JDiver

The maths don't work, because the poster incurred a $250 change fee the first cancellation.

markb1024

Ok, now I'm more confused than ever. Worldtraveler19, I think you're mixing up my info with the OP's.

The suggestion was made on the previous page to buy a refundable ticket. What's the purpose of that, if not to extend the deadline? And why would I get hit with another change fee on a fully refundable ticket?

dstan

Just learned something new!

As life would have it, I'll most likely need to cancel a trip later this week, on which I have already applied and cleared domestic Award Upgrades both ways ($150 + 30K miles total). I called AA to find out what the cancellation fees would be, expecting $150 change fee + $150 mile redeposit fee + loss of $150 upgrade copay = $450 net cost

Was pleasantly surprised to be told by two separate AAgents that it would only be the $150 change fee - the Award Upgrades will stay associated with the ticket, along with the residual value, and can be applied, upgrade inventory permitting, when I apply that ticket to a new itinerary within the usual 1-year deadline. No mileage redeposit fee. No additional copays.

Kudos to AA for the customer-friendly policy on this one! ^


(A search turned up the previous query below, and that thread has now been merged into this one, which is linked from the FAQ. /Moderator)

teammjs

Hi, bumping this since it's part of the Wiki and couldn't find an answer anywhere else. Apologize, this is a very basic question, but it seems to be a chicken-and-egg question I didn't want to make a mistake guessing wrong at

- wife bought a refundable ticket on AA on her credit card (for August)

- event sold-out; 100% sure she won't want to use it.

- she went to the Refundable section to put in the info, but even though it shows in a waiting for processing status, we also get this weird error-like message: "We are unable to complete your refund request at this time. It may be because your itinerary was booked for a future travel date."

- she did not go to the reservation and Cancel it prior to requesting the refund, because we both don't normally purchase refundable tickets and it doesn't give any guidance other than asking for confirmation of the Cancel (which we were reluctant to do in case we lose some rights somehow).

So 2 questions:
1) What is up with the "booked for a future travel date" reference?
2) Is there any harm in Canceling the reservation first? Is that always the first step in requesting a Refund on a refundable ticket?

I can't call because I'm not on the itinerary, and she hates dealing with airline stuff. Thanks!

FWAAA

I don't know if it's the right way to do it, but I've always cancelled first and then applied for the refund. Never thought about any potential risks from cancelling first. I've always received the refund when cancelling and then seeking a refund.

CDKing

Is the change fee charged in new money? Or is it deducted from the value of the ticket.

In my example international ticket is $500 and change fee is $300.

1) I get to use $200 towards a new ticket? (valid 1 year from initial booking date)

or

2) I pay $300 and have $500 towards a new ticket? (valid 1 year from initial booking date)

FWAAA

Whenever I've cancelled a nonrefundable ticket and reused the value, the agents have always deducted the change fee from the previous ticket price and not required new money.

IMO, this represents some revenue leakage and I don't know why the airline hasn't always required new money to pay the change fee. If I had written the rules, If your ticket was $500, then the $500 could be used solely for airfare and not for change fees. That way, if the change fee was $250, then to free up your $500 you'd have to pay $250 in new money.

CDKing

I prefer the AA way The new UA does the charge new money and i hate it. Well i've only had to pay once as all other changes were covered by weather waivers or schedule changes.

Exec_Plat

1. Dont know

2. That is what ive always done. There is no 'refund due' until the ticket is cancelled....in fact that my be why the #1 message is about: the ticket is still valid hence no refund.

When in doubt, call. She may hate dealing with it, but just conference her in if they need to hear her voice....

skyhy

Noob AA flyer issue - just spend considerable time reading thru the wiki and faqs and would love to figure out the following:

I am considering cancelling a non-refundable international ticket for November/December.
Of course I will wait until the latest possible time before cancelling and hope in the meantime for applicable schedule changes, but in case that won't happen, I'd like to prep myself for the unavoidable.
From the fare rules I know that the change-fee will be $300 and the expiration is May 2015.
If so needed, I would like to use the residual value towards a new, fully refundable ticket, issued and start of travel within the one-year expiry period.
In case this new ticket cannot be flown within the time limit, I was hoping it could be re-issued again - being refundable - without a penalty.
I also understand from the fare rules that any re-issue should be:
However, in the fare rules I'm also reading:
Does this mean that I cannot use the residual value towards a new refundable ticket ?

JDiver

That's pretty much how it works. AA will "help" you keep the original nonrefundable status, as I understand it, of whatever you book with the voucher they send you. That's a way of preventing a "conversion" where someone cancelling a nonrefundable fare can't purchase a refundable fare, cancel that and get their money (less cancellation fee) back. The nonrefundable amount continues being nonrefundable.

skyhy

Now I'm even more confused, since I've read thru the "cancel-threads" and came across this advise from Happy, who at the time seemed to be in the know:

thewhitezone

I need to cancel a roundtrip where I purchased the Choice Plus fare, so no change fee should apply. Twice before I had to do this and had two different outcomes so my question is which is "correct" and how can I try to assure I get the more favorable outcome.

1 - once, I had an agent simply send me a voucher for the full cost of my canceled fare. It came in the mail as a type of voucher that I could use to book online at a future time.

2- the other time, I was sent a different type of voucher. It was one that couldn't be used to book online. I had to instead book by phone then mail in the paper voucher before AA would ticket the flight.

Obviously, number 1 is easier for me, but did I just get lucky when that happened and scenario #2 is what should have happened (that's what the agent told me when I tried to get her to do scenario #1.)

kappa

I would like to know if there is any recent information that would alter plans on canceling an itinerary and minimizing the loss of value. My wife holds a ticket on AA stock for a non-refundable (letter) I business class fare from the USA to Europe and back for travel in August. The e-ticket was purchased February 18th. The fare is $3,500.

The tour, for which it was to be used, was cancelled. We have waited to see if there might be any schedule changes that would justify a refund, but all have been minimal. So it appears a timely cancellation will result in the penalty, which she has been told by an AA phone rep will be $500.

The tour has been rescheduled for September 2016; but that will be too late to use the residual, since travel must begin by 2/18/16, a year from the original ticketing. But from reading this thread, I understand there is a work-around

She could use a part of the value to purchase a low-cost ticket (with travel to begin by 2/18/16) and she would also receive a voucher for the difference (less the penalty). Am I correct that the voucher would have an expiration date of one year from the date of issue? If so, it could be used in purchasing a ticket for the rescheduled tour.

My uncertainty is this: all I have read is that the residual value can only be used to purchase other non-refundable fare tickets. If that is true. how can it be used purchase a lower price refundable fare ticket. But if it can be so used, and the itinerary as cancelled, I presume the refund voucher would have the same use restriction; but what of the time of use and travel?

We are hoping that:
1) she can use a portion of the value for a domestic trip she can make before 2/18/16 deadline, and the remaining value voucher will allow ticketing (but not require travel) within a year of issue, and/or
2) if she is unable to make such a domestic trip, and purchases a low-cost refundable fare that she timely cancels, that the refund voucher will be valid for use within a year from issue

I am now almost fully retired from the business I founded and doing only infrequent leisure travel. Thus I have been offline with FT; but it was nice to return and see the same Moderator names I aqm familiar with from the past. Best wishes to the group.

Exec_Plat

I believe you can use the voucher for any FARE, however a refund of that new ticket would 'carry' a non-refundable endorsement from the underlying voucher.

In terms of the 'date reset/extension', Ill leave that to others.

I fares out of the USA generally have a US$500 fee, so without knowing the specific fare the agents number sounds correct. (Oddly out of Mexico they are different, I think $300. Some UK originating I fares are only GBP100.)