Originally Posted by
A CT Yankee
Thx for input, but the only way I know to convert flight credit is by using it toward the purchase of another ticket, with any remaining balance getting converted to trip credit. It's not clear to me why I can't use the flight credit to purchase BE directly, which would increase the value of the remaining trip credit. From what I can read in the t&c, it seems the only requirement is that the flight credit be used to purchase another ticket in the name of the original passenger. It doesn't say anything about which fare class.
I just wasted an hour trying to use a flight credit to book a basic economy ticket, with American Airlines agents telling me it was impossible. I should have read this post earlier.
The solution is to use the flight credit to book a cheap main cabin ticket. Any remaining flight credit, if any, will automatically be converted to trip credit. After that, you can cancel the main cabin ticket and the value of it will be converted to trip credit. Finally, use all the trip credit to book your basic economy flights.