For tickets purchased at least 7 days prior to departure, the DOT requires airlines to offer a free 24-hour hold or a full refund within 24 hours of purchase. Up until last month, AA chose to comply with this requirement by offering a free 24-hour hold and was therefore not required to offer a refund within 24 hours of purchase.

In part because of customer confusion, AA has now changed to the more common 24-hour refund policy, which is actually less convenient for those of us who enjoyed being able to place a ticket on hold without any money coming out of our pockets.