American Airlines will implement a ‘fair booking policy’ to address late changes or cancellations, effective May 1.
The policy, said a spokesperson, represents American’s plans to “mitigate unused space,” especially when demand is critical.
Cargo president Rick Elieson shared that it is “imperative” that all cargo space is put to its best possible use.
Said Elieson: “As big as our network is, we now have a very limited number of daily flights around the world and we have a responsibility to protect that capacity.
“This is space that could be used to hold life-saving medicines or critical freight, so we must do everything we can to avoid wasted cargo capacity and have as positive an impact on the world at a time when people are counting on us so heavily.”
Understanding the challenges that shippers face in securing capacity, the new cancellation and fair booking policy still gives customers the opportunity to “adjust their business with American and avoid extra charges”.
If a customer cancels up to 48 hours prior to scheduled departure or ships the amount in the original booking, no fees will apply.
Customers with shipments over 100kg will be responsible for paying a fee starting at $50 for late cancellation, late reduction in chargeable weight or failure to show. Full policy details can be found online at aacargo.com/rates.
American recently launched its new end-to-end management system in late 2019, which introduced an online booking platform and made it easier for customers to digitally review options and secure bookings.
“The technology implementation we started last year is an important step in our larger modernization effort,” said Elieson.
“The tools we now have allow us to be more nimble to both streamline and advance the way we do business. Similar to how passenger tickets evolved over the years, this policy allows us to be more efficient with limited inventory and better meet the needs of our customers.”
