American Airlines canceled award tickets nearly three weeks after discovering a pricing error, violating its own 72-hour cancellation window outlined in its contract of carriage and international tariff.
The passenger had booked three roundtrips during a period when American's multi-city award search produced extraordinarily low prices. International itineraries priced at the cost of the first domestic segment included long-haul flights. American discovered the issue two days after booking but waited nearly three weeks to cancel.
The Department of Transportation allows airlines to cancel mistake fares if they demonstrate the error, refund the ticket, and reimburse reasonable expenses. However, American's conditions of carriage require cancellation and notice within 72 hours of discovering the mistaken fare.
In its response to the DOT complaint, American's lawyers argued the airline can cancel awards whenever it wants under AAdvantage terms that allow revocation of benefits issued in error. They claimed this right is "the beginning and the end of this case." The passenger counters that American's own rules state award travel is subject to the operating airline's contract of carriage and tariffs, and when general program terms conflict with specific agreements, the specific agreement governs.
American's response reused language from another passenger's complaint filed six days earlier, including a reference to a different customer's booking of eleven awards for sixteen tickets.
The passenger filed for DOT investigation, arguing American published a cancellation deadline that benefited the airline and that passengers should be able to rely on it. The DOT previously fined Alitalia for similar practices of publishing passenger protections while relying on conflicting tariff terms.