Originally Posted by
chil
I had a non-refundable ticket booked by a travel agent. Then I upgraded it to P over the phone on the AA EXP service line paying the fare difference from my own credit card, then exchanged the ticket two days before departure to get my SWU cleared -- again over the phone, which involved a downgrade from P to Y on the leg that I was changing (connection in DFW instead of MIA). The fare difference was a result of that downgrade (before a "free" upgrade to J using SWU)
The reason doesn't matter - if the upgrade to P was to a non-refundable P fare, then getting a voucher is correct. If you had upgraded to a refundable P fare then the amount paid between original non refundable fare and the new higher fare would be refundable and any reduction in that amount would be refunded to original form of payment
If your time is valuable and the voucher is not worth an hour of your time, seems odd to spend time ranting here rather than use that time to address the letter to AA to send the voucher in