personal emergency may disrupt my trip! What are my options on fees?
 

I have a first MileSaver award, and a paid one-way ticket from tpa/lit and lit/tpa respectively. Unfortunately, my cousin might be going to the hospital for stuff, according to what the Doctor says. If I must Cancel the trip, am I at AA's mercy as in reguards to fees. The one-way paid ticket i'll completely lose out on, so I hope I'm not double-dipped on fees. Your replies are greatly appriciated, you guys know your stuff!

Jordan

A little more information might help.

Is your cousin travelling with you?

Ordinarily I doubt they would consider a cousin going into hospital as a valid trigger for any of the medical exceptions unless they were actually travelling with you.

For the paid ticket what do the fare rules say about cancellations?

Often even with non-refundable tickets you can still change dates for a fee or cancel for a voucher less a fee so it may not be a total loss as long as you act before the travel date.

read the fare rules for the purchased ticket. sometimes there is an allowance in there for medical emergencies, etc., that allows a refund or other concession on the ticket.

not sure about the award ticket, though. others will have to weigh in.

i would call AA and ask about both if it were me.

For the award ticket, I assume you're aware that you can change the date (not the origin/destination) for no fee. If you'll be making the TPA-LIT trip at some point in the future (less than a year after the ticket was originally issued), that would be a good option. If you don't know when, choose a dummy date with availability in the mean time to be sure the ticket doesn't get blown away if you no-show.

Thanks for all the comments! The paid one-way return is just a discount fare so a cancellation isn't possible to redeme a voucher (possible complete loss.) But, along with that, I'd rather not lose another 150.00 on top of it.

Jordan

I don't think you're understanding the change fee on the paid ticket. You can get credit for the amount of the ticket less the change fee (usually $150 on domestic.) So if the ticket cost more than that, you'll need to cancel before the flight (if you don't, you will lose all value) and hold on to the ticket number. The residual value can be used for up to a year from the original ticketing date.

The other advice you received about changing the award ticket is also correct.

Call AA and they will answer any questions about fare rules and your options.

If the medical emergency is not you, but rather your cousin - then you won't qualify for the exemption on change fees. Not even if your cousin was traveling with you on the same itinierary.

AA would point out that there's no requirement that you go to the hospital. If you decide to cancel/reschedule to help out your cousin - that would be a voluntary change on your part and thus your responsibility to pay any associated fees.

The paid ticket is a loss. I only paid like 135.00 for it, so no residual value. I wonder if they can at least work with me on the reinstatement fee, that'd be nice. I'd rather not lose like 280.00. Maybe if they see what's going on they might lower it to 75.00 not 150.00 or something like that. But i'm at their mercy.

Yes, you are.

IMO, it's doubtful they would change the fee or waive on the award ticket for reinstatement of miles. But you won't know until you call and ask.

If you are EXP, they will waive the reinstatement fee. They added this feature today, and only for EXP.

Correct, but I don't believe OP is EXP.

Some credit cards provide some protection for medical emergencies but not sure it would help your cause.

Would it cover a cousin in the hospital? I seriously doubt it.

Travel insurance.

Some detailed fare rules would cover the OP if the cousin was a traveling companion; I have had such tickets issued. (Yeah, I always read the detailed fare rules before buying, and choose whether I will "self-insure", purchase TC&I insurance, or upfare.)

It used to be one could go to the AA Refunds site and enter the ticket number (not merely the PNR) and review the detailed fare conditions before actually cancelling - has anyone had recent experience with this?