Comment from Anonymous
Anonymous AnonymousSupportIndividual
Summary: The commenter argues that the current refund policy for American Airlines downgrades is inadequate and constitutes a "scam" because it does not reflect real-world price differences. They support federal oversight and regulatory intervention to ensure that refunds are significantly higher than the amount currently proposed by the airline.
The refund process for American Airlines downgrades in class of service has been opaque and requiring of regulatory oversight for some time. In this technology age, no agent could provide a real-time estimate in order to make any sort of informed decision. However, American Airlines has since created a written policy and it can only be described as theft. Economy tickets are regularly 20-30% of the price of a first-class ticket so refunding 40% of the amount paid is essentially a scam. And a scam that American Airlines has an economic incentive to perpetuate unless Federal oversight steps in. The refund either needs to be based on real world price differences the consumer would have had the option of paying, or reflective of the overall pricing differences. Double the amount proposed is far closer to the mark than the current policy