American Airlines no longer an option to book through Flight Ease

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Their domestic premium is not worth flying, ditto Delta’s first level premium. I am trying Delta’s next level premium next month hoping for a better experience.  Totally different topic but seat sizes need to be reviewed once again by the FAA, they are getting closer but worse the seats are getting thinner. 

You won't get much argument from me or most folks about the lousy trend in airline seats...especially in economy.  The FAA has mostly stayed out of the fray only dealing with safety (not comfort).   I am a long-time proponent of personal responsibility.  Before we book a flght, we look at the assigned hardware (type  of aircraft) and check the seating situation on both the airline's site and other sites (such as seatguru).  If we are not happy with the seat situation, we do not book that airline or flight.  For us it means that some airlines, such as Frontier, do not get any of our business.  

 

We often fly Business Class on longer foreign flights.  In those situations, our preference is usually for non-US airlines since we have found that many foreign carriers have better seating, better service, better lounges, and better food then we get on some of the US carriers.  Look at the various surveys of the best airlines in the world and you will generally not find any US airlines in the top 10.  

 

We do have an upcoming flight on United (not an airline we have ever liked) because we want to try out their Polaris Class...not to mention they have opened a big Polaris lounge at IAD.  But for another flight from the east coast to Japan, we avoided all the US airlines and booked Turkish Air (one of our favorite Business Class airlines) which not only saves us money, but gets us a few day stop-over in Istanbul.  We would have considered Delta (their Delta One seats are quite nice) but their prices were about double what we pay Turkish Air, and Turkish Air does have better food/service in Business.

 

Hank

[Mary229]

5 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Turkish Air does have better food/service in Business

Turkish air seems to be the up and comer in the international world as Jet Blue is doing domestically.   Airlines come and go and they come and go in rankings and satisfaction.  I posted a worldwide customer service ranking earlier in this thread.  It took into account luggage losses, on time performance, etc… as well as customer sentiment.  I was stunned to see the big 3 leading in that particular survey. 
 

I live in  hub city of American and that suppresses the market.  I have learned if it is more than 5 hours to fly Business class. 

[0106]

 

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Before we book a flght, we look at the assigned hardware (type  of aircraft) and check the seating situation on both the airline's site and other sites (such as seatguru).

Good advice but SeatGuru stopped publishing or updating blog posts as of March 2020, with the last seat map update published on March 16, 2020.

 

I recommend using AeroLopa "LOPA" stands for Location of Passenger Accommodations and is a document that airlines prepare for each cabin layout. AeroLopa gives travelers an exact to-scale layout of the interior of each aircraft type.  AeroLopa gives details like the seat pitch, seat manufacturer and type, Wi-Fi provider and in-flight entertainment details. Others prefer the site Seat Maps.

[Gsel]

@Mary229 I only had to evacuate one airplane in my career, but I would hate to have to do it now. Too many people packed in a much too small space! I would not even consider being a flight attendant now, they have a tough job with not enough pay. 

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, Gsel said:

@Mary229 I only had to evacuate one airplane in my career, but I would hate to have to do it now. Too many people packed in a much too small space! I would not even consider being a flight attendant now, they have a tough job with not enough pay. 

They are much too close.  They complain about passenger behavior but my goodness, there are just too many people in the space given.  

[CNSJ]

23 hours ago, sambamama said:

Give me JetBlue entertainment any day!!

We just flew JetBlue from US East Coast to Amsterdam.  Great flight both ways.  

Large screens on backs of seats in coach.  As a bonus, we had an empty seat between us both ways!

 

 

[Mary229]

13 hours ago, CNSJ said:

We just flew JetBlue from US East Coast to Amsterdam.  Great flight both ways.  

Large screens on backs of seats in coach.  As a bonus, we had an empty seat between us both ways!

 

 

I just signed up for Jet Blue’s program.  They don’t have much of a presence in my market but hope to try them one day. 

[Haljo1935]

14 hours ago, CNSJ said:

We just flew JetBlue from US East Coast to Amsterdam.  Great flight both ways.  

Large screens on backs of seats in coach.  As a bonus, we had an empty seat between us both ways!

 

 

I hope your first stop after deplaning was to buy a lottery 🎟 🎫 

Edited June 29 by Haljo1935
Typo

[CNSJ]

I used the "no one wants to pay more for a middle seat" rule/philosophy/gamble on Jet Blue.  If it's 3 across, I pay for extra legroom seats in same row, aisle and window.  Few people will pay extra to get middle seat.  Airlines fill the extra legroom seats last when assigning seats to basic economy ticketed folks.  If flight 100% full, they will put someone there, and I'll offer them choice of aisle or window to sit next DW.  If they really want middle - they can have it. 

 

Coach on an Airbus A330 or Boeing 767 has seats with only two, which is actually my preferred route.

 

 

[terrydtx]

15 hours ago, CNSJ said:

We just flew JetBlue from US East Coast to Amsterdam.  Great flight both ways.  

Large screens on backs of seats in coach.  As a bonus, we had an empty seat between us both ways!

 

 

We have JetBlue service from San Antonio connecting in Boston then to London or Amsterdam. Every time we looked at their Mint or Lay Flat Seats online, they were showing sold out even 8 to 9 months out. We only fly BC overseas so it seems like JetBlue will not work for us. Their website eclipses HAL's as not being user friendly. LOL

Edited June 29 by terrydtx

[Auburn Traveler]

I for one will not use American Airlines.  On our last cruise with HAL we had booked our flight through Flight Ease and had booked a Japan Airlines that was partnered with AA.  However, the flight AL listed was not a valid flight.  48 hrs before leaving for SFO, we found out to our dismay that AL was made aware of our flight being incorrect but they refused to issue a change order over to Hal noting our flight was actually leaving SFO 3 hrs earlier.  Through the fantastic help of JAL and HAL, we were able to get our flight mess straightened out.  AL refused to help and told us it was our problem not theirs the flight had been changed and hung up on us.  I wrote a very long and detailed letter and we received additional OBC that covered at least 1/2 of our air fare.  So not having AL available is fine with me. Although I understand the frustration for people who live near a AL hub.

 

Personally, I believe there is more to this story of Hal not using AL anymore.  For a airline carrier to lose this kind of partnership is newsworthy.

 

We have used FE for years and never had an issue with a airline reservation until we booked with American, like I said first and last time.

 

We have had friends who fly AL independent of using FE and they have similar nightmare stories as we experienced.

Edited September 4 by Auburn Traveler

[igraf]

On 6/28/2024 at 6:12 PM, CNSJ said:

We just flew JetBlue from US East Coast to Amsterdam.  Great flight both ways.  

Large screens on backs of seats in coach.  As a bonus, we had an empty seat between us both ways!

 

 

 

I can top that!  🙂

 

American once upgraded me from economy to first class on three out of four flight legs on a single trip.  One upgrade happened as my boarding pass was being scanned as I entered the jetway.  What a nice surprise!  The scan beep has a different tone when this happens....

 

This happened when I was travelling during the height of COVID (I was well-vaccinated) and so there was little competition from other passengers.

 

I have flown enough on American to reach Platinum status several times and I can attest that they are overall a fine airline.  On my last flight from Santiago, Chile to DFW (9 hours overnight flight) they offered me a "lie down flat" 1st class upgrade for a mere $350!!!  I didn't have to think long about that offer.  That flight was pure heaven.

 

To get back to the original topic, what happened is that American started to charge much higher fares through some travel agents than what an individual could book through the  AA web site.  In my case, my trips to Chile were $1000 more if I booked through our corporate travel agency, so I ended buying my tickets myself and then putting in for reimbursement.  This is probably why American Airlines was dropped by Flight Ease.

 

igraf

 

igraf

 

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

We have an American Airlines return flight from Singapore in February using Flight Ease. Today I called FE and they confirmed that the flight is still a go. I also logged onto the AA site and was able to see my flight-but I'll keep checking! 

[Laminator]

17 hours ago, Auburn Traveler said:

I for one will not use American Airlines.  On our last cruise with HAL we had booked our flight through Flight Ease and had booked a Japan Airlines that was partnered with AA.  However, the flight AL listed was not a valid flight.  48 hrs before leaving for SFO, we found out to our dismay that AL was made aware of our flight being incorrect but they refused to issue a change order over to Hal noting our flight was actually leaving SFO 3 hrs earlier.  Through the fantastic help of JAL and HAL, we were able to get our flight mess straightened out.  AL refused to help and told us it was our problem not theirs the flight had been changed and hung up on us.  I wrote a very long and detailed letter and we received additional OBC that covered at least 1/2 of our air fare.  So not having AL available is fine with me. Although I understand the frustration for people who live near a AL hub.

 

Personally, I believe there is more to this story of Hal not using AL anymore.  For a airline carrier to lose this kind of partnership is newsworthy.

 

We have used FE for years and never had an issue with a airline reservation until we booked with American, like I said first and last time.

 

We have had friends who fly AL independent of using FE and they have similar nightmare stories as we experienced.

I have status with AA after flying nearly a million miles with them.  If you don't book your flight directly thru them they will not help you. It is not their responsibility to help you. I used FE for a United flight to AMS in business class and had an issue. Although I have status with United also they could not help me when an issue arose. Fortunately my PCC was able to resolve the issue. If it was a JAL flight they along with FE are the ones who should have assisted you. I would never expect United to help me if I booked a  flight directly with Lufthansa that was a United codeshare. 

Edited September 5 by Laminator

[Mary229]

2 hours ago, Laminator said:

I have status with AA after flying nearly a million miles with them.  If you don't book your flight directly thru them they will not help you. It is not their responsibility to help you. I used FE for a United flight to AMS in business class and had an issue. Although I have status with United also they could not help me when an issue arose. Fortunately my PCC was able to resolve the issue. If it was a JAL flight they along with FE are the ones who should have assisted you. I would never expect United to help me if I booked a  flight directly with Lufthansa that was a United codeshare. 

Last night I was doing my passport info etc….  American asked me for my Advantage number “to earn points”. We will see what happens.  

[Mary229]

9 hours ago, igraf said:

what happened is that American started to charge much higher fares through some travel agents than what an individual could book through the  AA web site

The stated reason was the ability to earn points.  American has since changed course on their policy and is working hard to get contracts reinstated.  

[igraf]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

The stated reason was the ability to earn points.  American has since changed course on their policy and is working hard to get contracts reinstated.  

 

There are miles for free flights and points for loyalty status.  Losing miles would be very important for most of us, but I really don't see FE dropping an airline just over loyalty status points.   Especially for cases where AA was the only viable airline option.   American was very transparent to their customers about losing loyalty points if they did not book through the AA web site or a few select travel agents, though the significant airfare surcharges when booking through other travel agencies was not communicated to the general public.  We would only know about this if Flight Ease decided to tell us about it, and I suspect that FE quickly decided instead to drop AA rather than deal with a lot of angry customers when they were quoted high prices for airfare.

 

My experiences was as of late 2023/early 2024, and AA may have changed their travel agency policies since then.

 

igraf

 

[Laminator]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Last night I was doing my passport info etc….  American asked me for my Advantage number “to earn points”. We will see what happens.  

They will give you the points. That has never been an issue. At least they used to. I only book BC using Flight Ease on International Flights as FE is not a great value, if any value on domestic flights. 

Edited September 5 by Laminator

[Auburn Traveler]

@Laminator, well are going to have to agree to disagree.  I have booked many flights through FE where there is code sharing and it was always the main carrier who helped us out and let us know about changes.  It was only through booking with AA and their code share of JAL where we had the issue.  Because we had booked AA and JAL was the code share, American told us because we had booked with a 3rd party it was up to them to issue the correct tix.  This was such BS and in my personal opinion not good customer service.Thank god, JAL worked with FE.  

[Hobby3333]

8 hours ago, Mary229 said:

The stated reason was the ability to earn points.  American has since changed course on their policy and is working hard to get contracts reinstated.  

Kinda funny.   Less than five minutes ago I was the phone with FE about assigning seats on Air Canada in PE .   I asked the rep why AA is no longer available and he said that he had no idea and no idea if AA will be in FE in the near future.  No thrilled about Air Canada.  Never have flown with them.

[Mary229]

12 minutes ago, Hobby3333 said:

Kinda funny.   Less than five minutes ago I was the phone with FE about assigning seats on Air Canada in PE .   I asked the rep why AA is no longer available and he said that he had no idea and no idea if AA will be in FE in the near future.  No thrilled about Air Canada.  Never have flown with them.

It wasn’t only FE, it was world wide. I wouldn’t expect an employee to be aware of contractual details.  It was in the press particularly the travel press both when they instituted the policy and a few short months later when they unceremoniously rescinded that policy.  
 

in q quick search if found this article.   There are many more 

 

https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/lifestyle/american-airlines-changes-passenger-rules-for-earning-miles-and-travel-agencies-are-pissed/

[Hobby3333]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

It wasn’t only FE, it was world wide. I wouldn’t expect an employee to be aware of contractual details.  It was in the press particularly the travel press both when they instituted the policy and a few short months later when they unceremoniously rescinded that policy.  
 

in q quick search if found this article.   There are many more 

 

https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/lifestyle/american-airlines-changes-passenger-rules-for-earning-miles-and-travel-agencies-are-pissed/

Just noticed you are from Texas!!   Northeast Texas here

[Haljo1935]

20 minutes ago, Hobby3333 said:

Just noticed you are from Texas!!   Northeast Texas here

Same 😎

[Hobby3333]

3 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Same 😎

That is crazy.  We are north of Longview and Tyler

[Haljo1935]

9 minutes ago, Hobby3333 said:

That is crazy.  We are north of Longview and Tyler

DFW- your area is prettier 😉