Quick tip: American Airlines ticketing fees discrepancies

I probably call American Airlines once per month to make a booking of some kind. Their UK number requires dialling a non-geographical 0844 number which charges a few pennies per minute. In addition, the UK agents also charge a ?5 offline ticketing fee, though you can sometimes ask for this to be waived if the booking isn't able to be completed online (like I did with my last redemption).

However the US offices, which are open 24/7, have a toll-free number and can be called via Skype. Their number is +18004337300. However they have a $25 ticketing charge, approximately ?16. Since they also allow you to hold bookings free of charge, you can do the following:

• Call the USA office on Skype
• Create your itinerary
• Hold the itinerary and get your booking reference number (sometimes called PNR)
• Check your itinerary online by logging into www.aa.com
• Once you're satisfied with your itinerary, call up the UK office and book it over the phone. You'll pay ?5 ticketing fee instead of $25.
• Don't forget to ask for the ticketing fee to be waived if the itinerary is something that can't be booked online.

Hope this one is helpful to some!