AA Flight time Changes
 

Hi

I booked about 6 weeks ago for the family to fly from London to Cancun post xmas.

26 December - LHR / DFW / CUN
5 Jan CUN / DFW / LHR

They have just changed 3 of the 4 flights, so the outbound now arrives at 10:51 pm as opposed to 8:20, with a 4.5 hour connection

And we now leave at 3:30 pm on the 5th as opposed to 4:45 with a 3 hour connection

I have looked online and see that if more than 90 mins then they will rebook, including using another One World carrier.

This is annoying, but it happens ( I have however never had a flight change in 30 years of travelling of more than about 20 minutes, let alone 3 out of 4 flights on one trip!).

My question is if the flights I choose are cheaper will AA refund the difference? I notice that through Travel Up I can pay £1000 in total less. I suppose I could ask then to cancel the lot, but a refund would be simpler

AA let me choose seats ( BA charge!) and I don't know if a travel booking would still allow that?

Thanks

jeremyBA

before you make a decision - perhaps get all the information.
Call AA and ask them what your options are, including any refunds/credits available
Then - ask them for what you really want - If you don't ask, you won't get ! - they can't read you mind

as for the Travel Up website site offer - not sure what fare buckets they pull from and whether you even care. But if you do - check the fare bucket, and how it affects your BA earning for elite status


2019 AA Domestic Upgrades: 12 out of 29

2019 cities: ATH, CLT, DCA, DFW, DSM, FLL, IAH, LAS, LHR, LIT, MIA, MSP, ORD, STL, YWG, YYZ

AA will issue a refund for such a significant schedule change if you ask them to. They could also reroute you with a number of options. They won't issue a refund in the amount of a difference in fare should the new itinerary turn out to be cheaper. You will need to cancel and re-book. If you book with a travel agency, the usual rules for seat selection will apply.

Before phoming to cancel you really need to look at other options including reroutng and put those to AA and see what they say. You don't just have to accept what AA have done or take a refund.

That might include (and this is based on the CUN wiki page so these options may still not apply) the direct BA LGW-CUN flight or sometining like Iberia via Madrid or if you want to stick with AA then routing via other AA gateways such as JFK or ORD or MIA rather than DFW.

If you want to rebook via an OTA then you'l have to take the AA refund option.

Yes BA charge to select seats on BA operated flights. Exception is if you have status. BA fees apply no matter who you book with.

Thank you.

They would not allow the BA flight ( Direct) the following day as it was not a code share.

My options are limited. I chose the flights I did as it maxmimised time in a Premium Economy Seat. The other option involve BA who have a worse seat and charge for seat booking :-(

There is a slightly later LHR departure which seems the best I can do.

Appreciate you input.

JeremyBA -- As a note, I have noticed that some of the connection times have increased at many of AA's hubs. I'm not sure exactly what AA 's latest schedule change has done. However, I expect that there will be another schedule change to "fix" some of these long connection times. So, keep an eye out over the next few weeks -- there may be additional changes before the holidays.

Back in the day I used to book most of my flights 11 months out, and it was almost guaranteed that there will be a substantial schedule change and a "cancel without a fee" or "pick a better routing" opportunity...

Many of us still do this for personal trips. Booking that far out even today is almost guaranteed to result in a schedule change that allows you to change to what you really want.