js1993

Three newbie-ish questions but it's been hard to keep up with all of the Covid-era changes, plus AA's lousy IT often makes things even more confusing.

1. Booking more than a few days in advance and canceling within 24 hours still results in a full cash refund and not a credit, correct?

2. If I book a ticket for September at 8:00 pm today, do I need to cancel by 7:59 pm tomorrow for a refund or by midnight? AA's definition of "24 hours" seems to change depending on the scenario.

3. If I use a flight credit expiring 9/30 as partial payment for the above flight and then I cancel, I assume the cash portion is refunded to CC and the flight credit is returned to its original state with same expiration?

Note: Not looking to book and cancel as a way to extend the credit. Just trying to make sure that if I cancel, I don't end up with split credits that can only be used separately.

Thanks.

AxelJF

Had a couple of calls recently with AA's CS on my flight credit and just want to share my experience here.
My original booking was an ex-US flight, so my flight credit can only be used for flights originating from the US (or Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands), i.e. domestic flights and international flights (US origin!). (But I think that's the standard rule for all flight credits, no matter what the initial routing was).

That was unfortunately not helpful for me as I don't live in the US. Wanted to use the credit for a trip to the US. Several attempts speaking to several agents all resulted in the same answer. They all tried to make it work using the credit for a flight originating outside the US (PTY in my case), but to no success. Got slightly different explanations to why that is, but the most consistent answer was that it must be a currency-related issue. But when pointing out that even AA's Panama webpage by default prices fares in USD (de facto currency here beside the official Balboa), but still I can't use it for bookings from PTY, the agents themselves were a bit puzzled. So much about the reasoning behind it...sounds like an arbitrary restriction to me. I reckon there is thousands of non-US residents stuck with such vouchers. Bad move AA!

Either way. Recommendation was to contact Customer Relations, explain the circumstances, and hope for the best.
After ca. one week, I received a call from them and got the great, merciful, offer to have the credit converted into a travel voucher with one year validity once issued and no restrictions on routing or origin. Only hook: it's a classic, 80's style paper-based voucher which has to be mailed to me (6-8 weeks!) so that I will be able to either use it later on via phone or by dropping by a sales office. As much as I appreciate the gesture from AA to have my otherwise wasted credit turned into a voucher (also not bound to my name any longer!), the rather antique approach of mailing a paper voucher made me chuckle - and wonder at the same time how up to date the entire AA CS/IT/etc. infrastructure is?

But well... so, just putting this out here for others in the same situation: Knock politely on the CR door (contact form via aa.com), and ask for alternatives and you may be as lucky as I am to get another year and more flexibility to make use of that money parked with AA.

TravelNShop

I had $1200 in flight credit from a cancelled flight that was going to expire before I could use it. So I used it to buy a cheap $35 one way ticket and the remaining value was issued as trip credit that will expire one year from the date I purchased the cheap ticket. Now that expiration date for the trip credit is approaching. If I use the trip credit to buy another cheap ticket will the remaining value be issued as trip credit with a new expiration date another year out, or will the expiration date of the first trip credit remain in affect?

Holometer3D

I tried this a few months ago with multiple trip credits. The way the system handles this situation has been changed from before, and is now as follows:

1. A new trip credit issued with residual value from an existing trip credit will carry the same expiration date as the original trip credit.

2. A new ticket you buy with trip credit has an expiration date that is 1 year from the issuance of that trip credit (which may be later than the expiration date of that trip credit, due to #1 above).

Example: Trip credit A issued in Nov 2021 for $1000 (expiring Nov 2022) is used in Jun 2022 to book a new ticket B for $50. Ticket B does NOT have an Jun 2023 expiration date (1 year from issuance) as usual; it now expires Nov 2022 (although I guess if the departure date of the ticket is later than Nov 2022 the system must handle it differently; this didn't apply in my case, so I don't know what happens). This results in a new trip credit C for the residual value of $950, which still expires Nov 2022 (rather than 1 year from the issuance date of Jun 2022). If this trip credit C is used to book another ticket in Sep 2022, this ticket D has an expiration date of Jun 2023, which is 1 year from the issuance of trip credit C in Jun 2022, later than the expiration of trip credit C in Nov 2022 but earlier than the usual expiration date of a new ticket (which would have been Sep 2023, 1 year from the issuance of ticket D). If this ticket D is canceled, it holds its value until Jun 2023.

So this tells me that in order to extend the life of our credits, we need to actually book tickets. The first ticket we book (a cheap one, ticket B) will not extend the life of the credit (although it might hold its own small value if the ticket is for a trip far away in the future). But if we take the new trip credit issued with the residual value (trip credit C) and go ahead and book a second ticket that is worth the entire value of the trip credit (say, ticket D costs $975), then this second ticket will preserve its entire value for a whole year.

Alternatively, perhaps if we just book a ticket for a departure date that is 1 year in the future, this ticket will just retain its value until the departure date. I have not tried this, but it seems reasonable to expect that it will work.

AndyAA

If I cancel a flight originating outside of the USA, are there any further restrictions as to what I can do with the flight credit? That is, am I free to use that value (whether it was in Euros and converted into USDs at the time of purchase on aa.com) on a different flight that originates in the USA?

rrohio

Can you book a flight that is past expiration date? Example credit expires on 11-22-22 but want to book flight for 12-22-22 but if I book it before credit expires like 10-22-22 will that work?

GWagonFlyer

Booked Round Trip on AA.com FCO-JFK-ORD-FCO - all in the same day-(taking my minor children back to the US and then flying back)

How can I get some help with this:
JFK - ORD flight was delayed first due to staffing and then hours later was delayed due weather in ORD. This caused JFK-ORD flight to arrive after the departure of the ORD-FCO.
I called the Exec Platinum desk and they were very helpful with accommodating me on the next day ORD - FCO which was great then they told me to go to the Customer Support Desk in the Gate area once I land in ORD and there will be a hotel voucher for me.

I wait for 45 minutes in line and then the G/A told me that there is no hotel voucher since the flight was delayed for weather (even though the initial delay was for staff).
I'm out $140 for a hotel room and almost $100 for taxi's back and forth not to mention additional meal since the next flight departed 17 hours later.
Any advice on how to handle this would be really appreciated

js1993

Send a BRIEF email to customer service via the web form and list your expenses.

You might have an EU261 claim, too, but I'm rusty on that thanks to Covid.

GWagonFlyer

Thank you so much! Cheers!

mdmama

Hello, I had an $8500 flight credit from a Covid cancellation. Expires September 30, 2022. Want to purchase a flight before the expiration date for $1500. For the remaining $7000 that will be issued as a TRIP credit, can I use that multiple times for different flights through to the new expiration date? I.e. is it basically like a running balance that I just need to use up by the expiration date? Want to make sure I don’t have to spend all $7000 at once.

Zacnlinc

You may need to get in touch with CS for guidance is my opinion. I have a Covid cancellation credit and it appears that I can only use it for the original flight intended! Good Luck!

Antarius

Trip credits can be used for multiple flights. The balance comes back as a new trip credit.
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no1cub17

I'm pretty sure this isn't true at all. There are some restrictions to flight credits but you most certainly don't have to rebook the exact same trip.

cova

Flight credits require that you use it to book another ticket - any destination, by the same person.

The surplus is then issued as a trip credit. Trip credits can be used against your future tickets or against tickets for others.

Say you use the $8500 flight credit and rebook it for you on a $1500 ticket. You will get a $7000 trip credit. You can use it for tickets for the entire family. Any surpluses continue to get issued as new trip credit. But the expiration will be the original expiration. So you must use up before then.

Updated to correct - trip credit.

All this can be done online. Trip credits require the original ticket number. Flight credits create new codes each time the surplus is issued. View the flight credit as a gift card.

Happy

I read the AA policy on the Trip Credit and Flight Credit - it seems the Trip Credit is Book before the date of expiration, but can travel in the future (for as much as the system allows to book, i.e. 10 months ahead?

Flight credit on the other hand must be travel before the date of expiration.

Is the above understanding correct?

I am trying to figure out if we make an unnecessary trip to use up the $697 Trip Credit shown in my husband's account that expires on January 9 2023, or wait till Dec to book something in Spring 2023. Can we still book a fully refundable then later cancel it when a real need for a trip happens?