GUIDE to Trip Credit, Flight Credit, Travel Voucher, Gift Card, Refund
 

Gary Leff of View From the Wing has an article regarding the different forms of “currency” from American Airlines, and this helpful chart summarizing the four types, restrictions, validity etc. (Flights cancelled by the airline, or with origin or destination changed more than four hours, or with some other conditions that allow the passenger to cancel because of a fault of AA are still refunded to the passenger’s original Form Of Payment (FOP). Link.

PLEASE DISCUSS EACH TOPIC IN ITS DEDICATED THREAD

Link to thread: AA Ticket Refund and Related (master thread)

Link to thread: Requesting refund for a canceled flight

Link to thread: Goodbye eVouchers Hello Trip Credits (5 Aug 2020)

Link to thread: AA introduces Flight Credit Wallet (Aug 2020)

Link to thread: Transportation e- and paper Voucher / vouchers / "MCO" FAQ and master thread

Link to thread: AA Gift Card / Cards discussion, issues, questions (master thread)

A hat tip to Gary Leff for publishing this helpful chart.

American Refuses to Honor Cancelation Credit
 

In Oct 2019, I booked 2 tickets (1st) from BOS to BGI (Bridgeton, Barbados) at $2,606.95 each. Yes, that's a lot but it was our anniversary and we wanted a week at Sandals, where we spent our Honeymoon..
Then Covid-19 struck.
We cancelled and rebooked for November, 2020. Hey, that should have been plenty of time.
American rebooked us and even gave us $565.20 (each) back as "vouchers". The tickets were now just $2,041 each.
Barbados is quite strict on when they will start letting US tourists back on the island. Covid-19 is still rampant. So, we just rebooked for April 2021. That should be far enough out for us to still make Sandals which has a "one year" use it or lose it policy.
I'm ok if the prices may be a little more in April, so when the AA rep told us that the rebooked tickets would be an additional $859.00 each. It was quite a shock, but nothing like the shock or hearing that they refuse to allow me to use the credit they gave me for the same tickets back in April.
"You cannot use your Vouchers when rebooking tickets. I'M REBOOKING THE SAME TRIP!!!
I know the airlines are struggling, but this is ridiculous. So, my out-of-pocket is $7,000 for two tickets and I have $1,100 in Vouchers that I can't use....
Buyer beware.... good luck....

What would be the penalty incurred to cancel the booking ?

Depending on the penalty, then may be worth cancelling and rebooking

As far as honouring credit goes, if the original flight and the new flight are operating, then AA has , with its SARS-CoV-2 policies gone beyond what it needed to by giving credit for use towards new bookings

Has your current booking had any significant time changes that , if there is a cancellation fee, that the fee would be avoided

1. If AA has cancelled or substantially changed them, you may request a refund to your original form of payment, e.g. credit card.

2. If the flights are then scheduled and presuming that these are standard non-refundable tickets but subject to AA's Covid-19 waiver policy, you should hang tight and do nothing yet. Your flights may well be cancelled or changed between now and November. If that happens, go ahead and request the refund as in #1 . If it does not, simply cancel and take a flight credit.

3. When you are ready to rebook, you will have the use of your credit, but will pay any fare difference. That is and has been crystal clear since Day One of the pandemic waiver. There is absolutely no reason to book for April 2021 at this point. Discounted fares won't likely be released for a good long while and, under the current circumstances, it is doubtful that you will do particularly well by booking more than 30-45 days before departure.

But, as to your bottom line, AA does not permit you to use the credit from your first change to pay for a subsequent change. It is a very generous policy, but not that generous.

Does that mean that once an original ticket is canceled and a flight credit issued, then you rebook using that flight credit (partially or in full/with extra payment) and cannot make further reservations (3rd, 4th), and funds from the original ticket will be lost? Or, is it only relates to OP`s situation when trying to use both Flight Credit and the leftover from the original flight credit i.e. voucher?

Do you really believe that in April 2021 the Pandemic will be over? We don't know yet how effective any vaccine will be and how fast it can be rolled out.
Again, I still would be hesitant to book anything in 2021.

The latter.

Take a simple example:

1. Purchase a ticket for $500.
2. Change the date and the flight now costs $400. AA issues a credit for $100 which can be used for a new ticket,
3. Change the date again and the flight now costs $500 again. You will need to pony up $100 in new funds for the fare difference.

In OP's case, the credit for the fare difference for the first change can't be used to pay the fare difference for the second change.

Correct me if I am wrong - so, in OP`s situation (or most situations), is it better to cancel the first ticket, and get the refund in one form of Flight Credit, not changing the dates? So the funds are in one form, and not in both, which are cannot be combined.
:-)

Am I the only one wondering how an east coast to caribbean flight is 2500 dollars?

I would have done the following

1) Used a travel agent, that has a relationship with AA. Travel agents have the ability to refund directly from their computers effectively bypassing American Airlines. When COVID struck, Swiss ( my national flag carrier) was among the first to remove this feature, along with the rest of Lufhansa Group.

2) Never accepted vouchers. Since you live in the US, you should not have to, since the Department of Transportation mandateed that material changes in flights need to be refunded.

3) The agent is correct, vouchers cannot be used for add collect ( i.e difference in fare) because the voucher's value is held by the ticket number. There are ways around this but a phone agent at a call center is not going to help you jump hoops to do this.


Cut your losses and ask American Airlines for your money back. When RONA is over, rebook. As for the voucher - well use that for the next American Airlines trip.

Kind of how it works. Buried in the rules of the voucher from Vacations is this rule. We had a similar situation and Vacations did a complete cancellation — refunded to the original FOP within 7 working days and we started fresh.

if you get the right agent or supervisor they can be very flexible and helpful you to get around some of the crazy policies

Probably paid first class, albeit in domestic seats, during peak periods.

I guess it was more an incredulous rhetorical question. That's a crazy sum to fly on domestic F on an a319 or 738.

My read is that the OP cancelled on their own volition before, or regardless of, any material changes in flights, so would not be entitled to a refund.

Why not? American bottom line is unaffected. They get their $100 back.
The only way they profit is for me to never use the $100 credit. That's a poor business model and not exactly Customer Friendly...