flyer4512

This morning I cancelled an award trip that I booked in early January for November travel, according to what I read my miles should be refunded within 48 hours.

Can anyone who has cancelled an award trip that was covered under the no award reinstatement fees tell me how long the miles to refund to your AA account ?

I'm wondering what the chances are that I don't have to call. Thanks

Awards ticketed on or before September 30, 2020 for travel through December 31, 2020

Waiving award reinstatement and change fees for award bookings

We’re giving you more flexibility with waived award reinstatement and change fees for awards ticketed by September 30, 2020 for travel through December 31, 2020.

Automatic mileage reinstatement

If your trip is eligible, your miles will be automatically reinstated within 48 hours of canceling your trip online. For all other trips, contact Reservations to have your miles reinstated.

fly747first

Within 24 hours in my experience

apeortdz

I cancelled an award trip four days ago. Miles back in account instantly. Still waiting for taxes to be refunded.

nk15

It is usually 1-2 hours. If the miles are not back automatically within two hours, it means that it is not processing properly and it needs agent's intervention to complete the redeposit. After you call, it should be 1-2 hours. For best results, just call right away and it should be 1-2 hours. They say 48 hours but it is 1-2 hours, especially now because of the minimal bookings, I am guessing.

cheltzel

I canceled an international award on August 14 and received the full refund of all the fees, etc on August 26.

flyer4512

Thank you, called and miles were back in under an hour.

Matthew_DC

Just cancelled an award ticket for Sept 10 and miles returned to account within 2 minutes of ending the call.

bobdevens

Sorry if there is an obvious answer to this, but I have read through the information on the AA site and here, and still remain confused on award reinstatement fees for international award tickets. I am holding two Business Class Web Special Award tickets for next June from the US to Germany, with all flights on American Airlines (no partners). I was hoping to ticket them in the next day or so. In the event I have to cancel, do reinstatement fees apply? There is language when you book the Web Savers saying fees may apply. The AA waiver of award reinstatement fees seems to address short-haul international flights, which I assume this isn't. I also saw a chart that said they wouldn't charge reinstatement fees if I cancelled 60 days before the flights, but this seemed to apply to tickets purchased in 2021. Can anyone provide any clarification on this. Thanks for your help.

mrkymark

Basically what I do:
1. Award or Revenue ticket? If award, go to next step.
2. All Awards will follow the rules for change and reinstatement details on this page: https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ard-travel.jsp
- the award rules make no differentiation between Domestic or Intl travel, an award is an award.

In your case your ticket will be:
- an award
- ticketed on or before December 31, 2020
Therefore if you wish to cancel your trip (even at the last minute say 24hrs before your scheduled departure) - you may do so with no cancellation and no reinstatement fees. And you are not held to the 60 day rule since that is for tickets booked after 1/1/21

For sure to get the miles back into your account, all you have to do is call and ask to cancel and refund the ticket. 1800-882-8880

That being said you are eligible for a more convenient electronic way to get your miles reinstated automatically if all of the following is true for your itinerary:
- travel is on American Airlines flights only.
- The ticket was bought directly with American in the U.S. or via our U.S. website.
- Travel for any portion of the trip has not begun.
- No changes have been made to the trip since the ticket was issued.

If all four points are true then you may log on to your AA account and take care of all the cancellations yourself and miles will be automatically reinstated within 48 hours of canceling your trip online.

If even one of criteria is violated it does not mean they are not cancelable or refundable; exact same cancellation rules apply. The only difference is that you have to CALL AA at 1800-882-8880 to get the cancellation and reinstatement to be manually done without a fee rather than the automatic online option.

Q. What about WebSaver Awards?
A: An award is an award. So WebSavers follow the same cancellation policy defined with the appropriate waivers of fees booked by 12/31/20. While they may say there is may be a fee blah blah, that is just standard verbage. If a web award is booked under these rules they can be cancelled without cancel/reinstatement fees. Since websavers are generally:
- only offered as travel on American Airlines flights.
- only bought on U.S. website.
- usually not begun.
- do not allow changes, being a websaver fare anyways.
This makes them the perfect fare to cancel online, very easy.

Q: What if I booked a regular, non WebSaver and called to move the date back by a week, then decided to cancel?
A: If the award ticket (regardless of airline - can include carriers other than AA), regardless of destination, can be int'l, that is changed but later cancelled - the fee waivers still apply at the time of original ticketing. The only difference again is that you cannot do the reinstatement self service online but you can call and everything will be done manually for you.

Q: What about the 60 day cancellation requirement that I saw?
A: Those are for ticketed itineraries booked after 1/1/21 (at the time of this writing) If you ticket your itinerary, say tomorrow, you are subject to the waivers in effect for tickets booked before 12/31/20. This means the 60 day rule does not apply to you and you can cancel and reinstate pretty much very close to departure date.

Q: What about tickets that are changed (date change) after the date of the fee waiver has passed? Say non websaver, booked today but then changed to a different flight via call to reservations on 2/1/21 with a new ticket number issued? Will the act of reissuance then make the tickets subject to the 60 day rule going forward?
A: So I am not sure about this one. It is my belief that the ticket waivers are based upon the initial ticketing date, not subsequent ticketing (due to changes in the ticket) Not sure if someone could chime in and agree or disprove that here.

So in summary:
Waiving reinstatement fees.
We’re giving you more flexibility by waiving reinstatement fees for awards ticketed by December 31, 2020.

If by chance:
- Travel is on American Airlines flights only.
- The ticket was bought directly with American in the U.S. or via our U.S. website.
- Travel for any portion of the trip has not begun.
- No changes have been made to the trip since the ticket was issued.
Then you don't have to call, just do it all online to get your miles back.

But if one of those criteria are violated, you still get your refund - just have to call in.

bobdevens

Wow. Thanks for the comprehensive explanation.

worldiswide

I cancelled an award ticket on August 19th. Miles came back in hours, but fees have not shown up on my credit card. What experiences do others have with time frames for refunds of fees?

beachfan

that’s too long by a bit. Often it’s within a couple days.

Clay Clayton

MrkyMark
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation! Is the 60 day requirement a change from the original rules when they announced the no fee cancelation? The reason I am asking is I booked an award ticket on American during a PE award sale last spring right after they changed the rules to do away with the reinstatement fee. The flight is in March 2021, from RDU to Montevideo all on AA. But it was my understanding from the rules at that time that I had to cancel 60 days before to have the points reinstated for free.

Has that changed or did I just read the rules incorrectly? In either case if I am understanding your post correctly, I can move my calendar reminder for the cancel deadline from December to March.
TIA

frudd38

Am I blind or is now AA allowing free reinstatement for all awards ticketed by end of the calendar year?

fly747first

for now it appears that way