American Airlines - Dishonest Pricing Tactics - Fort Worth Texas

I recently booked a trip on AA for my family of six. During my online search I noticed a decent fare. I quickly found that the low fare (class of service Q) is only available for 2 seats. The third seat, in the same row, falls into class of service N and is more expensive. And to my surprise the class of service N price was also available for just 2 seats.

Any further seats needed would be in class of service S, the highest price level. My logical thinking told me that since I was booking 6 seats the airline would average the cost for the consumer. Wrong! They wanted the class of service S price for all! The airline replied to my written inquiry stating "The same class of service must be available for all passengers within one reservation. If there are not enough seats in the lowest discounted fare, it will go the next one that can accommodate all passengers".

That statement necessitated the documenting of my findings in a ripoff report. I also contacted the Department of Transportation (DOT) who wrote that "Despite the fact that the seats for all of the various coach fare types are in the same cabin, they are separate "products” because there are different rules and restrictions associated with each fare type". I have searched the AA website after the fact and find no additional services (no different frequent flyer mile credit, no different on board service, no larger seat) or anything that might justify a different price.

The airline simply calls the same exact seats by a different class of service code. The DOT will only be able to add my complaint to their database. I ended up making 3 different reservations to keep the cost as low as possible but still find that my 4 hour or so effort to get it done should not be necessary. Corporate greed (in my opinion) outweighs good customer service in today's world.