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This sky-high charge was hardly fare.
A traveling mom says American Airlines bilked her out of more than $3000 following a ticketing error — and initially refused to refund her the money.
The peeved passenger, known only as Katie, took to TikTok to tell the ticketing tale, publicly pleading for the carrier to make the situation right.
“American Airlines accidentally charged me thousands of dollars, and now they’re refusing to pay me back,” the Californian claimed at the outset of her viral video, which clocked up 1.6 million views.
Katie explained that her husband was in the military, and that she and her five-month-old baby had traveled to Japan to visit him there.
Rather than obtain a return ticket, crafty Katie decided to book her flight back to America using airline miles gained through a credit card.
“I’m pretty savvy with using credit card points and airline miles, so I’d been checking the American Airlines site daily for an award ticket to open up,” she subsequently told the Daily Mail.
“When one finally became available, I booked it and immediately called American Airlines to add my five-month-old as a lap infant.”
An airline employee informed her that she would have to pay an additional $386 fee for her baby, which she paid for over the phone.
However, a receipt revealed that Katie was charged not just $386 — but also an additional $3,674 for “a second full-price ticket under her name.”
Katie called back and an American Airlines rep allegedly assured her that she would be refunded the $3,674.11 within a week.
Upon check-in at Okinawa Airport, a Japanese gate agent was “confused” by the fact that there were two tickets in Katie’s name — the one purchased with credit card points and the $3,674 one processed in error.
“I had two tickets in my name, on the same flight, under the same confirmation code,” the mom said.
Despite the gate agent “assuring” the mom that she was using the award ticket, a refund never came through when she arrived back in the US.
At home, Katie claims she spent close to “50 hours” on hold with various American Airlines staff who were unable to resolve the situation.
After weeks of chasing up the airline, she was purportedly informed that she was ineligible for a refund because the Japanese gate agent had checked her in with the erroneous $3,674 ticket.
“I had this huge weight on my chest knowing a massive corporation had taken thousands of dollars from me, and it would keep me up at night,” Katie said — but saying she turned to TikTok in a last-ditch effort to try and get her money back.
The public pleading worked — with the mom’s video instantly going viral and eventually attracting American Airlines’ attention.
“Boosting this for you! Never flying American Airlines after hearing about this,” one supporter vowed. “You deserve your money back.”
“Not very ‘American’ of American Airlines to do this to a military mom who was traveling solo,” another said.
Soon after, Katie received a call from the airline saying she would be getting a refund for the charge as well as a 7,500-mile bonus as an “apology.”
The “vindicated” mom said it spoke to the power of social media to pressure companies into acting ethically.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that such a large corporation can fail its customers this badly,” she stated.
American Airlines told The Post in a statement: “Our team has been in touch with this customer and offered her an apology, refunded her in full and offered her a gesture of goodwill.”
