Oct 28, 2015, 12:22 pm

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AA schedule changes - free flight change / cancellation / refund

The latest change policy may be read here (Thanks to MRP Alert for resource link.)
The above link appears to be broken. The latest change policy, as of June 13, 2023, can be found here.

As of March 2022:

Limited changes allowed if schedule change is 60 minutes or less.
More flexibility if schedule change is 61 minutes or more.
Refunds on non-refundable fares typically require a schedule change of 241 minutes or more.

NOTE: The Detailed Fare Rules for your ticket(s) details refundability, etc. You can read (and print to PDF, etc.) before you purchase. Regardless of fare title (Refundable, Flexible, etc.) you should read these prior to purchase.

Quote:

beachfan has shared:

I believe if it's an equipment swap, to a less desirable plane (I.e, 777 to 738) then yes, full refund, otherwise it's 120 minutes. One Mile at a Time blog covered this and referred to the contract of carriage (or whatever the linked document is called; it's titled general rules).

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...irplane-change

International Tariff (March 2023)

International General Rules

Code:

SCHEDULE CHANGE
IN THE EVENT, AFTER TICKET ISSUANCE, SCHEDULE
CHANGES ARE MADE BY AA THAT:
(I) AFFECT A PASSENGER'S DEPARTURE AND/OR
ARRIVAL BY 2 OR MORE HOURS;
(II) RESULT IN THE ADDITION OF AN INTERMEDIATE
STOP ON THE PASSENGER'S ITINERARY;
(III) RESULT IN A SUBSTITUTION OF EQUIPMENT NOT
ACCEPTABLE TO THE PASSENGER; OR
(IV) IF A CANCELLATION OR A CHANGE IN EITHER AIR
OR TOUR ITINERARY IS INITIATED EITHER BY AA
OR IT'S TOUR OPERATORS WHICH IS UNACCEPTABLE
TO THE PASSENGER, THE PASSENGER WILL HAVE THE
OPTION OF CANCELLING WITHOUT PENALTY, OR
REROUTING ON DIFFERENT FLIGHTS TO/FROM THE
SAME OR DIFFERENT DESTINATION. HOWEVER, THE
PASSENGER MUST PAY ANY ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS
RESULTING FROM THE REROUTING.

Older posts may be read here.

AA schedule changes - flight change / cancellation / refund policy (consolidated)

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Jan 7, 2016, 8:32 am

#16

rwoman

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Microwave

To my mind this comes down to how delayed you are at your destination: in this case it's DEN, so if they can't get you to DEN within 2 hours of when you'd booked without forcing you to leave earlier than you initially booked, you should be able to request a refund. As MSPeconomist also pointed out, if they changed the operating carrier on you, and cannot get you back to the originally booked operating carrier without putting you more than 2 hours late, you should also be entitled to a refund. I hope this helps.

With the JV, would it matter if it's BA or AA?

Jan 7, 2016, 8:43 am

#17

Microwave

Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures

Join Date: Jan 2008

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rwoman

With the JV, would it matter if it's BA or AA?

I believe it's a DOT rule that would permit it: if the airline changes the operating carrier, a refund can be requested and should not be denied.

Jan 7, 2016, 8:49 am

#18

LJOP

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Join Date: Jan 2016

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Microwave

I think it does. They can't get me booked onto my original carrier (which would have been American Eagle) in the two hours surrounding my original 11:26PM arrival time as the website only appears to show Eagle flights during the day (unless they add numerous stops, which I guess would be grounds for a refund). So I shall plan what I will say and then phone up( I presume the DOT rules and the change of carrier, supplemented by the arrival time change and involuntary route change).

Jan 7, 2016, 9:06 am

#19

Microwave

Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: London, England

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Posts: 9,765

Just to be clear, American Eagle is no longer an operating carrier, it is now a brand name under which several airlines operate regional services for American. The airline formerly known as American Eagle now operates as Envoy Air. Your original booking should indicate which carrier was operating your Eagle flight (could be Air Wisconsin, Compass, Envoy Air, ExpressJet, Mesa, Piedmont, PSA, Republic, SkyWest or Trans States), and that's the operating carrier that matters when arguing a change of operating carrier.

Jan 7, 2016, 9:10 am

#20

LJOP

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Microwave

Thanks, It was a PSA flight, which I guess further strengthens my case as the others seem to be Compass.

Jan 7, 2016, 10:07 am

#21

CPRich

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Quote:

Originally Posted by JonNYC

Although I agree the OP is somewhat incomprehensible, as-is, this answer makes no sense-- there are specific parameters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Microwave

Let me be extremely clear: if the OP's schedule changed sufficiently, a refund is in order.

For future reference what are the specific parameters for a sufficient schedule change on AA that requires a refund. I know UA had/has one (I have it written down somewhere - 60 or 90 minutes), but never seen it documented with AA. It's good information to know, rather than being at the whim of an agent.

Jan 7, 2016, 10:14 am

#22

JonNYC

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Quote:

Originally Posted by CPRich

Some good reading on the subject here:
https://ssc.aa.com/prmportal_enu/Age...e%20Change.pdf

Jan 7, 2016, 5:04 pm

#23

LJOP

Original Poster

Join Date: Jan 2016

Location: UK and Belgium

Programs: BAEC Gold, Miles and More, Flying Blue, VA, Accor

Posts: 51

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonNYC

Some good reading on the subject here:
https://ssc.aa.com/prmportal_enu/Age...e%20Change.pdf

Thanks, I did have an old version of that from previous changes. Needless to say, the phone call lasted under 5 minutes, although I am somewhat surprised that they did not every bother to try and reroute or argue about it.

Thanks for everyone's input. Now the task of finding a replacement (shouldn't be hard as there are better-suited flights that would have me return in first class (BA A380 via LAX or BA 789 via AUS, for under £100 extra of what I paid for business all the way). The decision of extra time in first vs a bigger screen

Jan 7, 2016, 7:07 pm

#24

CPRich

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Quote:

Originally Posted by JonNYC

Some good reading on the subject here:
https://ssc.aa.com/prmportal_enu/Age...e%20Change.pdf

Excellent resource. So it looks like 61 minutes for a refund (or an added connection regardless of delay)

Jan 7, 2016, 11:39 pm

#25

Exec_Plat

Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: California

Programs: AA EXP...couple hotels and cars too

Posts: 4,548

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortDog

There are no factors sufficient to ask for a refund. You just ask.

I think everyone missed Shorts the point:

you can always ASK.

When certain criteria are met you can DEMAND.

Jan 8, 2016, 12:12 am

#26

ShortDog

Join Date: Jan 2014

Posts: 474

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exec_Plat

I think everyone missed Shorts the point:

you can always ASK.

When certain criteria are met you can DEMAND.

Bingo!

Jan 8, 2016, 12:16 am

#27

Dr. HFH

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Quote:

Originally Posted by LJOP

... I suffer from crowd based anxiety, I would prefer to be away from larger groups of people, ....

At the risk of sounding flip, unsympathetic or sarcastic, none of which I intend, are you quite certain that commercial air travel through major hubs (e.g., DFW, LAX, JFK, LHR) is for you?

Jan 8, 2016, 2:16 am

#28

LJOP

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. HFH

At the risk of sounding flip, unsympathetic or sarcastic, none of which I intend, are you quite certain that commercial air travel through major hubs (e.g., DFW, LAX, JFK, LHR) is for you?

It's fine; I have travelled through JFK (Once) and LHR (Numerous times). The chances of me having an attack are small, but the chances of me being somewhat jumpy are high (Might not help the others around me sleep).

Jan 9, 2016, 4:09 pm

#29

krzysz

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Posts: 674

Schedule change on a code-share flight not reflected in the AA reservation

My AA flight reservation has been affected by a schedule change. The change occured about two weeks ago and it only involves domestic code share flights in Peru operated by LAN that are booked under AA flight numbers. One of the flights has a small departure time change, but the other one was completely removed from the schedule by LAN on this day. It seems that this is the only AA code-share evening flight on this day. I suppose that I will be rebooked on one of the other LAN flights that are not code-shared. However, I am surprised that the schedule change is only visible on the LAN-side whereas AA still sells tickets for this flight and both flights are listed without any changes in the AA reservation.

I suppose that I need to wait for the changes to be reflected in the AA reservation, but I am a bit surprised that code share schedule changes are not automatically displayed in the AA booking system. Are these updates periodic or should I point out the change to AA? Another thing: my current schedule has the following routing: domestic Peru-LIM-DFW-NYC. As a result of the change, my departure time will move forward by at least 75 minutes. In principle, I can still make the LIM-DFW connection, but perhaps I could ask AA to put me on the direct LIM-NYC flight (operated by LAN but with AA code-share). This flight is available in the same booking class as my original flight; it is bookable on the AA US website but not on the European website so I couldn't include it in my reservation. Are there any specific regulations about reroutings on flights not directly affected by changes? Thanks.

Jan 10, 2016, 3:54 pm

#30

ty97

Join Date: May 2008

Location: NYC

Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM

Posts: 4,516

FYI, it appears that AA updated the schedule into the April timeframe this weekend. I had a mid-April itinerary where a non-stop flight to DFW was pulled from the schedule and I was auto rebooked into a misconnect situation (would arrive DFW after my international connecting flight departed). Somehow, the auto rebook system didn't seem to think this was an issue. Since it seems to be AA's custom to wait and notify of schedule changes about ~30 days prior to departure, I would not have found out about this issue until March (if I didn't regularly check my itineraries)

So, a friendly reminder: The weekend is ending, do your weekly check of your itineraries!