the phone. You can use their websites or any of hundreds of other travel websites to book travel. For free. That are faster, less error prone and easier to use in every way.

And you obviously haven't kept up with the airline industry. Unlike many areas of our economy, airlines have barely teetered above bankruptcy for a long time. Running call centers is incredibly expensive, that $8/hr employee actually costs more like $30/h. And you need hundreds of them to run a call center. And then you have to pay for the call center too.

I'd be on your side if booking any flight cost tagged a fee, but the reality is, this affects like .00001% of customers.

Let's not forget that back in the "good old days" of having phone reservations as the primary means to buy airline tickets, the price of those tickets was more than DOUBLE what they are today, close to TRIPLE in many cases.

So paying 35 dollars if you want to talk to a person is still a fuck of a lot better than paying hundreds every time you fly.

[Edited on March 1, 2014 at 7:45 PM. Reason : .]

3/1/2014 7:41:58 PM

Why do you pretend to know something about everything? Your coworkers hate you.

3/1/2014 8:54:13 PM

I don't pretend. I don't know shit about most things. Why do you care?

3/2/2014 12:44:17 AM

Quote :

"^ You don't HAVE to use the phone. You can use their websites or any of hundreds of other travel websites to book travel. For free. That are faster, less error prone and easier to use in every way."

That's great in theory, but clearly there are cases in which a customer needs assistance outside of the scope of travel websites. See the original post in this thread for reference. Websites are not always available and cannot be counted on to answer every question from every traveler. Sometimes you need to speak to a person. It's a normal part of business. Making it more frustrating, more time consuming, or more expensive than it needs to be is not going to win over any customers. All the nickel and diming in the world will do no good for your bottom line if you piss off your customers in the process.

Quote :

"And you obviously haven't kept up with the airline industry. Unlike many areas of our economy, airlines have barely teetered above bankruptcy for a long time. Running call centers is incredibly expensive, that $8/hr employee actually costs more like $30/h. And you need hundreds of them to run a call center. And then you have to pay for the call center too."

Care? A centralized call center is a drop in the bucket of what it costs to run an airline and you're completely ignoring the value add that comes from pleasing your customers. They will always have a call center, so we're really just arguing about the point to which it should be scaled.

Even your own analogy of $30/hour call center employees + infrastructure to support them fails to justify a $35 booking fee. A call center worker who handles four calls per hour would result in $140 in fees for the company. It's pretty evident that AA has monetized the process of purchasing a plane ticket over the phone. It's certainly your prerogative to think that's acceptable, but let's not pretend it's not happening.

[Edited on March 2, 2014 at 10:05 AM. Reason : l]

3/2/2014 10:04:22 AM