This is similar to an old thread for new reasons. i just don’t seem to have much luck with airline tickets! We’ve learned from past efforts, to grab a flight reservation when we see it, THEN check with all the parties involved. If we don’t, the price has often gone up in the short time while verifying with the others. If there’s a problem, we’ve always been able to cancel within 24 hours and receive a full refund. Well, not with American! Two members of my family EACH made the SAME reservations within about an hour of each other. Once that happened, we called immediately to cancel the duplicate. Sorry… no refunds! Not even in the 24 hour period. OK, I’ve now learned (the hard way) that AA allows you to hold for 24 hours, but no refunds once charged, but jeesh – It is the exact same flight, and obvious we can’t use multiple tickets. They offered vouchers (for multiple tickets), but it is still a very expensive lesson. Any similar experiences, and better yet, has anyone complained via letter (or web), and later granted a refund under similar circumstances? (I tried flyertalk forum as well, but having log-in issues).
Do u mean duplication of bookings for ONE traveler? Or is it identical flights for TWO travelers?
Unfortunately for you, AA chose one of the two possible ways an airline can comply with the federal rule… 14 CFR 259.5(b)(4)
“(4) Allowing reservations to be held at the quoted fare without payment, or cancelled without penalty, for at least twenty-four hours after the reservation is made if the reservation is made one week or more prior to a flight’s departure;”
This document tells how the rule applies:
http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Notice_24hour_hold_final20130530.pdf
Did AA provide a clear notice that if a customer enters a cc number, there will be no refunds? Were there 2 options given - “pay” or “hold”?
GMT: We each purchased same flight tickets for 2 same people (Each person (2 total) was booked twice on the same flight).
Bunsen: I also re-read the AA federal rule, hoping to understand it better (unfortunately after the mistake was made). http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/notice-24hour-reservation
The first part appears to offer two potential alternatives as you outlined above, but the latter part seems to spell out their intent which is quite different, and states the following:
“It also considers the failure to offer a passenger a full refund in the original form of payment in the event of a cancellation request covered by the 24-hour reservation requirement to be an unfair and deceptive practice.”
“Similarly, for any telephone or in-person cancellation request that is covered by the 24-hour reservation requirement, section 259.5(b)(4) requires carriers to offer the requester a full refund in the original form of payment.”
I now know that AA has their unique interpretation – but in our case since the duplicate flights were same day, time, flight numbers, and names, it seems obvious that the intent was to only purchase one set of tickets! My hope was that they could understand this error, and refund accordingly. After explaining, reservations would not offer any refund, so I was curious if anyone else has had a similar experience that was corrected through letters or appeals.
I find this odd. I accidently, computer acting very odd, booked two tickets for the same trip one night.
I called the next day and Alaska could not have been nicer.
It was not American, but what horrid customer service.
I would be over the top irrate and know I would have insisted on talking with a supervisor.
And would call again, acting totally put out, asking for a supervisor and even refusing to tell the first or second person what the issue is “I have already expalined this 3 times and I need to talk to your supervisor”.
Even if I got nowhere, even if that was their rule, I would still try and explain and plead. If I had to walk away
I would do so nicely but…rarely do I have to. Most people will help and bend.
I always ask for their name and tell them, then do, that I will give them a super review on Yelp.
Just did so with ADT and saved a bundle as the tech took pity on me. He arranged it so I did not have to pay, which quite frankly, is their equipment so why should I pay to fix it?
But I digress and am so sorry for you that this happened because whatever the $ it costs emotions.
If the airline provided a clear notice of the hold option, and you did not use the option, then it can charge your cc and apply whatever cancellation rule the fare has. The quoted parts about refund seem to apply in the situations where the airline does not provide the hold option and refuses to honor the 24 hour refunds. Sorry this happened to you.
I agree with you oregon! Dh called (2x) and they wouldn’t budge on the refund. However, they did offer vouchers good for a year. Problem is we rarely fly American (which is partially why unfamiliar w/ their unique policy). I’m more a fighter, but the others are concerned that the vouchers might be taken away, or the current single tickets (which we still want), will be in some way get even more messed up. Think the vouchers are a fair compromise? Or still worth a stronger push?
You can try contacting the agency and see if anything can be done. Was the notice about refund v hold clearly provided to you when you bought your tickets? If not, you can use that as the cornerstone of your complaint.
“With respect to the 24-hour reservation requirement, carriers are expected not only to include this commitment in their customer service plans and to post the plans on their websites; they are also expected to incorporate the 24-hour reservation requirement into their general cancellation policies and make appropriate disclosures wherever those policies are provided to the public. Otherwise, the presentation of the carriers’ general policies would likely mislead consumers who could avail themselves of the 24-hour reservation requirement about their rights.”
I know it is a big bummer! But personally, I would not spend my energy on the fight where it looks like the airline did something it was not obligated to do - issued vouchers without a cancellation fee.
Was the notice clearly provided? It didn’t ask outright if you want “A” or “B” when purchasing, but there may have been a hold button somewhere on the website. I wasn’t looking for it – as I didn’t even know that was an option. Based on past experience (with a number of other airlines), we’ve always received refunds when cancellations were made within 24 hours. When making one of the tickets, it did state “this is non-refundable ticket” – but all the tickets I’ve purchased on other airlines in the past, say the same thing. I had thought (it now appears incorrectly) that FAA required airlines to offer 24 hours to change your mind, or to verify, but didn’t know there were different methods of achieving that requirement. Is American the only airline to offer holds instead of cancellations?
I’m sure the airlines would win any “legal” argument. I’m guessing AA has run into this dilemma in the past as well. As with most airline issues, they have nothing to lose, and I do, so it may not be worth any more time. But it is still worth the time to alert others, to learn from it, and if I remain angry at their unique policy, perhaps a letter to let off steam – unless I’m likely to lose more.
“I’m sure the airlines would win any “legal” argument.”
I’m not so sure; that said, a consultation with a lawyer (Im not one, and even if I I was, I would not be your legal counsel! 
) would cost you more than what you can gain from AA. However, if this was really bugging me, to make myself feel better, I would contact the DOT and complain about their way of providing the notice.
BTW, thank you for alerting other unsuspecting travelers. I was aware of the rule because I fly frequently, but I’m sure many others are not.
I HATE American airlines. They were horrible during a recent travel nightmare and refused to consider my request when I asked that a change fee be refunded (long story). Scum. Never again. I did my request by email, not phone, because you can never get a human by phone with them, and they only take request like this by email. Phooey.
Different story- we will be traveling overseas this summer and sale fares kept popping up but when we went to actually see the flights they either didn’t seem to exist or the fares were way different. But then a deal popped up and we were able to grab it, saving us $1500 (total for 3 travellers). We have to do a plane change, but hopefully it will work. This is United and I haven’t flown them in eons. Hope it will be better than that awful American experience.
Is it still within the 24 hours? I think I’d call every couple of hours, talk to different agents, and see if you can get a refund. I believe that Delta offers automatic cancellation if you do it within 24 hours, and I’d always thought it was the law, not just their policy, but perhaps it’s up to the individual airline. That is complete crap, they should refund your money, no questions asked. Maybe be very assertive and see if that works?
jym626–sorry but United is a terrible airline. They make American look great.
They are rarely on time and so on … When I do a search such as Kayak I block them as I just do not care
how much I can save as they are never on time.
check their reviews.
My family tries never to fly United, Spirit Air and (soon) Delta. (Delta has changed out flight to Italy 4 times and our flight to JFK 3 times since October including changing aisle seats upgraded Comfort Plus to a middle and window???)
I only actually like Southwest and Jet Blue.
Remember when flyin was fun?
@kjofkw,
Try calling the airline again. If the agent isn’t sympathetic, then ask to speak to a SUPERVISOR.
American merged with USAir. Does this mean USAir now uses this policy as well? USAir seems to have the best fares on the routes my family travels these days, so we’ve been flying them more frequently than other airlines. Unfortunately, SW and Jetblue, which we’ve preferred in the past, either don’t fly those routes or are more expensive or less convenient.
Well, we have a several hour layover to make our flights, oregon. Hopefully it will work! Ack! And almost every airline has lousy reviews (well, of Delta, United, American, etc). American used the “we are merging with USAirways” to brag when something was going ok, and thin disavowed any knowledge of their relationship when there was a problem. Blech.
OP…While I didn’t have the same problem as you with duplicate tickets, I did have problems with American. They wouldn’t let me pay for my brothers baggage fee online or over the phone. Even after speaking with a supervisor who recommended I drive the 50miles to my airport to pay the $25 fee for his flight! Argh. I went online and wrote a complaint. American gave me a $100 voucher which I knew I would never use. Horrible airline!!
I placed the voucher on eBay and sold it for $80. Plenty of people offer vouchers on eBay so this may be an option - or Craigslist, if American doesn’t help.
Good luck! 
Airline tickets have been a major expense for us with kids in college so far away. Can’t get much of a break becasue a lot of times the kids can’t be sure of schedule until last minute. I lost a ticket that way, and decided to just take my chances late. For Christmas this year, I bid on tickets for son, got them ultra cheap but it took him a full day to get here. Thankfully trip back was not as bad.