Originally Posted by
Duck1981
and this is a strong advice for me not to rely on 'self-connecting' (or however you call it) tickets and to always book tickets directly to my final destination (note to myself).
Note to myself: Using one anecdote (where lightning struck the ATC tower no less) to generalize and to say you "always" must do anything is poor form. And bad probability valuations.
I've "self insured" plenty of times on separate tickets when I trusted the carriers involved and had a backup plan in case things went awry.
The OP had a backup plan that presumably cost less than it all on one ticket. Who wouldn't love it all on 1 ticket? But not at the price multiple they charge some hub captives
The only thing I would have done different than the OP is I would have messaged AA and BA on Twitter via DM immediately after deciding to book a new ticket on UA, asking them to document the BA/AA record regarding the cancellation and requesting a full refund.
That way, no time wasted on phone, and you have a timestamp that you made the refund request in writing prior to new departure - thus they can't claim you just no-showed.