Bumping this as there still seems to be confusion from AA agents. Is a “flexible” fare meaningless because it’s the same as a Main Cabin in fare in terms of crediting back to a flight credit if cancelled?

Seems like United and Delta offer better “refundable” fares compared to AA where you have to purchase a “fully flexible” fare on AA to have the refund go back to the original form of payment. And those “fully refundable” fares have a significant upcharge ($1000 extra on a $187 flight I’m currently looking at).