AA Travel

TERRIBLE customer service. First of all, my brother emailed them for flight details. They responded with a dollar amount and some not helpful information. My brother got mad and told me to call AA travel on his behave. When I first called, he said he’d call me back. Half an hour later, I called again. He told me their system went down and had to call me back in a few more hours. I tried really hard not to put any bad words in this review, but I’m NOT happy with AA Travel.

I have used AA travel several times and I have to say reading the low star reviews from those who have only made 3 or 4 reviews ever isn’t very convincing for the over all review of this group. They are a small outfit that operate well if you visit in person. I’ve never tried calling in for assistance or to buy my tickets. They have great relations with EVA air and other Asian airlines and very competitive. Don’t expect the world but expect to save money. Ling is a great service provider there.

Bought tickets at AA travel on 2÷4÷16. I told them to not reserve seats for me because I want to reserve the seats myself. I called airline on 2÷5÷16 for the flight on 3÷8÷2016. Until 3÷6÷2016, when I called airline to confirm our seats, I was told my ticket was cancelled on 2÷10÷16 by AA travel and they have reissued my ticket with a different ticket number. Worst of all, they didn’t keep the same seat for me and gave the seat to someone else. Then I had no seats assigned to me and had to seat separately from my boyfriend. I was very mad to find this out. How can a travel agency concealed and take my seats without my permission? Apparently they are playing some dirty games here. I called them up and they said they can contact airline manager to reassign our seats. However they can’t control the seats on the way back. We used to have the perfect seats-​2 seats alone on the window side-​perfect for couple. now we have to share room with one or two extra persons. Very very mad but can’t change the fact they have giving my seats to someone else. Not recommended!

I went to apply China visa last year. Over the phone, they gave me price of $ 170 with buying ticket from them. Without buying ticket, would be $ 180. However, they charged me $ 210 when I went to drop my passport and form. I was in a hurry and did not check other agencies. But I would not trust them anymore, I would not do any business with them.

Ken was super rude to work with. Trying to ask questions and all he can do is cut me off and keep saying I can’t work with you if you don’t understand”. That is freakin’ why I am asking you questions! Super rude.

Recommended by a family friend. Had to book a flight with 3 wks notice to Shanghai. $ 490 nonstop to PVG from SEA.
No bologna with these guys.

I was cautious going into AA Travel today because of the reviews of bad customer service, but had to anyways– my dad has been buying tickets through AA Travel forever and suggested my boyfriend and I send in our visas through them. They were really, really helpful and efficient. I can see how they could get negative reviews for service because they can be curt– but I don’t think that would put me off from returning to AA Travel for the great prices! We got $ 300 cheaper tickets per person and our visa applications were about $ 175 per person.

I would just like to disclaim that I have never bought anything from this company. I called (got transferred three times because I spoke english and did not want to do business in Chinese) and finally landed on a guy named Derrick. He seemed nice enough until I tried to tell him I wanted a multi-​leg trip and I was trying to book all my travels beforehand. He told me to just email him, so he did not have to listen to me list off dates. He said it would be «easier». I proceeded to do so and then I told him I was flexible on dates and so he sent me different itineraries that I could possibly be interested in. I asked for a few changes to the itineraries and he proceeded to send me an email that said and I quote, «SO YOU TOLD ME THE DATE IS PRETTY FLEXIBLE !» and yes, it was in all caps (as all his emails to me were). I would just like to say, I didn’t expect much out of this travel agency, but I did believe that they would be able to send out professional emails that had proper punctuation and grammar.
Yes, I did say I was flexible, but that did not mean I did not have preferences I needed to accommodate to. Overall, terrible customer service and would not recommend. Jade Holiday, who is notorious for not having the best customer service, is far better than they are.
Don’t waste your time here, you’re better off with Kayak.

I was researching for tickets to Asia for the summer, and I read that travel agencies tend to be cheaper than purchasing from online sites (i.e., Expedia, etc). I had already been perusing Expedia for various flights, so I figured I might as well give a travel agency a try.
I walked in knowing where I wanted to travel to, what dates, and what my budget was, but wasn’t sure how the process would go. I stood at the entrance for a bit, not knowing what to do, until one of the people behind the desks asked me if I needed help with something. I told the woman, Sachi, that I was looking for a flight on a specific day. She helped me look up several options, given that I was trying to get specific arrival and departure times. Sachi was super patient, especially since it seemed like looking up flights took a while. Since I was purchasing for multiple people, I had to confirm the flights with my friends before purchasing. She was able to put my tickets on hold for a week, which was really convenient!
After purchasing, I received an itinerary/​invoice, but I had to call the actual airline to get the flight information. The flight information also changed once since I purchased, and Sachi called to let me know, and even sent an updated itinerary. Purchasing through the agency rather than online definitely saved me at least $ 500 per person!
NOTE: I recommend having an idea of where you want to go, what days/​times, your budget, and also having the full names (including middle initial) and birthdays of all the travelers you’re purchasing for ready before you visit! It’ll make things a lot smoother.

I do understand that AA Travel is located in the ID. That is why I was skeptical in the first place when our friend recommend his travel agent to us. I called four times, two different days. Naturally, I was asked if I speak Chinese and when I replied no I was interrupted by a click sound and turned out, transferred to someone who spoke English. I had to leave messages for the agent I was referred to. Eventually, after waiting for him to get back to us and then having to call back and not getting responses I took that as a sign that they didn’t want our business. At the point that I did get in touch with him, he took the information for our honeymoon and said he would call us back. That was almost two weeks ago. I haven’t heard from him since.

I booked tickets with them a few month ago, all seats were reserved for my family. Airline changed plane type, since I booked tickets with AA, airline informed AA, but AA never informed me. They need better customer service, rather than just charged my credit card.

The people here were super nice to us. I asked for then to check multiple tickets to New York and I kept changing the dates and the women was still really patient with me. In the end I didn’t book a ticket from them cause the only one was Delta and I’ve had some bad experience with them but the women Dana was still really polite and willing to help in he future. Definitely calling back next time when I need tickets!

My sister and I needed some VERY last minute tickets to Taiwan and was having trouble finding tickets under $ 2200.00 online so we decided to drop in to AA yesterday morning on a whim. I’m so glad we did!
We didn’t really know what to expect when we walked in as it’s our first time booking tickets from a travel agency instead of online. Ken saw us standing (most likely looking super confused) and immediately offered us his help. We sat down and briefly told him what we wanted and he started typing away on his keyboard right away looking for the best flights at the best prices for us. About ten minutes in I realized we didn’t even tell Ken our destination city and he had been wasting his time looking for tickets to the capital but he was so patient and understanding about it all.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and we were able to save close to $ 600.00 with Ken booking our tickets. I will most definitely be calling Ken for any future ticket needs!

What this place has to offer is cheaper airplane tickets to Asian destinations, usually even cheaper than online brokers like Experia and Orbits. They also take care of your Visa applications, etc. There are many other similar local travel agents. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that AA and Jade Holiday Travel normally have the better deals: AA folks are way more friendly, yet ~60% of the time Jade can beat AA by another 5 or 10 bucks.
AA does make mistakes. They once got the dates wrong, and when we called their employee tried very hard to point fingers back. One such event is normally enough to drive us away for life, but since I kinda know their owners (from going there many times for many years) i gave them a couple of tries afterwards. Both times they did well.

I can’t believe this place. They booked my in laws airfare for their trip into Hong Kong and flying back out of Guongzhou, China and totally messed up. We didn’t find out until we were at the ticket counter checking in to their first leg of the flight into Beijing for a layover to Hong Kong to find out THEY’RE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO HONG KONG WITHOUT A VISA, why didn’t AA travel tell them this? They obviously asked whether or not they were Chinese citizens (to implicate whether or not they needed VISAS to get into the country) so how did they not know they needed it for HK? Once we figured this out, we had to call the airline in China to book a different flight (while checking in at the airport because AA travel will not help) from their layover in Beijing to Guongzhou directly since they were not able to get into HK to visit their families without a VISA. When we called AA travel to let them know of this, they claimed absolutely NO RESPONSIBILITY and was not even apologetic. We ended up having to forfeit the flight from Beijing to HK and replace it with $ 600 additional airfare purchase for them. This is so disappointing. of course after attempting again while in China to get a visa to HK, it wasn’t happening because it will require a longer period than their duration of the trip they are there for only 2 weeks. This is unfortunate since they have not been back for 16 years and will not be able to see some family members while on their trip. WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED AND DEFINITELY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS TRAVEL AGENCY AND WILL NEVER GO BACK.

Today i’ve visited this place the first time, because my friend bought air tickets through them.
After I explained what I need, the woman started filling up the form to find tickets. she asked something, that i didn’t understand clear enough, so I clarified.
*She takes pen and starts to write the names of the cities and talks to me with kind of raised voice.*
Frankly she was yelling at me. The rapport was a little bit lost. She saw my reaction and said: «I don’t understand why you are so dissatisfied». I said: «Because you are rude». This was followed by the response with huge attitude: «No, I’m not»
Wow! That’s service!
After all, other guy was helping me, but I did not want to spend a penny there.
Plus the options were worse, then I looked up online by myself.
One more thing — it is parking. Took me 10 minutes to find the spot though somehow close.
Never again.

I’m the type of traveler that usually prefers to «go my own way», and do all of my own planning, but the premise of planning my own trip to Vietnam seemed a little daunting since there are no direct flights from Seattle to Saigon. After reading the Unilocal reviews, I contacted AA Travel in the International District
Minh, a Vietnamese expatriate, helped me to find flights that were hundreds of dollars cheaper than I was able to find myself online. He gave me advice on the paperwork that I’d need to travel there. In addition, AA Travel also threw in a free bus tour of Seoul during my layover in Korea!
Don’t expect hand-​holding like a full-​service travel agency — but for the traveler that likes to do their own research, you can get excellent deals here.

I have purchased many tickets from AA Travel. The experience has all been very pleasant. Ken is very good at customer service and they always give you suggestions if you don’t know which one to pick.
Once I had an awful experience with travelocity when a flight is canceled and the flight I booked changed after I made the payment. I ended up turning to AA Travel for help. They are able to give me several options to pick from. The internet companies don’t know whats happening, and to be fair, I don’t think they care at all.
I will keep buying from them

They usually have pretty decent fares going to Asia, but their customer service needs some work. I booked my August trip to Asia a few months ago, but I somehow keep having to call them back to check up on flight changes because my friend informed, but I was never notified by AA Travel. That definitely should’ve been their job to update me via email or something otherwise I could’ve missed my flight.
Calling them usually is a hassle too, because not only do they transfer me a few times, they always put me on hold… like just now, she asked to call me back because she was working with another customer. Why don’t they have more travel agents then?!
Their in-​person customer service is much better though, but I do think they have work to do over the phone.

I know many people who have gone here have not had the greatest experience. I can certainly understand why.
I have been buying tickets to Japan from AA travel since 2003. For the most part I have to say i have gotten incredible customer service. Especially since I am not the sort of person who can just blow a couple of hundred bucks without thinking about it. Instead I am the sort of person that has to come in 3 – 5 times, call and ask several questions and have a few emails exchanges too. Before I am sure I am getting the best deal and thus part with my money.
Now to be fair i have bought tickets from Yuki, Ken and Sayuri over the years. Those people have bent over backwards to give me the best service possible. However I have had the misfortune of going in from time to time when they weren’t available and had to speak to one of the other associates. Let’s just say if I had not had those good prior experiences before bumping into one of these people this would be a far different review.
So here are a few tips for your first trip to AA travel.
1. Sayuri explained that one of the reasons that they have tickets so cheap compared to other places is because AA travel buys or reserves a certain number of bulk tickets before they go on sale to the general public. Making them cheaper for both them and us the customers. That said they have to sell those tickets fast and with the cheap price that isn’t so hard! So if you are serious about doing business I recommend just walking in and seeing what the cheapest price is (normally posted outside) and talking to them face to face for your first interaction.
2. That said don’t just talk to anyone you see. Clearly that is not a good idea. Currently they have it arrange so the friendly people are on the right side of the room and the not so friendly on the left side. So if there is no one on the left side available grab Yuki, Ken or Sayuri’s business cards and call them later to see when they are available.
3. Because the tickets are generally cheap does not mean they are always cheap. The bulk tickets they have are only good for a certain time period. So before talking to them. Get a good idea of your dates of travel, where you want to go and all that. Also Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to travel with AA Travel. So also try to be a bit flexible if you can afford to.
4. Finally it is best to pay in person. These guys are kind of old school in that way. But they aren’t charging you service fees like they do online so just bite the bullet and go in.
Now I have to talk briefly about my most recent experience and my travel agent Yuki.
Yuki personally deserves 5 stars. She is patient, friendly and very understanding. I simply love her!
She worked with me over the course of a week to get me the best deal on two tickets to Osaka Japan.
Even though we couldn’t get the cheapest tickets possible (a total of $ 1800 for two round trip tickets none stop) because of our very specific dates. She was still able to save us $ 600 dollars compared to online prices.
Better though is that we got everything we wanted/​needed with our tickets.
–Non-​stop from Seattle to Osaka
–Round trip good for 6 months and an extension only cost $ 250 each.
–Boeing planes
— She still saved us $ 600 compared to online prices with multiple stops on Airbus.
Simply perfect!!! She also heard I threw by back out last week and she gave me a call and advise on how to have a comfortable trip to Japan because she once had a similar experience!
Now that is customer service. ^_^