Originally Posted by IADCAflyer

With a schedule change like that, you can ask for a full refund. I had a similar situation with an interesting result. I was supposed to go to a conference - also in Anaheim - that was set for March. That conference was cancelled. The purchased ticket (purchased in January) was a First class ticket with a fair amount of value on it - about $1,000. Owing to COVID, I was able to use the free cancel feature even though the flights themselves were not cancelled. The cancelled amount was applied as an e-voucher that is good for one year. The conference was reschedule for late August. I used the value of the e-voucher to buy a new ticket for the rescheduled conference (with a little residual value left as the new ticket was $900).

About a month ago, the conference was cancelled again. And, about two weeks ago, AA instituted some significant schedule changes that took my itinerary from a 7:00 pm departure to a 1:00 pm departure and was forcing me to overnight on my own dime. That was no bueno and I called AA res to either rebook me or to cancel. AA said no other viable options were available and offered to cancel the ticket for free. I accepted.

The interesting part is that even though the itinerary was purchased using a voucher, the original credit card information was still in the system and because this was now a cancellation related to an AA schedule change, AA refunded the purchased amount NOT as a voucher but as a refund to my credit card that was used to book the ORIGINAL ticket purchased in January.