Airline websites are a long way from being glitch-proof, and we know that the legacy carriers’ outdated technology and behind the time IT teams are far from perfect. It seems like most US airlines from United (especially since the co merger) to Delta website are incompetent, especially when it comes to finding partner award space.
Due to this issue, I often search segment by segment on other airline webpages such as Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA, British Airways, etc. I find Aeroplan and ANA to have some of the best search function for Star Alliance redemptions, or Lifemiles, and British Airways Avios page is usually top notch for OneWorld awards, especially when searching trips by individual segments. Despite this, the majority live in the US, use the US based airlines web pages, and get to enjoy beating their heads against the wall due to all the glitches.
Today I purchased a reservation I had on hold via AA.com. It was a hassle to even get this ticket placed on hold, but I decided to pull the trigger and purchase it after much consideration. Per the reservation, the ticket was to cost me approximately $96 and 50,000 miles. Taxes and fees are always higher from Europe than from the US, as my outbound trip was only 50,000 miles and $5. Despite the higher airport taxes (no way around these) I went to purchase my ticket and to my surprise I received a notice that the price of my ticket had changed. Initially I thought it went up, so I exited out of the reservation, closed the website, refreshed and returned to the page. I reconfirmed the price of 50,000 miles and $96 and proceeded to purchase the ticket. To my surprise, I again received a noticed that the price has changed. Yet this time, I looked closer to discover the price had not increased, it actually decreased! SCORE—A #DoubleWideDelight! OK, maybe I am getting too excited, the price only dropped $5, but still a $5 savings is F-I-V-E DOLLARS!
My little pricing glitch is just one of many that are commonly reported on the 180+ page thread on FlyerTalk. There are some great instructions on what to do on FlyerTalk, if you also continue to get pricing errors or even glitches on American’s website. I expect things to get worse before they get better as US/AA continue to merge. But who knows, maybe AA will have learned from United and do enough testing to make sure the AA/US migration goes over smoothly. AA didn’t learn from Delta when it came to their recent award chart devaluation, so at this time, my expectations are low!
