American scraps change fees for few overseas trips

Bloomberg

American Airlines Group Inc is stepping back from fees of as much as $750 to change tickets for international travel, largely abandoning a widely loathed charge as the company rushes to lure passengers back to its long-distance flights.
Change fees will cease on flights originating in North or South America for all but the cheapest “basic economy” fares, American said. The new policy, which covers most of American’s long-haul international passengers, follows a decision by US carriers earlier this year to end change fees on domestic service even after the coronavirus pandemic abates.
Giving up the lucrative charges on overseas trips signals the urgency of American’s push to revive international travel, which has all but vanished since March.
American got $800 million from ticket changes last year, part of a $2.8 billion pie from all fees collected by the top
10 US airlines, according to the Transportation Department. Domestic passenger traffic today is at just 35% of 2019 levels and international flying is down even more.
“We are committed to making travel easier for our customers who fly on American,” Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja said in a statement. “By eliminating change fees, we’re giving customers more flexibility no matter when or where they plan to travel.”
In March, major airlines suspended change fees on all flights until the end of this year after they were all but forced
to let people alter travel plans without penalty as states
and countries imposed travel restrictions.
Then in August, United Airlines Holdings was first to eliminate a $200 fee to change domestic tickets, followed
by Delta Air Lines and American, which also scrapped
the charge for tickets to Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and US Virgin Islands.