Originally Posted by
Often1
The AA COC is sufficient for a full refund. OP could, if he wanted under EC 261/2004 also choose a later date for the return, but that does not yield him much as AA would do that anyway.
Under OP's scenario, he would be entitled to a refund of the fare difference, e.g., the cheap return vs. the expensive one-way, not 50% of the return.
this is simply not true.
if AA deems a refund is in order for the unflown LHR-LAX segment, that refund will be 50% of the roundtrip base fare (assuming the fare basis is the same for both LAX-LHR and LHR-LAX segments) plus 100% of the taxes for the LHR-LAX segments.
and the guys at prefunds.aa.com deem pretty much every deviation from standard as legit for a refund - an advance schedule change, a delayed flight, a change of equipment. it's pretty comical actually.