Oct 28, 2015, 12:22 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
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:
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.
Older posts may be read here.
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.
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
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.
AA schedule changes - flight change / cancellation / refund policy (consolidated)
Dec 17, 2018, 5:18 pm
#601
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: PIT-SCE-AOO-PHL-NYC-WAS
Programs: free agent
Posts: 1,036
I got email notification that they changed my 9 AM CUN-MIA-JFK (business fare) to 7 AM. I wonder if it's doable to ask for last CUN-MIA flight on night before so i can overnight in Miami before flying to JFK.
Dec 17, 2018, 5:42 pm
#602
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 255
Worth a try. Just explain that you would rather not have to get up super early for the 7am flight and it would be more convenient to fly into MIA the night before.
Dec 18, 2018, 6:03 pm
#603
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: PIT-SCE-AOO-PHL-NYC-WAS
Programs: free agent
Posts: 1,036
Called once and luckily got myself a friendly and competent agent who happily change for me so i can overnight in MIA before long travel day to HKG.
Jan 1, 2019, 7:22 pm
#604
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Washington DC
Programs: BA GLD, AA GLD 1MM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,698
I’d booked LAX-ORD-DCA in September for travel this Christmas in first class. The nonstops were extremely expensive. Once the Christmas schedule change was loaded I was slated to arrive home 88 minutes later than planned which was not ideal with my young child. The nonstops only had full J availability but were empty based on the seat maps, I was able to get my whole party of five moved onto the nonstop. The agent did not want to do this initially because my ticket was in I, but after checking with a supervisor she did it. It was great to end up on a nonstop and the flight posted as J to my account, the EQM didn’t push me over the next threshold so it didn’t really matter.
Jan 22, 2019, 11:22 pm
#605
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
Just as a data point who may need it in future - I had a 4 sector domestic itinerary which saw equipment changes from 737 classic to 737MAX, and AA cancelled and refunded for this (after some initial challenge). Out of the 4 sectors, 3 changed to 737MAX and I used this as the reason to refund - no time or flight number changes were made.
Feb 5, 2019, 3:56 pm
#606
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: San Diego
Programs: Plat Pro AAdvantage, but defected to BAEC
Posts: 1,222
How long does it take for the info on the prefund.aa.com page to update?
I had an AA codeshare flight operated by AS that had a significant schedule change. My flight number disappeared and I was booked onto a codeshare that departed 3:50 earlier, even though AS had a flight that departed 30 mins after my original flight time. As it wasn’t offered as a codeshare, my only other alternative was a flight that departed 4:15 after my original flight, or AA offered to change my route to SAN-LAX-SEA purely on AA that would have doubled my travel time, so I opted for the refund route. The phone agent was able to cancel my flight as it no longer showed up under my trips after the schedule change (I only noticed when I got a flight change notification from the AS app) and they advised me to submit the refund request online.
It’s now 24hrs later and if I do a search on either ticket (my wife was flying with me) I get a refund request not found message.
I had an AA codeshare flight operated by AS that had a significant schedule change. My flight number disappeared and I was booked onto a codeshare that departed 3:50 earlier, even though AS had a flight that departed 30 mins after my original flight time. As it wasn’t offered as a codeshare, my only other alternative was a flight that departed 4:15 after my original flight, or AA offered to change my route to SAN-LAX-SEA purely on AA that would have doubled my travel time, so I opted for the refund route. The phone agent was able to cancel my flight as it no longer showed up under my trips after the schedule change (I only noticed when I got a flight change notification from the AS app) and they advised me to submit the refund request online.
It’s now 24hrs later and if I do a search on either ticket (my wife was flying with me) I get a refund request not found message.
Feb 7, 2019, 11:37 pm
#607
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 4,281
New rule? 4 hours max domestic layover
Hi,
I had a booking for later in May this year, and recently received a notice that my flights were changed and one of the flights got switched to a much earlier one making my layover in LAX down to less than 1hour, but my layover in SFO to more than 4 hours.
Of course with better lounges in LAX, I prefered to take the later flight out from LAX to SFO, however I was surprised when I was informed that I could not take the later flight because it was more than 4 hours after arriving in LAX (although it was 30 mins later than my original flight). They wanted to put me on an earlier one that was 41 mins earlier than my original.
In all my travels so far, I've never had such a difficult situation getting on flights of my choice after schedule changes - but what is most interesting is this not more than 4 hours rule? Is this new?
[In the end I did get an exception, so still ok]
Cheers!
I had a booking for later in May this year, and recently received a notice that my flights were changed and one of the flights got switched to a much earlier one making my layover in LAX down to less than 1hour, but my layover in SFO to more than 4 hours.
Of course with better lounges in LAX, I prefered to take the later flight out from LAX to SFO, however I was surprised when I was informed that I could not take the later flight because it was more than 4 hours after arriving in LAX (although it was 30 mins later than my original flight). They wanted to put me on an earlier one that was 41 mins earlier than my original.
In all my travels so far, I've never had such a difficult situation getting on flights of my choice after schedule changes - but what is most interesting is this not more than 4 hours rule? Is this new?
[In the end I did get an exception, so still ok]
Cheers!
Feb 7, 2019, 11:54 pm
#608
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,545
the 4 hour rule applies to pricing a domestic itinerary at the point of ticketing as a thru-fare origin-to-destination rather than the sum of the fares for the segments.
sufficiently significant sched changes & the resulting new itinerary is re-issued as an even exchange and is not subject to the original restrictions in the fare rules related to valid connection points, valid aircraft types, HIP pricing, etc.
just hang up and call again until you find a reasonable agent.
sufficiently significant sched changes & the resulting new itinerary is re-issued as an even exchange and is not subject to the original restrictions in the fare rules related to valid connection points, valid aircraft types, HIP pricing, etc.
just hang up and call again until you find a reasonable agent.
Feb 8, 2019, 4:14 am
#609
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,466
Hi,
I had a booking for later in May this year, and recently received a notice that my flights were changed and one of the flights got switched to a much earlier one making my layover in LAX down to less than 1hour, but my layover in SFO to more than 4 hours.
Of course with better lounges in LAX, I prefered to take the later flight out from LAX to SFO, however I was surprised when I was informed that I could not take the later flight because it was more than 4 hours after arriving in LAX (although it was 30 mins later than my original flight). They wanted to put me on an earlier one that was 41 mins earlier than my original.
In all my travels so far, I've never had such a difficult situation getting on flights of my choice after schedule changes - but what is most interesting is this not more than 4 hours rule? Is this new?
[In the end I did get an exception, so still ok]
Cheers!
I had a booking for later in May this year, and recently received a notice that my flights were changed and one of the flights got switched to a much earlier one making my layover in LAX down to less than 1hour, but my layover in SFO to more than 4 hours.
Of course with better lounges in LAX, I prefered to take the later flight out from LAX to SFO, however I was surprised when I was informed that I could not take the later flight because it was more than 4 hours after arriving in LAX (although it was 30 mins later than my original flight). They wanted to put me on an earlier one that was 41 mins earlier than my original.
In all my travels so far, I've never had such a difficult situation getting on flights of my choice after schedule changes - but what is most interesting is this not more than 4 hours rule? Is this new?
[In the end I did get an exception, so still ok]
Cheers!
Lengthy domestic connections now permitted to/from more cities on AA award travel?
Feb 8, 2019, 2:58 pm
#610
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Last edited by JonNYC; Feb 8, 2019 at 3:05 pm
Feb 8, 2019, 9:37 pm
#611
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: San Diego
Programs: Plat Pro AAdvantage, but defected to BAEC
Posts: 1,222
How long does it take for the info on the prefund.aa.com page to update?
I had an AA codeshare flight operated by AS that had a significant schedule change. My flight number disappeared and I was booked onto a codeshare that departed 3:50 earlier, even though AS had a flight that departed 30 mins after my original flight time. As it wasn’t offered as a codeshare, my only other alternative was a flight that departed 4:15 after my original flight, or AA offered to change my route to SAN-LAX-SEA purely on AA that would have doubled my travel time, so I opted for the refund route. The phone agent was able to cancel my flight as it no longer showed up under my trips after the schedule change (I only noticed when I got a flight change notification from the AS app) and they advised me to submit the refund request online.
It’s now 24hrs later and if I do a search on either ticket (my wife was flying with me) I get a refund request not found message.
I had an AA codeshare flight operated by AS that had a significant schedule change. My flight number disappeared and I was booked onto a codeshare that departed 3:50 earlier, even though AS had a flight that departed 30 mins after my original flight time. As it wasn’t offered as a codeshare, my only other alternative was a flight that departed 4:15 after my original flight, or AA offered to change my route to SAN-LAX-SEA purely on AA that would have doubled my travel time, so I opted for the refund route. The phone agent was able to cancel my flight as it no longer showed up under my trips after the schedule change (I only noticed when I got a flight change notification from the AS app) and they advised me to submit the refund request online.
It’s now 24hrs later and if I do a search on either ticket (my wife was flying with me) I get a refund request not found message.
Feb 10, 2019, 12:37 pm
#612
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Houston
Programs: UA
Posts: 289
About a year out I booked a business award from JRO-DOH-IAH. Today I received a notification from AwardWallet that the flight has been changed from t to t+1. I still haven't received notification from AA themselves, and the reservation details don't show up on AA.com anymore (says to call custom service). Anyways the new flight doesn't work out since I already had a flight out of IAH for the next day. QR no longer flies from JRO on the original date... nor do any other AA partners fly out of JRO in general. Is cancelling the ticket pretty much my only option? Since it's an award ticket, I assume there's a 0% chance they'll rebook me on another carrier?
Feb 10, 2019, 10:57 pm
#613
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, AS MVPG, HH Diamond, NCL Platinum Plus, MSC Diamond
Posts: 21,422
About a year out I booked a business award from JRO-DOH-IAH. Today I received a notification from AwardWallet that the flight has been changed from t to t+1. I still haven't received notification from AA themselves, and the reservation details don't show up on AA.com anymore (says to call custom service). Anyways the new flight doesn't work out since I already had a flight out of IAH for the next day. QR no longer flies from JRO on the original date... nor do any other AA partners fly out of JRO in general. Is cancelling the ticket pretty much my only option? Since it's an award ticket, I assume there's a 0% chance they'll rebook me on another carrier?
What date do you want to fly? Which flight changed? Does the carrier still fly the routing on that day? There is not enough info here to help except to suggest you call AA ASAP
Feb 11, 2019, 7:11 am
#614
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Houston
Programs: UA
Posts: 289
They are not going to rebook you on a non-OW carrier. Is a t-1 possible? Is another routing possible?
What date do you want to fly? Which flight changed? Does the carrier still fly the routing on that day? There is not enough info here to help except to suggest you call AA ASAP
What date do you want to fly? Which flight changed? Does the carrier still fly the routing on that day? There is not enough info here to help except to suggest you call AA ASAP
Feb 11, 2019, 9:32 am
#615
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 181
Welp, I had DUB-DFW-MSP award on AA metal with a nice comfortable 2:50 layover in DFW. The DUB-DFW departure time got pushed back and hour and 40 minutes and I now have an hour and ten minutes to connect in DFW I-D with checked bags. I'm pretty sure this busts the MCT, gonna be fun seeing what they come up with. I'll update after I talk to them.