Airlines charging new $ booking fees AND Non-refund on FF-tickets

[DandyDon]

American and Northwest took the lead on the new fees this week, but I expect the other majors to follow, and regionals may. No fee on tickets booked thru their web sites, but $5 fee for tickets booked over the phone, $10 fee at the airport. This makes sense - passing real costs along.

But the new No-Refunds on Frequnet Flyer award tickets bothers me. I am accustomed to using FF-awards more generously, and I'll have to watch for this!

From an American Airlines mass email:

Thank you for your business. To help us continue to offer high value and effectively compete in a fiercely competitive marketplace, American Airlines and American Eagle® will implement a $5 service fee for those tickets purchased via our U.S. reservations centers and a $10 fee for tickets purchased at U.S. airport locations. There is no booking fee for self-booking and ticketing on AA.com®.

Effective Monday, September 6, 2004, the non-refundable fee will apply per ticket, whether it is one-way or roundtrip, and also will apply to tickets redeemed as AAdvantage® program awards.

It's be a bummer to accumulate enough miles to buy a ticket, jump thru all the hoops to actually use them, then lose them over a technicality. I've been traveling extensively with one airline for 24 years, so I get free trips twice as fast, and more liberal treatment than most, but I still have to be careful. :xeye:

 

[blawler1]

The language regarding non-refundable appears to only refer to the new fees on phone tickets ($5) and walk ups ($10), not the FF tickets themselves.

 

[DandyDon]

The language regarding non-refundable appears to only refer to the new fees on phone tickets ($5) and walk ups ($10), not the FF tickets themselves.

Ah ha! The $5 or $10 fee is one to be applied to FF-tickets booked other than online, and that fee is non-refundable. It's not the FF-ticket that non-ref. That the way you read this? Me thinks you read better tahn me.

I could be a jerk, edit my original post to make me look like the smart one, but I'm supposed to be nice here.
:lol: