American Airlines threat to charge for new flight if customers change time

American Airlines may make
customers who paid for non-refundable flights pay for a new one
if they want to change the time.

Scott Olson/Getty
Images

• Congress is negotiating a bill that could strip
  airlines of their power to levy extra fees, such as for flight
  changes and extra baggage.
• If it passes, American Airlines would almost certainly
  remove the option for customers to change their ticket if they
  bought a non-refundable flight, CEO Doug Parker said.
• Major US airline companies, including American
  Airlines, currently charge a $200 change fee for non-refundable
  flights.
• Parker said: “We — like the baseball team, like the
  opera — would say, ‘We’re sorry, it was
  nonr-efundable.'”

American Airlines is threatening to make customers who paid for
non-refundable flights pay for a new one if they want to change
the time.

Doug Parker, the airlines’ CEO, said according to the Associated
Press: “We — like the baseball team, like the opera — would
say, ‘We’re sorry, it was non-refundable.'”

Parker’s statement comes as the House and Senate
negotiate a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation
Administration, which would include clauses stripping airlines of
their power to levy extra fees, including those for flight
changes and extra baggage. The FAA reauthorization bill
needs to be finalized by September 30.

Parker said that if the provision becomes law, American Airlines
would almost certainly remove the option for customers to change
their ticket if they bought a non-refundable flight — the
cheapest fare.

Business Insider has contacted American Airlines for further
comment.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker likened changing a
flight time to changing a baseball game or an opera
performance.
Alex
Wong/Getty

American Airlines currently charges a
$200 change fee on non-refundable domestic flights.

Parker said that it doesn’t cost the airlines $200 to change a
customer’s ticket, but stood by its extra charge.

He said, according to the Associated Press: “We knew that seat
was going to be filled. It allowed us to do other things as we
sold the rest of the airplane.

“If you want to change that, we have a new product but it’s going
to cost you something because it cost us something.”

Many other major US airline companies also charge a $200 change
fee on non-refundable flights. Southwest Airlines, however,
allows customers to change or cancel their tickets for free.

Airline companies have
raised their prices to offset rising fuel
prices.
Mike Blake /
Reuters

Airline companies have earned billions in extra fees in recent
years.

US airlines received $2.9 billion in flight change fees last
year, with American Airlines earning the most out of all of them
with $878 million, the Associated Press reported.

Fees for checked baggage also brought airlines an extra $4.6
billion last year, the Wall Street Journal
reported — ten times more than the $464 million those
same fees reaped ten years ago.

The price of crude oil increased more than 50% over the past
year,
denting the profits of many airline companies. Companies
across the industry have warned that the extra cost would be
passed onto the customer in the shape of
increased plane tickets and
change fees.

American Airlines on Friday will also join Delta Air Lines
and United Airlines in
raising the fee of one checked bag from $25 to $30 in an
industry-wide trend known as “unbundling.”

Unbundling is the practice of separating various costs of
services like baggage check, security check, seat assignments,
meals, wi-fi use, and early boarding into their own price points.