hand_solo

By the way, I just tested this. The residual Trip Credit value is reissued as a NEW Trip Credit but with the SAME expiration date as the original Trip Credit.

Smiley90

If all you had to do was book & cancel a trip to extend trip credit, it'd completely defeat the point of its expiration, so that makes a lot of sense.

hand_solo

The confusion comes from when you don't use the entire value of your Flight Credit, the residual gets reissued as a Trip Credit with a new 1-year expiration date. So I wasn't sure if the same would happen with residual Trip Credit.

bobbybrown

I found the same thing and came here to correct my post.
Yesterday I cancelled a flight and got a trip credit, oddly not a flight credit, and the expiration date is 1 year from the original purchase date. It was odd but still fair.
Then when I used it for my other ticket, and subsequently for someone else, residuals from each step became a new trip credit but with the same expiration date as before, not extended 1 year from yesterday.
This has never happened to me before. Maybe a glitch or AA finally cracked down our smart way to extend the credit.

hand_solo

I want to add yet another data point to this increasingly complicated list of rules:

I had booked a flight with TRIP CREDIT, but had to cancel it the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. The value of the cancelled ticket was issued as a new TRIP CREDIT with a NEW 1 year expiration from the data of issuance.

So, to summarize:

1. The residuals from a FLIGHT CREDIT booking is issued as a new TRIP CREDIT with a NEW 1 year expiration date
2. The residuals from a TRIP CREDIT booking is issued as a new TRIP CREDIT with the SAME 1 year expiration date as the original TRIP CREDIT
3. If you cancel a flight that was booked with a TRIP CREDIT, the value is issued as a new TRIP CREDIT with a NEW 1 year expiration date

Holometer3D

The last point, #3, is not necessarily true. I do not know the exact rules, but I can confirm from experience that sometimes the new trip credit is issued with the same expiration date as the original ticket that was canceled, not a whole new year from the date of cancellation.

It does appear that booking a new flight is the most viable remaining way to extend the value of our credits (I have detailed an example that blends flight and trip credits in post #544 above, back when only certain elites got trip credits for canceled flights and before this widespread migration to trip credits happened). If you book a dummy ticket (that you will later cancel) to extend your credit, you should try to book a flight that is far out (close to a year) such that the new credit issued after its cancellation has a long expiration.

hand_solo

That could very well be true. I only have my one data point, and the rules appears to be evolving over time.

ymx

An AA phone agent told me this morning that Trip Credits can't be used for flights out of certain countries. (I was trying to use it to pay for a ticket out of Grand Cayman). Is this correct?

Tom M.

That is correct. They can't be used out of Grand Cayman, but can be used into Grand Cayman.

IAD_flyer

AA is telling me that a AA Gift Card and flight credit cannot be used in the same PNR. Is that true?

Happy

My husband has a Trip Credit from a refund of cancellation of a fully refundable ticket that was booked with paper voucher. The Trip Credit was issued on Jan 8th 2022, so it is expiring in 3 weeks.

My understanding is,

1) The Trip Credit can book travel starts AFTER the expiration of the credit (unlike the Flight Credit)
2) The Trip Credit can be used to book ticket for others. So I can use his Trip Credit for myself.

We cannot determine when we could travel next year. Can I book a fully refundable ticket as far out as possible as a place holder, then once we have an actual travel need I can then cancel the fully refundable ticket and receive a New Trip Credit to use for the actual trip?

hand_solo

Yes you can. In fact, I was told to do this by AA if I cannot use my Trip Credit in a year. You only have to make a booking within a year. The actual travel date could be later than the expiration date.

As far as whether you will receive a new Trip credit with a new expiration date if you cancel... well, we don't know for sure. So far we've seen conflicting data points. Some people are getting new expiration dates, some people are getting the same expiration dates. You only have to read a few posts above to see this being discussed.

Happy

From reading the last 10 pages, it seems all credits from cancelling a ticket would come back as Trip Credit with an expiration date either 1 year from the date of booking or 1 year from the date of cancellation - how that 1 year clock starting point is determined, is the part that has conflicting DPs.

Hence need to book a ticket as far out as possible and NOT to cancel too close to the ticket expiration date so to leave some room to book either a real trip or "roll" it again.

hand_solo

According to Holometer3D above:

I read that as the same expiration as the original Trip Credit, not 1 year from date of booking.

Happy

But if the trip is booked way pass the original Trip Credit expiration date, how can the return of new Trip Credit has the original expiration date as that is long passed?

I think the scenario that you get the original date is when the trip is canceled WITHIN the original trip credit validity period.