Comments on: “Flabbergasted” airline passenger asked to pay $15 receipt fee

By: lilrascal263

lilrascal263 — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:15:43 +0000

try going to the mall and ask them for a receipt for something you purchased a few weeks ago! It Is NOT going to happen! Not their fault you lost it and If I were them, I would not take 2 hrs. out of my time to try and dig up a paper from a few weeks back.

By: Helio

Helio — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:17:47 +0000

I lost my flying ticket and asked a copy to Lufthansa in order to collect the mileage (my mileage program is in a Star Alliance partner company). They asked US$100.00 for it – a thousand miles leg!!!

By: Reagan

Reagan — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:16:30 +0000

Sheesh, much ado about zilch.

OK, AA probably failed in not telling him how to get a receipt online, but it was probably just the ignorance of the person he was talking to. As posted several times previously, you can quite easily print a past receipt from the AA web site. How did I find the right page? Same way as always, Google search on “american airlines getting a receipt”. Second result. That was available to the complaintant as it’s been available for several years now.

By: Michael S

Michael S — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:35:32 +0000

An update – My secretary honestly missplaced a Lufthansa receipt – now -weeks have passed -phone calls to no avail – they would not simply issue one – they referred me to a website to send an email – I sent the email (which is an extremely complex and time consuming process) – the response asked me to go back to the website to download a form and send that back (plus a $20 fee) – but the instructions don’t work (I will post them below – perhaps one of you is smarter than me) – I am not allowed to respond to the email with these false instructions – have to start the process over again – still far from my receipt and almost a month has passed. Here are the incorrect instructions emailed by Lufthansa… German (in)efficiency?

“Please complete the Travel Verification form, which can be found at http://www.Lufthansa-usa.com. Just type travel verification into the search box.”

But these directions do NOT work!

My poor secretary is in tears over this mess. Multiple phone calls, emails – nothing….It is all far beyond absurd. The Lufthansa customer comes seems to be beneath contempt. We can’t submit thousands of dollars of expenses – we are at a dead standstill awaiting our chance to pay $20 for a duplicate receipt. Believe me (and I am hours into this) we would gladly pay $100 (blackmail) just to get that piece of paper from Lufthansa!

I am a million mile + traveller. Yes, you can’t take the very same flight over again – that would take an act of God. Seems the same is true about getting a receipt from Lufthansa if you mess up (shame on you!) and (horror of horrors) misplace the original receipt after the flight is done……

By: FlamingoWorld Blog Blog Archive » Tips to Cutting Down Airline Fees.

FlamingoWorld Blog Blog Archive » Tips to Cutting Down Airline Fees. — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:27:24 +0000

[...] and mislead into extra fees by all the big (and many not so big) airlines. I read a story of an airline charging a customer to obtain a copy of a receipt! Ridiculous, I say! Will there ever be a stop to this madness and gouging from the greedy [...]

By: Jerry Mandel

Jerry Mandel — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:16:31 +0000

Why didn’t Fogelson merely look in his Deleted/Trash file for the original receipt?

By: Agent One

Agent One — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:51:21 +0000

I could only imagine how many customers they have a year that request a copy of their E tickets, invoices, etc. I am a Travel Agent and I get customers calling all the time because
they never printed off their information. I strongly believe passengers should be responsible for their own receipts. But, if a passenger is an Advantage member with status then I would think they would give them the info and inform them of future charges if this happens again.
Or maybe they info they gave him with out a charge was because of his status.
It takes people to go through the information and send it out, therefore putting extra cost on other passengers who travel.

By: AA EXP

AA EXP — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:10:47 +0000

I’ve been doing years of expenses to assist in an audit. I fly American Airlines a lot and have been known to misplace receipts received at airports.

As posted above, http://www.refunds.aa.com is fantastic for getting something that our auditors will accept. I usually get the ticket ID from my online American Express account and then get the receipt from the first site.

Using Google Desktop, I can often find reservations with those details from my many gigabytes of emails.

I wish Continental or Southwest had the same type of site, and that car rental sites would store receipts longer than six months for IRS audits.

AA isn’t in the wrong here.

By: Ernest

Ernest — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:41:04 +0000

A receipt should be free, and it was. Fogleson admitted that he deleted his receipt and wanted a replacement. He is responsible for his actions and if the airlines charges for research and providing documentation, he should have to pay it. The issue is not providing a receipt, the issue is providing a second one after the fact. I say “Pay Up”

Nowhere is it required of any business to second receipt after you have lost or destroyed the first.

I am not a fan of the overpricing of fees by the airlines but they are not responsible for his mistakes.

By: Angela Valenzuela

Angela Valenzuela — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:49:06 +0000

He realized that after traveling he did not have a receipt for his expenses, very normal for business travelers. He did exactly as he should have, contacted Customer Service directly. Only Customer Service IF they were truly “customer service oriented” they would have helped him out with one simple step. Go to http://www.refunds.aa.com put in your Tkt Nbr and Last Name, done. Walked him through it, if necessary. (for goodness sakes he’s your customer, take care of him, it’s not that hard, really!)

Once you put in the Tkt Nbr and Last Name, you will have a copy of your receipt to give to your Acct Dept!! How hard was that?!

But Customer Service did not do that, they gave him the run around, with email, fax, form, etc…plain and simple they just gave him the run around.

By: Michael D. McCarthy, CTC

Michael D. McCarthy, CTC — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:43:32 +0000

RE: MidMom8949 – “Use a travel agency. They always can provide a receipt”

By: Jerry Mandel

Jerry Mandel — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:52:53 +0000

If the accounting people won’t accept the information given free in the response email, an employee should take it up higher in his firm. Someone in AA spent time to look up the information and to send it to him.

By: Travel News and Stories for 09/29/2009 : Kathika Travel Website

Travel News and Stories for 09/29/2009 : Kathika Travel Website — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:43:04 +0000

[...] “Flabbergasted” airline passenger asked to pay $15 receipt fee When it comes to airline fees, nothing is off-limits. Just ask Jason Fogelson. He needed a receipt for his latest American Airlines flight, but when he asked for one, the airline said it would cost him. “I was flabbergasted,” he says. So was I. Here’s what happened to Fogelson: I… http://www.elliott.org [...]

By: David Z

David Z — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:01:18 +0000

Let’s put it this way.

The OP is definitely free to complain about the fee. And AA is also free to impose such depending on their business model.

Both will deal with the results of their choices.

By: MidMom8949

MidMom8949 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:45:07 +0000

We require receipts for reimbursement where I work. Period. We cannot reimburse the fee to obtain a new receipt.

Use a travel agency. They always can provide a receipt.