A flight I booked way in advance is now substantially cheaper - do I have a right to complain/get a discount?

Question

Right, I've booked a trip to NY and have done everything tailor made to how I want it. This has included going onto AA.com direct and booking flights with them in their "sale" for £349 return back at the end of July. I've now searched today (10 days before the flight) and the prices have dropped almost £100 - surely I should be rewarded for booking in advance rather than being ripped off?! Do I have any grounds for a complaint or is it just tough luck on booking a flight which is obviously hard for them to shift tickets for.

Answer 1

Am afraid there would be nothing you can do about this, yes it's extremely annoying. You at the time, must have been happy to continue purchasing the tickets and entered into the contract. Sadly there is never a "good time" for booking, personally after I buy tickets I never check back in case I paid more!!  

Answer 2

You're rather naive I'm afraid. Last minute is cheaper.

You bought the ticket for an agreed price. They offered it to you for a price that you accepted. What grounds do you have to complain?

A company can sell their product for however much they like. If you agree to it, then they have done nothing wrong.

If I advertsied a bottle of water for fifty pounds, and someone agreed to buy it, that's an agreed price. If I then decided to sell another bottle for only one pound a few months later, that first person has no right to complain.

Basically, you agreed to pay the sum they wanted. You have no hold over how much they sell their other products for.

This type of 'I know my rights' sort of question irritates me, when the person has clearly not thought of any logical objectivity, only their own self-rightious standpoint.

Answer 3

last chance tickets are always cheaper, u only get money off if u book in advance for stuff like trains.  

Answer 4

Sorry, been there done it. No when you bought the ticket there was a set price, now maybe they have reduced it because they don´t want any empty seats (this sometimes costs airlines big money in forfeits) So they do whatever they can to sell off the remaining. You can cry all you like, but it won´t help.

Answer 5

No, you made a deal, in your words, "everything tailor made to how I want it." That they now appear to be offering someone else a better deal is really quite irrelevant (at least legally.) They are not obliged to give you something better than agreed.

I realize it isn't irrelevant to how you feel about the whole thing, and so from a customer satisfaction point of view it might make sense for them to credit you some money back, give you an extra 1,000 AAdvantage miles, or something like that. You can certainly ask, and they might, especially if you are civil in asking.

Answer 6

first before booking any tickets you need to do some research online. You can check sites like http://www.globester.com which offer more cheaper airfare deals to almost anywhere in the world.. Log on to find out more

Answer 7

Flight tickets can go up or down in price depending on demand. Sometimes you're better off booking in advance, sometimes, as in this case, you're not.

Unless you have a refundable ticket you really can't do anything. Sorry...

Answer 8

Dude, Im sorry. you bought the ticket for a certain price, and it could have benn 1million. But dont listen to the first two guys who said that last minute is cheaper! The other day i missed a flight from London to Germany. I bought it for about 50pounds (about 100 US-Dollars). After missing this flight i had to buy another one and a had to pay almost 300 pounds because the flight was about to start in about 2 hours. SO LAST MINUTE IS  __ NOT __ cheaper!

Answer 9

Every single answer given to you thusfar has been either partially or completely incorrect, because there is a possibility that you can get at least a portion of the price difference back.

The link below has some information (from AA's website) regarding fare rollovers.

You need to call AA now -- as soon as possible -- and inquire as to whether you can do a fare rollover.  This allows you to, in essence, pay the change fee to exchange your higher-cost ticket for the less expensive one, so long as that cheaper ticket is still available at the time you call.  It won't be worth it to you if the change fee for your ticket is more than the 100 quid price difference, but it is the one shot that you have in getting a portion of the price difference back.  (Often times, the change fee on international tickets is quite high, meaning you'd get no money back, but there's no way to get a fare rollover without asking whether it's possible.)

The statements regarding last-minute tickets being cheaper than tickets purchased in advance are also incorrect, as last-minute cheap tickets (barring a special website selling those tickets specifically) are the exception, rather than the norm.

Answer 10

You can complain all you want........won't help.........