My flight no longer available to book on AA website - Does that mean it's cancelled
Apr 8, 2020, 8:10 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 9
My flight no longer available to book on AA website - Does that mean it's cancelled
I have a roundtrip ticket for June 1 - DFW -> LHR (AA50) returning June 11 LHR -> DFW (AA79) ... the departure time changed for AA50, had been 3:40pm and now it's 4:15pm. When I try to locate this flight in the booking section of AA's website, as though I was booking a new flight, I cannot find it. Does that mean the flight is sold out? Or does that mean it was cancelled? Thanks.
Apr 8, 2020, 8:29 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum/Million Miler, Marriott Titanium Elite-Lifetime, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,210
I have a roundtrip ticket for June 1 - DFW -> LHR (AA50) returning June 11 LHR -> DFW (AA79) ... the departure time changed for AA50, had been 3:40pm and now it's 4:15pm. When I try to locate this flight in the booking section of AA's website, as though I was booking a new flight, I cannot find it. Does that mean the flight is sold out? Or does that mean it was cancelled? Thanks.
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Apr 8, 2020, 8:47 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: DCA and STL
Programs: AA Concierge Key, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, National Car Executive Elite
Posts: 524
A flight will not appear as bookable for two reasons: 1). It is over-sold 2). It is cancelled. I suspect that if you haven't had a cancellation notice from AA, then it is the first case.
Apr 8, 2020, 8:53 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 9
Long story short, I have a non-refundable business class ticket that I would like to get a refund for. Thanks again!
Apr 8, 2020, 8:59 am
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
Right now everything on aa.com seems to be in total flux. For example if you search for a particular flight tomorrow using the search schedule function it might show flying but in reality it might be cancelled. The OP's best bet would be to call AA and try to cancel, hoping the flight is in fact cancelled. Otherwise a schedule change of 35 minutes won't probably do it. However, it's pretty likely there is going to be another schedule change between now and June.
Apr 8, 2020, 10:06 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,051
You can use ExpertFlyer (for fee) or https://flightavailability.bcdtravel.com/ (free) to check bucket availability. You aren't entitled to a refund until it's actually cancelled (and not just zero'ed out).
Apr 8, 2020, 10:21 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: AA Platinum, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 93
Or 3) they have zero'ed out all fare buckets and are planning on cancelling it, but haven't yet. The fact that all fare buckets are zero does not mean it is "over-sold". In this case, they have done it simply to prevent any new bookings on the flight. Nonetheless, the flight has not actually been cancelled and removed from the schedule yet.
You can use ExpertFlyer (for fee) or https://flightavailability.bcdtravel.com/ (free) to check bucket availability. You aren't entitled to a refund until it's actually cancelled (and not just zero'ed out).
You can use ExpertFlyer (for fee) or https://flightavailability.bcdtravel.com/ (free) to check bucket availability. You aren't entitled to a refund until it's actually cancelled (and not just zero'ed out).
Apr 8, 2020, 12:43 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: ANC
Posts: 404
I have a roundtrip ticket for June 1 - DFW -> LHR (AA50) returning June 11 LHR -> DFW (AA79) ... the departure time changed for AA50, had been 3:40pm and now it's 4:15pm. When I try to locate this flight in the booking section of AA's website, as though I was booking a new flight, I cannot find it. Does that mean the flight is sold out? Or does that mean it was cancelled? Thanks.
For the American itinerary it turns out the flights were cancelled so a refund was requested. The Iberia and United reservations are still confirmed so we are monitoring to see what happens.
Apr 8, 2020, 1:28 pm
#10
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum/Million Miler, Marriott Titanium Elite-Lifetime, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,210
No. It means there are no seats for sale. It may very well be cancelled eventually but isn't as of yet.
Apr 8, 2020, 1:34 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,377
Almost - AA has been zeroing out the flights first and even though it shows up on your itinerary, it's a goner that will eventually be cancelled.
Apr 8, 2020, 1:45 pm
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: En Route
Programs: Many
Posts: 6,798
AA did this with my JFK-CDG-JFK. The JFK-CDG leg is now cancelled, but AA didn't think to inform me or offer a reroute. Thankfully I check my bookings from time to time. There was no note in the record, it simply showed CDG-JFK with nothing listed for the first leg, no refund and the system held my SWU. I called in and was able to find an acceptable JFK-CDG once the flight starts operating again. Thanks for the heads up AA...
Apr 8, 2020, 1:46 pm
#13
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 1,968
A lot of us have subscriptions to ExpertFlyer to keep up on flight details. Gives you detailed information on "seat buckets" (how many seats available per booking code/class) available and upgrade probability. Zeroed out means all of the buckets, for example J (business) goes from J7 (7+ available seats) to J0, and all other buckets are also 0. It's a way in their system to not respond to flight searches for new flights. Essentially they are making the flights appear as full so they can't be booked, and eventually they will be cancelled once they figure out their schedule and push out a new one.
Apr 8, 2020, 1:53 pm
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,051
If it doesn't show up at all on bcdtravel availability checker, it's almost certainly been cancelled. The ones that have not been cancelled will still show up, but with all zeros in their fare buckets. Bcdtravel search ability is pretty limited (it won't show many connecting flight options). But if you are just looking at non-stop flights on a particular carrier and the flight does not show up, it should be fairly safe to assume it's been cancelled.
Apr 8, 2020, 2:05 pm
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 9
A lot of us have subscriptions to ExpertFlyer to keep up on flight details. Gives you detailed information on "seat buckets" (how many seats available per booking code/class) available and upgrade probability. Zeroed out means all of the buckets, for example J (business) goes from J7 (7+ available seats) to J0, and all other buckets are also 0. It's a way in their system to not respond to flight searches for new flights. Essentially they are making the flights appear as full so they can't be booked, and eventually they will be cancelled once they figure out their schedule and push out a new one.