hkcj

I have a round-trip flight with AA and I'd like to cancel the return leg only. I have a couple of questions about this:

1. Is it predictable how much I'll get back for such a cancellation?
2. Is it better to do it now, or after I've taken the outbound leg?

(Note that my intention when I booked the flight was to take both legs).

Also - are travel credits (flight credits?) valid for one year of my booking, or the cancellation?

Often1

Not only predictable, but ascertainable. However, it may or may not be 1/2 of the fare paid. You can see the segment fares in the e-ticket receipt fare construction line(s) or call AA. The ensuing credit is valid for one year from ticket issue.

JJeffrey

Whether it's better to cancel now or wait until after you've flown the outbound depends on what the itinerary is and how much you originally paid vs. how much it would cost to buy a new one-way ticket on your flight.

If you originally paid $250 for the roundtrip but a new one-way would be $300, then wait till after you fly to cancel, otherwise AA will hit you for the $50 fare difference.

And vice versa, if you originally paid $250 but a new one-way is $100, then changing now should result in a credit back to you.

hkcj

Thanks - I can't find the fare construction on the initial receipt, my web "print receipt", or the email I had AA send me about the flight. Is there a way to get it without calling?

mvoight

All of the flight credits I have expire Dec 31, 2021, even for the flight I canceled last week
E-Vouchers expire a year after issue

hkcj

Interesting. My real hope was to use a Southwest flight credit that was expiring for the same leg, but unfortunately their flight credits don't work that way. (And I missed their "book and cancel to extend" loophole )

TravelerMSY

The fare construction line is long gone from my AA receipts. I haven’t seen it on there in years.

I recently cancelled a return after departure and the travel bank shows the value as “—“ Guess I have to call.

mvoight

Call and asked what happens if you have to cancel the segment If it will cost you, don't cancel in that call.

hkcj

Thanks. I have to say, I'm very impressed by the way United handles this - letting you change or cancel individual legs online. My flight doesn't even show a "change" option at all on AA.

Antarius

AA's IT systems leave much to be desired.

USFlyerUS

Definitely double check with AA. On some tickets, when you cancel only the return portion of a roundtrip, the return portion can only be used on the original routing. I've never seen that turn into a credit of some sort I can use on a completely different ticket with a different routing. However, I haven't done this in a while, so perhaps things have changed.

mvoight

COBOL programmers are hard to come by nowadays....... I lost my cards with the PROCEDURE DIVISION

hkcj

Good to know. The only reason I wanted to do this was to use an expiring credit from another airline for the return leg, but I got the dates wrong so that's not an option anyway.

stallion114

Have a roundtrip flight booked.
I flew to my destination already and the return in on Sunday.
Flight was 720 roundtrip and based on the miles earned from the first segment it looks like the fare contruction was about 50/50.
I noticed that the same flight I am booked on is now available on miles for 9K oneway.

Can I cancel the return portion after I have flown the outbound segments and get a travel credit or refund and just rebook it on miles?

xliioper

Just because it is split 50/50 doesn't mean anything. They could still be fares with a roundtrip booking requirement and you just got the same roundtrip fare for both outbound and return flights. You still have a fare in each direction with roundtrip fares. They just have a roundtrip booking requirement as part of the requirement to book them. Without knowing route, can't really determine much here. There's also a chance they will reprice the outbound flight when just cancelling return even if they are one-way fares (it depends on the fare rules -- AA domestic rules look to be more liberal for keeping original fare when changing return before departure). If it's a route with only one-way fares, it can often be better to book them as two one-way's instead of a roundtrip for this reason if you think you might change one flight or the other.