Okay, I did a bit of checking and found the following:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/FAQs...footer#Refunds
It sounds like the quickest route to getting a refund might be to simply head to the AA counter at your nearest airport. Or you can do it online here:
https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/
Btw at this point I think it's safe to say that AA's email claim (when notifying everyone that their tickets had been cancelled) of delivering refunds within seven working days is either total b.s. or simply a promise they were literally not equipped to perform. We already know how long it took their BR office to issue the tickets in the first place; I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they're the ones who have to process refunds as well, particularly since everyone was charged in reals, not USD.
Btw I don't
think the current exchange rate is relevant when it comes to refunds, particularly for U.S. cards; they simply refund the entire USD total. Granted, I have
no idea how this affects overseas merchants, but if any party is going to get stuck "eating" any exchange-rate differential, it's most likely to be the card issuer. They did, after all, allow most of these charges through, despite the fact that everyone claimed their address was in Brazil. (OTOH it could very well be that, in their rush to get everyone ticketed, AA Brazil didn't transmit any address data to the card companies, and only sent CC numbers, expiration dates and the three-digit security codes. That could very well result in litigation between AA and the CC companies, but that's a whole other topic.)
Finally, I noticed this tidbit buried in the fine print of the FAQ page, and I'm bolding it since a) it's important and b) it strongly infers that the DOT allows AA plenty of leeway when it comes to refunds:
Credit card refunds may take one to two billing cycles before appearing on a credit card statement.
I have no clue if visiting an AA counter in person will speed up the refund process, or if ALL refunds can take up to two billing cycles to be process. That said, it may very well be that AA BR hasn't even
started the refund process if they're still backlogged ... meaning it could take two billing cycles
from the date they get around to issuing a formal refund.
Again, I strongly urge you to be proactive and either visit an AA counter or file a claim on their refunds site!