Originally Posted by Merlin5

After some advice from others who know AA rules and FAA better than I.

I had a crazy routing booked (earns BA flight status due to being measure by individual legs)

It was a one way trip on 6th April 2021 from LGA to MCO but routing via DCA and CLT - gave me three sectors in business which are 40 tier points each and as the kids are with us it got them up the status levels.

I got an email from AA this morning detailing a change in the schedule; my leg from LGA to DCA has been removed and we are flying later to CLT and connecting with the original CLT to MCO leg. In the eyes of AA we depart 10 minutes later and arrive at the same time so as its less than 4 hours it doesn't qualify for a refund. I'm saying there has been a "technical cancellation" as the flight from LGA to DCA and DCA to CLT have been removed or cancelled and replaced with a new flight and flight number from LGA to CLT.

Usually I wouldn't care but our cruise from Miami has been cancelled, the hotel in NYC remains shut and my AA flights from London to PHL and then MIA back to LHR have been cancelled and refunded. Its not a huge amount of money but my kids (21 and 19) are unlikely to come with us again anytime soon so a voucher for them would be dead money.

Can I push for a refund on the basis of a cancellation / flight number change?