When booking a series of tickets, I noticed a discrepancy from the reservation I made online and the eventual receipt when the flight was ticketed.
If you want to get up to speed on this saga, we took a flight on American which was overbooked, so they offered us a $400 e-Voucher each to change to a different flight, which we took. Our re-booked flight ended up getting delayed, delayed some more and eventually un-delayed, which I found out is an actual thing that happens quite often. When we eventually got on the plane, the flight wasn’t bad since the rep booked us seats in the exit row.
Now it was time to book flights with the eVouchers before they expired. I found out some things when using them, like they’re only good for the price of the fare and not any extras like better seat assignments. I also learned to double-check which type of American plane you’re making a reservation on, as this can make a huge difference in the comfort of your flight.
So I found flights to use the voucher and booked a ticket.
This was the most interesting thing I noticed after booking the flight with my eVouchers. I paid $610 for two tickets.
Yet when I received the confirmation, the price was only $542.66.
There’s only $9 in fees charged for the ticket. When I go to ITA Matrix to check the fees and taxes on a similar ticket, here’s what I found.
The taxes on the ticket and other fees are missing. The only fee being listed is the Passenger Facility Charge of $9.00. We’re on a connecting flight, so that’s the correct amount.
I guess American doesn’t have to pay taxes on voucher tickets because they’re not collecting any money.
Note: American Airlines reached out and informed me that I was charged the tax amount in error and I have a balance of $67 on my e-voucher.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love if you decided to hang around and clicked the button on the top (if you’re on your computer) or the bottom (if you’re on your phone/tablet) of this page to follow our blog and get emailed notifications of when we post (it’s usually about 3 or 4 times a day). Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group (that has over 10,000 members) – we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
10 comments
Wonder how customers would be treated if they found a way around paying taxes on award tickets. Lock their accounts and take their miles!
Surely this is a class action waiting to happen. Pretending something is a tax and then not paying it to the govt is outright fraudulent. Maybe you can point this out to AA and get a refund for the difference?
Loyalty is pretty much a one way street with airlines these days, with Alaska being the best of the bunch.
Did you check voucher balance after purchase ro confirm that tax was taken?
I did. They took the full amount off of the voucher.
Does a trip receipt from them normally include how much taxes were paid?
Its fraudulent if they take money saying it is for taxes and then pocket it as profit. Either for the USG or the customer, you’d have to talk to a lawyer about it.
I spoke with American, and they say this isn’t the policy. Basically, when you search for a ticket, it shows you the amount using taxes because it doesn’t know the form of payment. Once you put in a voucher, then it removes the taxes. But it’s not like a gift card and they can’t just decrease the value. They have to use up the entire voucher and then issue a new one for the balance that remains. So, you would see the entire voucher used, but you should have an email showing a new one issued for the difference. If you don’t have it, reach out to American.
Double and triple checked my receipts and credit card bills. I originally had $800 (2×400) in e-vouchers. Used one in its entirety and had $190 remaining. Used the remaining funds a few days later and the rep on the phone confirmed the amount left on the card $190. No mention of any refunds for the taxes not paid on either ticket. Actually, I did pay taxes on the second ticket because that one was split between a eVoucher and my CC.
Who could I reach out to at American?
Sounds like something went wrong. I’d reach out to customer relations. https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=#/
[…] at Your Mileage May Vary states that there was a discrepancy between the reservation he made and the receipt from the flight […]