iahphx

So I bought a cheap Basic Economy ticket earlier this month after AA implemented their "free change" policy. Due to the virus situation, I was not able to take that flight and cancelled the reservation, storing the value for future use.

Today, I called AA to use the value of that stored ticket for a new reservation (which I had put on 24-hold online) that was slightly more expensive than my previous reservation. The phone agent was unfamiliar with the process and, after a 10 minute hold, passed the call on to another agent who was able to complete the process. But both agents seemed confused by the rules. The first agent said I could only use the value of a Basic Economy ticket for another Basic Economy ticket. No problem for me, because that's what I was doing, but I'd be surprised if this was actually the rule (I would think AA would love me to trade up). Also, the second agent said I now don't get a "free change" on my new ticket because it is partially paid for with the previously cancelled ticket. Is that true? Seems improbable and unfair to me -- it certainly would discourage me from rebooking for, say, April when virus conditions are unpredictable. Does anyone know the real rules?

Also, if the value of your previous ticket happened to be more than the new ticket you're buying (not my situation in this case), what would happen to the remaining funds? Would they still be stored on your original ticket number, or would AA say they were forfeited?

BTW, it would be nice if AA could automate this whole rebooking process, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen, and certainly not anytime soon.

FAA1996

The agents are correct that you only get one free change, not unlimited changes. I don't have an answer for the rest fo your questions.

iahphx

But does that mean that if ANY funds from the ticket come from a previous ticket, you get no changes? That doesn't seem right. If so, you probably don't want to use your credits to buy any tickets for the next few months, given the obvious virus uncertainty. It would be better to pay cash, use credit card points (like Chase, Citi, etc.) and save your credits for summer or fall when things are more predictable.

Jwerking

Just out of curiosity, I assume that you were not able to apply your "credit" from the cancelled flight to your new reservation online??? As the adjusted rules do state that you need to CALL to rebook. Guess these companies do not have the immediate capacity to get its software coders to change its system to implement its adjusted cancellation policies.

USFlyerUS

Typically, once you exchange a ticket for a new one, the old ticket is then used and the rules of the new ticket apply, unless you exchange a non-refundable ticket for a refundable ticket in which case the non-refundable portion (which should be noted in the endorsements line) remains non-refundable (at least in my experience). In this case, it seems you used your "one free" change on the old ticket. If the fee waiver is still in effect, I would think you get "one free" change on the new ticket. I haven't seen anything to the contrary.

UPDATE - I found the language about one change only. I wonder how this will be implemented. If one cancels a ticket and creates a new PNR in the exchange (or if a TA does it), I wonder how the system will track the changes over time.

AANYC1981

I had two different refund emails sent to me back on 3/17/20 because of Corona with the $ amount called out but the refund amounts were never credited back to my bank account....were these vouchers instead? How would I redeem them moving forward if so....there’s no redemption code listed and it just says: refund, voucher so I can’t tell which one it is?

TravellingSalesman

That would seem to me, from the airline's point of view, to be a feature, rather than a bug...

iahphx

Right. You have to call. Expect some confusion when you do.

Right, the rules of the new ticket SHOULD control. If that ticket gives you a free change, it shouldn't matter where the funds come from. We'll see, I suppose. It does matter a lot, though, if you're booking something speculative -- like for May. I wouldn't use the funds for a May ticket if I didn't get "another" free change. Too risky right now.

javabytes

Not really... canceling and then using the credit towards a new flight is essentially a change... you just don’t know the new flight at the time you cancel the original. You only get to do that once for free on a non-refundable ticket purchased during the waiver period. If you got another free change/cancellation when you purchased the new ticket with the original credit, then you could do that over and over again, essentially resulting in unlimited free changes. That’s not AA’s intent.

chrisny2

This came from AA Twitter regarding a question about whether I could change a ticket again. (Specifically, one that was purchased in March under the $0 change fee fare rule.)

USFlyerUS

Perfect - this makes sense and jives with how it's worked for decades.

iahphx

So this would mean that my new corona ticket partially paid for with a cancelled corona ticket can still be cancelled without penalty? That makes sense. After the immediate crisis passes and AA likely restores cancellation penalties, then the tickets you buy would incur penalties to change. Otherwise, they're kind of discouraging near term bookings, which would make no sense.

tacostuff

Some answers based on personal anecdotes, the official policy may differ.

I had a trip to LAX that I booked a while back that I canceled under the COVID policy and got a voucher. A few days later, I then used the voucher funds to buy a new ticket to LAX on different days. The new ticket was about $300 less than the original ticket. The voucher paid for the entire new ticket, and I got a new voucher for the difference. I then just had to cancel the new ticket to LAX. I was able to cancel that ticket for a voucher without issue (i.e., they didn't give me a hard time for it being a "second change"). The value of that ticket is now stored in a voucher. So, at the end of all of this, I have two vouchers that total the value of the original ticket to LAX.

On a different, but related note, I had a trip to CDG at the end of April that I booked on speculation that this would be over by then, and I just had to cancel that too. However, in this case, becuase the original flight was canceled and they rebooked me, I was able to get a cash refund for that trip instead of a voucher. They did offer me a 20% bonus on the value if I took a voucher rather than asking for the cash back on my credit card.