pkr529

DCA is less than 5 miles from my home so I usually fly out of there. Last Summer I came home from Shannon on July 4 enroute to DCA via Philly. My flight to DCA was canceled due to the Fourth overflight celebration on the mall. AA gave me (and my wife) a new itinerary where I would have had to spend the night in Philly at my expense and then take a flight from Philly to LGA to catch a shuttle there back to DCA the next day. Obviously, this was a ridiculous option so I rented a car and arrived home several hours before I would have if my flight had not been canceled. So we decided due to long layovers in Philly going and coming from Ireland we would drive up there if the price was right. I was able to obtain a real good business fare for PHL-DUB on 5/20/20 and with the return SNN-PHL on 5/27/20. Naturally, the flight was canceled given the current climate so I tried to rebook. It turns out that PHL/SNN route which was supposed to go to October 7 was no more. When I offered to go back and forth through Dublin, AA reps told me that would not work because my initial itinerary included Shannon. By the way, I really like going at least one way through Shannon since I spend most of my time on the West Coast of Ireland. Finally, I was able to get a supervisor who rebooked us going PHL-DUB route 9/2/20 and returning that route on 9/9/20. That lasted about a week when I received a notification that I would now be going PHL-ORD-DUB and returning DUB-ORD-PHL. Now when I run this itinerary for 9/2/20 and 9/9/20, this route does not appear. I spoke with one AA rep who concurred with my discovery and tried to change the dates to 9/3/20 to 9/10/20. I called again and another rep seemed to indicate that the route would be flown those days. I asked her if I could change the PHL segments to DCA going and coming from ORD. She almost had the reservation booked but came back and said they could not do it because I changed the initial from Shannon. I simply do not know what to make of this. I get different information from different reps on whether AA is flying to DUB those days. I cannot get AA to change the airport to DCA because I changed the itinerary from Shannon (only because AA is not going to fly there and some how I am faulted for that).

Does anyone have any clue what is going on here or any advice on what I should do? I redid all my reservations to fit the September dates.

USFlyerUS

I'm having a hard time following the issue. Are you trying to change your originating point from PHL to DCA? If so, that would be a ticket exchange. There could be a fare difference although the exchange fees are waived. Or, are you trying to do something else?

UKtravelbear

Can you please add some line breaks to make it easy to read?

arollins

OP, what happened last summer 4th of July has nothing to do with your current situation, therefore that is irrelevant to the issue at the moment. Secondly, as of this point no one at AA, nor here in FT can guarantee what the routes will be available on September, or if your original schedule will be available. AA will certainly like to have it, but things are very fluid at the moment, with carriers canceling routes and changing schedules weekly. Third, and final, this is the key part, your original schedule was departure and return to PHL. DCA is not considered a sister airport to PHL. If making changes, you are responsible to any additional fee. I will first look at what you "ideally" want, flying in/out of DCA, look at the cost and compare vs what you have. At the very least you could cancel and re-book new itinerary, however, keep in mind that it might change between now and then.

Geordie405

From what I gather the OP was originally booked PHL - DUB / SNN - PHL in May. These flights were cancelled. The OP was then rebooked PHL - DUB / DUB - PHL. That then changed to PHL - ORD - DUB / DUB - ORD - PHL.

The OP wants to now change to DCA - ORD - DUB / DUB - ORD - DCA but the issue seems to be the original routing was back from Shannon.

OP, is that correct?

It sounds like the OP used his one free change under the Coronavirus travel policy when the itinerary was changed from SNN to DUB for the original return flight. However, I don't see why the schedule and routing change (flights not operating on 9/2 and 9/9 plus the need to fly through ORD) can't be used to cancel the ticket altogether, and then rebook from DCA.

pkr529

Yes, that is correct.

By the way, my comment about last July 4 was anecdotal and deals only with my motive for choosing Philly as my point of departure and arrival.

USFlyerUS

If that's correct, I think AA is correct in this case. I recommend getting a refund on the original ticket (assuming it's covered by the old 61 minute policy) and buy a new ticket with what you want.

Often1

Close to impossible to figure out what OP is trying to get out. Some punctuation and spacing would go a long way.

Bottom line is that AA is no longer serving either DUB or SNN so AA is out of the picture.

OP could ask for a reroute with 2 connections (BOS & LHR), but even that is a bit shaky.

If AA now wants to depart from DCA, he should cancel the existing ticket for a refund and then purchase DCA-XXX-LHR-DUB where "XXX" is likely JFK or BOS on BA.

pkr529

Actually, AA appears to be flying there on certain days of the week but not the days they rescheduled me for, September 2 (outbound) and 9 (inbound). I just checked September 3 and 10 and there are flights going and coming back on those days. Is it weird that AA would reschedule me for dates it is not flying to and from DUB?

Stripe

AA's service to Ireland...

ORD-DUB - resumes June 4
DFW-DUB - resumes July 7
PHL-DUB - resumes Oct 9

CLT-DUB - not operating in 2020
PHL-SNN - not operating in 2020

JJeffrey

Not given the current climate. Things are changing frequently with regards to when TATL flights are starting back up, what days they're operating, etc. etc. Not surprising at all that an auto rebooking could get crossed up. Even the latest schedule updates posted this week is surely to change depending on how quickly (or slowly) things improve.

As mentioned above, if you want to start your trip in DCA, then call AA and just cancel everything you have now for a full refund. Will be no problem given the schedule changes. Then just rebook whatever new flights you want out of DCA.

USFlyerUS

I suspect the larger issue is asking to depart from DCA in lieu of PHL.

wahooflyer

If I were you, I'd try to cancel your original ticket on AA and book Aer Lingus from JFK to SNN in September. I'm not sure when EI will resume the nonstop from JFK-SNN but fares are quite cheap at this moment - around $470 round trip - and you could avoid the drive from the west coast of Ireland to Dublin. You'd just have to figure out the best transportation option between DC and NYC, but of course that's doable by car, bus, rail, or air.

Often1

Scheduling is wholly unclear now as ROI government currently authorizes only EI to fly from abroad, imposes a mandatory 14-day quarantine, and has in place other restrictions. AA resumption may well be put off depending on what the government does as the 4/19 update approaches.

pkr529

Part of my problem is that my wife will no longer go over the pond on coach or premium economy. We had very reasonable business fares going through Philly so we will have to bring cash to the table if we cancel and reschedule. I think I should probably sit tight for a few months and see what happens. One thought is that since we can now travel through 2021, I could reschedule this trip to 2021 so I do not lose the favorable fares and maybe book the same or similar dates in September using frequent flyer miles.

I have other travel problems for this Summer that I am going to sit. We are going DCA to LHR to Stockholm on June 30 (or not) and were supposed to come back ZRH-PHL-DCA on July 8. I used 2 system wide upgrades going over through LHR. I used my other upgrades for the way back from ZRH. The problem with this trip is that ZRH-PHL no longer exists so I have system wide upgrades attached to only remaining segment, PHL-DCA. No need to comment on this trip since it is just anecdotal and a further example of the clouds over my travel plans the Spring/Summer.