Cancel or Change fee Question please
Last June, I bought non-refundable flights SFO-YVR for two. The flights are for May 2020. I know if I cancel, I'll have to eat $200 per ticket each for the change fee, and the rest of my paid fare I can use on a different upcoming AA flight. I'm unsure of the correct terminology...does AA hold that money in "an account" for me that I can use on future flights? Do they issue me some kind of gift card for the amount?
Also....apparently because I purchased the original tickets in June of 2019, I have to spend the remainder by June 2020? That parts seems confusing. I'm cancelling a flight in May 2020 and they want me to book a new flight by June 2020 or lose it all? Am I understanding that right?
These are business class seats and we spent about $2,400. I can eat the $400 in change fees, but obviously we want to make the best use of the remaining $2,000.
Any help is appreciated. Fairly new to all of this. Thank you