AA Changed our Web Special Award Flights
 

I see that AA say we are not allowed to change our Web Special Award Flights, but, if they make changes to these flights, and we end up with unacceptable departure and connection times, can I demand they change us to different flights to the replacements?

The new departure time is really much too early and we have been given a short connection time. I chose the original flights we had as they had a reasonable departure time and more manageable connection time.. I'll be 75 and getting less mobile and a 6.45am flight just isn't acceptable to me.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this.

I would follow that old legal maxim: "There's no harm in asking."

Go to AA Twitter and tell them the new flights you want. They should be fairly flexible if change is 60 minutes or more.

Phone agent is YMMV. Some agent will see web special and not touch it at all (mistakenly against policy).

And whenever you call AA or ask via Twitter, just tell them there was a schedule change and the new flights don't work, ask specifically for the flights you want by number, and don't mention anything about it being a web special.

Just had a flight change on a web special. Called and changed to exactly what I wanted without the award being avalible. They have plenty of latitude in these situations.

IMO Twitter is best practice. Just had a schedule change two months ago involving a web special.

When AA does a schedule change, it will typically be loaded starting around 12:01AM Sunday Eastern. Called AA around 12:30AM. Agent saw it is was a Web Special and immediately said it will be refared before I could even indicate which new flights I wanted. Politely thank her and hung up.

Sent a DM to AA Twitter indicating schedule change and new flights and went to bed. Email confirming ticket reissued against new flights by the time I woke up in the morning. :)

If Twitter is not your thing or you don't have luck with them (honestly, I have had a bad time with Twitter lately, and it's been hit or miss), just call and put in for a call back when it's convenient for you. They will change it to a time that works for you since it was their change, as others said. It would be best to go online and find your own flight first, then tell them what you would like. As long as you keep your origin and destination, they will do it, almost always. Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice which I took on board.

I looked for suitable flights which would do the trick (not award flights), Twitter messaged them before going do bed and awoke to find a nice message saying they made the changes requested and they were in the ticketing queue.

Result! Thanks very much. I've generally found Twitter message gets results from organisations that can otherwise be difficult, from Hertz to the Spanish post office (Correos), but hadn't thought American would change flights this way so it's saved me phone calls this morning. TBH, in the past, I've found, calling from Spain to USA numbers, I get through pretty easily, when N. America is asleep!