I'm asking for a family member who purchased a basic economy ticket.

During OLCI, he paid around $50 to select aisle seats on the three flights today.

His 1st flight was severely delayed due to weather.(ice on runway). There was a long 45 minute wait on the phone, but he was able to make free changes to flights 2 and 3 on his own using AA's website. However, the only remaining seats on those two flights are window and middle seats. The system picked middle and window seats for him automatically... (in fact, there was no option to change seats because the flights are just a couple of hours from now)

Can he get a refund on the seat fees paid for flights 2 and 3? If so,what's the best way to proceed?(speak to a live AA agent or contact them via the website)

Thanks!