so now we have to charge it to our card, then go through the cancelation process. A lot more work on AA's part to get the same end result.

I'd have to wonder how many paxs actually take "advantage" of this (most leisure flyers wouldn't likely know it even exists) and how many actually end up booking the flight. For me 90%+ of flights I put on hold I book or at the very least book an alternative flight.

I also wonder what was the percentage of paxs that would keep holding and cancelling the same flight(s).

I just tried to put an itinerary on hold. There was no hold button.
I am not surprised. Other airlines which I fly such as Southwest and Delta do not have a hold option.

I put every flight I book on hold first. Like others have said, it gives me time to book the hotels, etc. and make sure there aren't any issues there. I end up buying around 90% of the flights I put on hold. I still end up booking a flight on AA most of the other times as well, but may pick a different date or time if meeting a co-worker and my original flights didn't match what worked for them.

And now you will not be able to.

As the character Gunny Highway said in Heartbreak Ridge, "Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome."

Regards

Where is this problematic is when you have a flight credit or voucher to use, you can no longer put a flight itinerary on hold and then have AA apply the credit or voucher.

this will create more work for AA agents….

IME, aa.com largely can handle flight and trip credits without incident in most cases. It completely breaks when you have a fare on hold and try to use a credit/voucher. Maybe this is their solution to bad IT systems

How are paper vouchers (if in fact they're still a thing) going to be handle? At least the last time I used one (admittedly years back) you had to put the flight on hold and either mail the voucher in or turn it in at the airport.

Why take this feature away?! Very inconvenient. Hope AA is equipped for the increase in phone calls it's going to be receiving.

I just made a reservation and was able to put it on hold. It was for an international trip, so I wonder if that makes a difference between being able to get a 24-hour hold or not.

This is why AA is taking away the hold option. You can apply flight and trip credits online when first booking a flight, but you can't if the trip is on hold. So trip on hold + flight credit = call to agent. AA doesn't like the equation. Rather than fixing the IT problem and allowing credits to be applied to trips on hold, AA is getting rid of the feature. Personally, I'm really disappointed because I use the hold function on almost all of my flights, and very rarely do I not purchase the flight. Of course we will adapt. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it.

Last night I was able to put a number of domestic itineraries on hold, as well.

Paper vouchers are still a thing, albeit in rare situations. I'm not sure how they'd handle it, I think you can call AA and they can put stuff on hold until it's mailed in.

I ended up with 6 paper vouchers 6 months ago and AA converted them to trip credits for me.

I tried holding a reservation today and was unable to. I called the EP desk and the Agent confirmed that last night AA officially removed the ability to hold a flight from their website.

Very strange. I still have a Hold option when I go through the steps to make a reservation.