Originally Posted by rrgg
I suspect this would be covered by trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance which comes free if you made the purchase with a Citi Aadvantage Platinum MasterCard (up to $1500).
http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/car...t-svbenits.jsp
Trip Cancellation/ Trip Interruption:
In the event you are prevented from taking or continuing a trip you billed to your Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® account, you are eligible to receive up to $1,500 in Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption coverage.
A few responses to your questions:
First, I did my FT search under "illness" but not "sickness." Point made, I'll get out my thesaurus next time. Secondly, the previous post refers to a refund for illness but that is an INTL Q not a domestic flight. Third, I posted before I called so I would know all options since they always seem to very by which agent you get. Unfortunately, I did not save the booking/fare details and I do not know a way of retrieving them. Last night I found the ticket number on refunds.aa.com and I got the following message when I put in the PNR to get the tickets numbers: "The refund request you submitted is for a non-refundable ticket. In some cases, you may be able to apply this value towards the purchase of another non-refundable ticket. Certain restrictions and fees apply. Please call American Airlines Reservations at 1-800-433-7300 for further assistance." No other details.
What I learned:
Thanks to rrgg for his post. In fact, this purchase was made with a Citi AAdvantage Master Card. The credit card benefit of trip insurance is something that I would never have thought of. I will investigate this further, thank you! Just the kind of the "out of the box" idea that I was looking for from the post. Fortunately, we are going to reschedule for the first of March if everything works out. Based upon my calls, it looks like there is no illness clause for any domestic routes other than full Y, not even a Y-up. I was presently surprised by only a $50 change fee per ticket X 3. I have now canceled my trip on AA and I have 12 months from ticket issuance to use the credit amount less change fees. If I book on-line, hold the reservation and then call to have the tickets reissued- I can avoid the $30 in ticketing fees. I am holding a new trip for March. One other option I found in my searches:
"Extenuating Circumstances
We understand that many extenuating circumstances can affect a passenger's need for a refund. If you feel that you have such circumstances associated with your refund request, mail all documentation supporting your request to the address below.
American Airlines
Passenger Refunds
P.O. Box 582880
MD 755
Tulsa, OK 74158-2880
US"
Off topic, Disney only charged a $10 administrative fee to reschedule the trip.