If you have an upcoming reservation on American Airlines, there may be a good reason to select to keep a future travel credit with the airline rather than get a cash refund.
In this post:
American Airlines may be offering bonus ticket credits
I’ve received several reports from readers who have told me that American Airlines seems to be offering a 20% bonus voucher to those who elect to keep a future ticket credit with the airline, rather than accept a cash refund.
In other words, in situations where passengers are entitled to refunds (typically due to flight cancellations or major schedule changes), American is incentivizing people to accept a travel voucher instead, by upping the value on this.
If you had a $1,000 ticket, this means you could accept a $1,000 cash refund, or a $1,200 American Airlines voucher.
I asked an American Airlines spokesperson about this, and they didn’t have a comment to provide. Given the fact that they didn’t deny the data points I shared with them, that suggests to me that this likely is an official policy, but one they’re not publicly publishing.
American is offering a bonus to those who choose a voucher
Should you choose a cash refund or a voucher with a 20% bonus?
Assuming this policy is consistently applied for those entitled to a cash refund, should you be selecting a cash refund or keep a ticket credit with a 20% bonus? I’d say it comes down to your airline loyalty and future travel plans.
One of the positive things that American is doing is that these vouchers are valid for a year from when they’re issued, and that year is when you need to book by, and not when you need to actually travel by. So that’s potentially a pretty long window during which you can travel in the future.
Of course if you’re a once a year flyer and not loyal to American then that might not be worthwhile. However, as someone who lives in Miami and who flies American often, I’d gladly take an American voucher with a 20% bonus over a cash refund.
Of course this assumes you think American will stay in business — personally I think they definitely will, but I know others feel differently.
This could be a good deal if you fly American often
American has been mostly honest & transparent
I’ll be the first to rag on American when they screw up, but overall I have to give the airline a lot of credit for how they’ve handled changes and refunds in light of coronavirus. While airlines like United have tried to force customers into accepting vouchers, American has:
- Maintained their original policy on cash refunds in light of schedule changes and cancellations
- Has actually fairly proactively offered cash refunds to those who are entitled to them; of course they’ve encouraged passengers to maintain a travel credit instead, but frontline employees are empowered to start the cash refund process as well
They deserve a lot of credit for that, since it’s in stark contrast to what United is doing, and also in stark contrast to what most airlines around the world are doing.
American has been pretty transparent throughout all of this
Bottom line
Of the “big three” US carriers, American seems to be the first one that’s at least unofficially incentivizing customers to accept a travel voucher rather than a cash refund, by offering an extra 20% bonus.
Compare that to other airlines, which are just lying to customers about the ability to get a refund. I totally get all airlines are in a cash bind, but so are many consumers. If airlines want to keep peoples’ money even when they cancel their flights, then they need to make it worth their while.
Well done, American! See this post for more tips on cancelling flights in light of COVID-19.
After selecting [cancel flight] button, AA site explains voucher conditions and 2 buttons: [cancel trip] and [go back] with clear implication that pressing [cancel flight] will get an original flight value voucher....
Not the experience I've had with American Airlines. Two online forms and three phone calls in four weeks, and it's like pulling teeth to get a refund.
Don't trust AA with this policy. This was offered to me over the phone, and I took it. Seven days later and my vouchers arrived via email ... for the exact same amount as the purchase price, no 20% increase to be found. I called the same number I spoke with originally (800) 541-3692 and they agreed that the policy existed but after a lengthy hold, told me the were "no longer allowed to speak...
Don't trust AA with this policy. This was offered to me over the phone, and I took it. Seven days later and my vouchers arrived via email ... for the exact same amount as the purchase price, no 20% increase to be found. I called the same number I spoke with originally (800) 541-3692 and they agreed that the policy existed but after a lengthy hold, told me the were "no longer allowed to speak with refunds" and that I would have to email them all my information/dispute the amount of my voucher instead. So I'm trying to rebook flights, waiting for the voucher to appear, and now I'll have to wait longer because they reneged on their policy and are forcing ME to do the legwork to attempt to challenge that.
Thanks a lot, AA.
I had a purchased economy ticket LAX-LHR that was upgraded to Business with miles and copay. I canceled it early March. Does anyone know what my options will be when I call them?
Does anyone have any information on how long I have from the time my American Airlines ticket is canceled to when I absolutely have to redeem an eVoucher? I'm leaning towards taking the cash, but if I can extend the validity of the eVoucher by not redeeming it until a later date I would like to know :)
I just got an email answer today from American Customer Relations about the "re-book by and use by" dates of their Covid vouchers.
The good news ..... as of today they are extending the length of the voucher for an additional 6 months for the travel to be completed from the original 1 year from date of ticket issue (not travel date). In my case our tickets were issued September 5, 2019 for a...
I just got an email answer today from American Customer Relations about the "re-book by and use by" dates of their Covid vouchers.
The good news ..... as of today they are extending the length of the voucher for an additional 6 months for the travel to be completed from the original 1 year from date of ticket issue (not travel date). In my case our tickets were issued September 5, 2019 for a 1 way DFW to PHX trip on May 20, 2020. This new policy allows the new travel dates for me to go out to March 5, 2021 (for travel to be completed).
The bad news ....... the new travel dates MUST STILL BE BOOKED within 1 year of the ticket issue. So even though I can complete my travel by March 5, 2021, I have to book it by September 5, 2020.
I called AA to verify all of this (only had to wait 10 minutes for them to do the call back ..... this was great and I commend them for it) and the agent on the line confirmed it all.
Since things are still in flux, I will still hold out to nearer my original travel date to potential change anything to see if the deals get any better for me.
The agent did confirm that if my original flight is cancelled then I would get a full $ refund (no voucher).
Can anybody answer this - If I re-book to a DFW to PHX flight that they have been cancelling on a regular basis the past 2 weeks and then that flight is cancelled, do I get the full amount I paid back or what the current price is? I ask because the 1st class ticket that I bought in September for that flight (about $600) is now running about $250.
3/30 My situation: I have a flight from upstate NY to PHL to Key West. I would not be allowed into the state of FL without self-quarantining - which means I wouldn't be able to stay with my family (though, technically my name is also on the deed of the house; but that's an entirely different post about the FL governor possibly breaking the law). At any rate, I recognize that staying home is the...
3/30 My situation: I have a flight from upstate NY to PHL to Key West. I would not be allowed into the state of FL without self-quarantining - which means I wouldn't be able to stay with my family (though, technically my name is also on the deed of the house; but that's an entirely different post about the FL governor possibly breaking the law). At any rate, I recognize that staying home is the right thing to do. My flight is scheduled for Friday 4/3. it seems that the last leg of the flight has been cancelled daily for about a week now. Would I be entitled to a refund if only the final destination flight is cancelled?
If I call the day before the scheduled flight, if they aren't cancelled by the airline or if the last leg is still the only portion cancelled, would I be entitled to a refund? I do not want to fly again this year so the voucher would be useless.
UPDATE! 3/31
The situation was that I was flying ITH to PHL to CLT to EYW on April 3. I noticed that the first legs of the trip had been flying these past few days and were scheduled to do so up until at least as far as I could see on 1 April. I didn't do anything other than fret, read reddit and ask y'all questions. I figured when I saw the message on my AA page indicating that "your flight has changed"..."check back later" that eventually something would come up. I was fearful of prematurely going to prefunds.aa.com and cancelling on my own because that might appear to AA that I cancelled. SO, I lost sleep, complained to my people and remained quite anxious about this. I was going to call today since it's 72 hours before my flight but then decided I'd wait a little longer. I'M SO GLAD I DID!!! Completely out of the blue, the nicest AA representative called me. Not a robot, not an email, but an actual human who has 4000 other people to call on their list.
First, I was given the option of rebooking or getting a voucher. I very nicely said that I would not be able to fly again to EYW this year and that I would really like to get a refund. They immediately said, "sure no problem". She directed me to the prefunds.aa.com site but I said, "can we maybe take care of this (you) over the phone? I heard that site has had some errors and didn't want anything to happen; that I'd feel better to do this over the phone". She agreed and did say that there had been issues with that site.
Next, she did in fact offer me a 20% additional voucher -- not in a pushy way but as a last ditched effort. I kindly declined and said, I would be back but at this time financially, I would like the refund. Next, we went through the cancellations of both my tickets and they said it could be about 10 (or more) days for the refund to show up to my original payment method. No problem.
I wanted to share this with everyone because I know I'm just one of the many people in this situation. I think the best thing to do: wait until just before your flight and see if it is cancelled. Oh and I should mention, I had been regularly checking (hoping) that it would be cancelled and since one leg of the trip was indeed cancelled, they voided the entire trip. I didn't notice this until they called, because I had received an email just before they called me.
One last thing about the vouchers. As were talking, I said that a lot of people would probably take the voucher if it could last for 2 years. They informed me that the information on the website was confusing and that a lot of people were not understanding that in fact the voucher would be good from the day that you rebook-- so had I rebooked the flight today, it would have been good until next March 31.
I had a friendly wrap up convo with the rep who was anxious to get back to their own hometown (as they were stuck in Dallas) and said this was the first time in over 10 years they had been on the ground for more than 10 days. For someone who is in the air and traveling all over, this seemed tough.
It's a crazy world out there right now, so to summarize, my advice is to be kind to the reps, be patient and understand that everyone on the planet (essentially) is being affected by this pandemic.
two weeks prior to 3/29/20, I called and spoke to a rep, informing her that I would like a CASH REFUND back because of Covid-19. The rep informed me that I am unable to get a refund because the ticket is not warranted for the refund and for me to call back in another two weeks of closer to my flight departure date to see if the flight is still on schedule. The rep did...
two weeks prior to 3/29/20, I called and spoke to a rep, informing her that I would like a CASH REFUND back because of Covid-19. The rep informed me that I am unable to get a refund because the ticket is not warranted for the refund and for me to call back in another two weeks of closer to my flight departure date to see if the flight is still on schedule. The rep did offer me to change my date or to receive a voucher. I did let her know that I am not interested in a voucher or changing the date of my flight. On 3/29/20, I called to check on the status of my flight , the Service Representative informed me the status that my flight has been changed. I informed the representative I would not be able to attend to the flight and would like a refund back from the flight. The representative placed me on hold to see how I would be able to obtain my refund.She informed me to go on "prefunds/aa.com" to request my refund. I asked the representative what is it I need to do once I get there and she informed me that I would need to put in my flight number, which she gave me that information for both traveling parties, and then for me to put my name in I clarified I included my maiden name she informed me that it was correct. Then she stated that I would need to fill in the information that they are asking,my email and all that and then that's all I need to do. I received an email indicating my refund was in the form of a voucher,which then I called AA and spoke to another rep who then informed me their was a button that I needed to click if I wasn't interested in getting back a voucher. I informed the rep that I did not see that button and the first rep on 3/29/20 did not let me know that specific button. It was not my intention to receive a refund in the content of a voucher. I would like to have the refund back the way I made my payment.I trusted the representative to give me the correct information. However she did not. I was not aware of the screen where I have to "decline" twice in order to receive my money back. I emailed Customer Relations and have not heard anything back as of yet. I want my money back. I'm not a frequent flyer and I only fly once a year.
I had to cancel a flight with American recently. I was on the phone trying to understand the 20% bonus voucher, the associate I spoke with told me that it would be added on the backend. So I mad the stupid decision to trust her and agreed to a 100% voucher on prefunds.aa.com, I trusted that I would get the 20% since she stated to me multiple times I would. When I received my voucher...
I had to cancel a flight with American recently. I was on the phone trying to understand the 20% bonus voucher, the associate I spoke with told me that it would be added on the backend. So I mad the stupid decision to trust her and agreed to a 100% voucher on prefunds.aa.com, I trusted that I would get the 20% since she stated to me multiple times I would. When I received my voucher it was for 100% of the tickets original cost. I messaged the customer relations, and the response I got back was, that they were sorry for the misunderstanding, and that since the voucher was already given there is no additional 20% voucher that they would send. Do not trust American in giving a 20% voucher bonus.
@Michael McMahon Did you call the airline to cancel or did you go through the online cancellation process?
We booked 2 rtn tkts with American Airlines DUB - PHL due to go Fri 3rd April & american cancelled so i applied for refund. They refunded 1 tkt but sent me an email saying my tkt is non refundable and can be changed but must be used by expiry date of original tkt which is mid May??? How can 2 tkts on the same Locator number 1 be refunded and the other not &...
We booked 2 rtn tkts with American Airlines DUB - PHL due to go Fri 3rd April & american cancelled so i applied for refund. They refunded 1 tkt but sent me an email saying my tkt is non refundable and can be changed but must be used by expiry date of original tkt which is mid May??? How can 2 tkts on the same Locator number 1 be refunded and the other not & i have 6 wks left to use tkt or lose it. Is someone at American having a laugh??? Naturally i have contacted Customer services to get it sorted.
I'm trying to get a refund for my flight I booked with AA (due to take off - or not - tomorrow). However, I find information from AA absolutely NOT clear. I'm unable to fly (Europe-US) due to current US customs restrictions (never mind the rest), I don't know what happens if I do NOT cancel, and the flight is not cancelled (unlikely, but not impossible). Does it mean I'm marked as just a no-show,...
I'm trying to get a refund for my flight I booked with AA (due to take off - or not - tomorrow). However, I find information from AA absolutely NOT clear. I'm unable to fly (Europe-US) due to current US customs restrictions (never mind the rest), I don't know what happens if I do NOT cancel, and the flight is not cancelled (unlikely, but not impossible). Does it mean I'm marked as just a no-show, i.e. no refund, etc? And, while people mention that you ARE presented with an option of a refund, when you decline (twice?!) the offer for re-booking and 120% credit, I'm not at all sure this option will become available, and by that time I will have "cancelled", thus "agreed" to whatever options are available.
Ultimately, if AA don't refund my ticket, I'll be trying hard to get it refunded via my bank (chargeback?), but I'm pretty sure they won't jump to my help until I've exhausted my options of "issue resolution" with AA first. Which, given the current situation, could easily be a good few months.
No, I don't care for (extremely hard) situation airlines have found themselves in. What goes round comes round.
In August 2019, we booked a flight from New York to Rome for June 2020. And because of the corona virus we are wanting to postpone the trip until next June, so we don't fall into any of the cancel/rebook categories AA has right now. After reading all the comments I think we need to wait and see if AA cancels the flight so we can get a refund and not be bound to use them with a voucher.
What about flights booked with miles.... if I cancel flight on April 7th... do miles get redeposited in my account?
Going for the cash is a non-brainer. Should AA (or any other carrier) decide it's in their interest to enter bankruptcy reorganization as this crisis drags on, your credit makes you a creditor who'll need to get in line with all other creditors and are likely to see the value of that credit reduced or eliminated altogether.
My wife and I have AA tickets from Denver to Kauai on April 9th. At this time the flight has not been cancelled. We have no intention of going. If the flight does get cancelled are we entitled to a full refund? If it doesn't get cancelled am I to understand that we can take a credit but have to use it within in one year of our original purchase which was 1/19/20. Can someone please help me understand my options?
20% is the airline is behind CHEAP. Everyone should join hands, take the cash, and say EFF U American. Give me double, make it two years, or give me my CASH. Stop being soft on these greedy people
in these worrying times, you can be sure that american airlines have your best interests at heart. whoops, sorry about the error- please do replace "your" with "their"
From the very 1st paragraph this article had the look and feel of a corporate advertisement. And sure enough it appears to be at American Airlines publication. American Airlines has cash-flow problems. They will be trying to keep the money they have and giving incentives to keep it. The overall risk though is that they will go bankrupt and you will lose everything.
Say what you want about spirit airlines but they are great to deal with gave me a full refund on tickets very easy!
I just called to get a refund for my tickets the other day due to the time we were traveling and the corona virus. They said they are not giving refunds only letting you cancel to reschedule for free. No bonus of any kind was offered. And the person who answered the phone was rude. So I'm not sure where this information came from but it didn't happen for us.
My husband and I are still on the fence regarding our trip from Buffalo, NY to Hawaii in May. All flights were booked on aa.com. As of now, I have not heard of any cancellations of those flights. Any suggestions on the best course of action?
Forgot one thing in my story. Our original issue date was June 5,2019. We could have commenced travel prior to June 5,2020 and paid no change fee. For us that wasn't an option, that's why we took what we did.
I can confirm that this 20% voucher is being offered. The problem I see is that when processing the refund online (the only way), AA first offers you a travel credit with no 20% markup. It is only when you refuse this, because you are there for a refund, that AA offers you the 20% bonus credit. To get a refund, you have to decline the voucher offer for a 2nd time. If they wanted to play nice, why not offer the 20% from the beginning?
We have a trip scheduled for Iceland in early June. AA is currently offering change fee waivers for travel through May. Should I cancel now, wait until they extend to June, or just wait until they cancel my flight? Do you believe travel to Iceland will be safe/available in August? Thoughts?
@ Laurie Ros -- Well since there are currently no waivers, I wouldn't recommend cancelling and paying a fee. I would either wait for your flight to be cancelled or wait for a waiver. Unfortunately at this point it really is too early to predict when we'll be able to travel internationally. My uneducated guess is that it'll be 50/50 for August.
The ticket validity is one year from the date the original ticket was issued to begin new travel.
To extend your tickets validity, we are willing to make an exception and would need to exchange your unused ticket into eVouchers. The vouchers may be redeemed within one year of the issue date toward the purchase of a ticket for future travel on American Airlines or American Eagle. To make this exception, we do deduct the...
The ticket validity is one year from the date the original ticket was issued to begin new travel.
To extend your tickets validity, we are willing to make an exception and would need to exchange your unused ticket into eVouchers. The vouchers may be redeemed within one year of the issue date toward the purchase of a ticket for future travel on American Airlines or American Eagle. To make this exception, we do deduct the change fee from the amount of the voucher. This would mean that your vouchers would be for $***.** each.
If you would like to exchange your tickets, please cancel your reservation by either visiting us online at aa.com, or calling us at 1-800-433-7300. Once the reservation is canceled, please let me know in a reply email back to me and I can exchange your tickets.That was March 20,2020
March 23,2020;
Here is the voucher we promised. It's valid for one year from today and you can use it to purchase travel on American/American Eagle for anyone you choose. Ready to book your flights? Simply book your travel on AA.com. When you are ready to check out, select the "Other Forms of Payment" option on the Review and Pay page, and enter the voucher number, PIN and voucher amount to apply your credit. For further assistance, call us at 800-433-7300.
Thank you for flying American Airlines!
I suspect our original flight was canceled between March 20 and 23. On the 24th it was no longer on the schedule. I'm happy with a voucher and I guess it's our fault we lost $400.00, $200 each.
I dont get it - I wasn't even offered the choice of a cash refund when I canceled!
We are not going to be on extreme lock down thru next year, please. If so, it won't be due to virus but due to looting and riots. I automatically got a 12 month credit when I cancelled my three upcoming AA flights last week. Not sure if they will add a bonus but happy to take the credits.
Traveling in Early June to Aruba with my family, Purchased tickets in early December non refundable. Called American Airlines and they will cancel and give me a voucher. We still are planning to go to Aruba should I use voucher to buy Current tickets that have dropped $175 per person??
take the cash.
when things get back to "normal" and you need to fly, fly whatever airline managed to survive. although, american probably will- thanks to another massive bail out.
They should all emulate Viking Cruises, which offers 125% in credit voucher, transferable. The kicker, however, is that upon expiration, and the voucher remains unused, the passenger can still get a full refund at that time. That, to me, is the way to retain the business/revenue (betting that the passenger will be tempted, and will try hard, to find a way to use the credit prior to expiration). It is truly an offer no passenger...
They should all emulate Viking Cruises, which offers 125% in credit voucher, transferable. The kicker, however, is that upon expiration, and the voucher remains unused, the passenger can still get a full refund at that time. That, to me, is the way to retain the business/revenue (betting that the passenger will be tempted, and will try hard, to find a way to use the credit prior to expiration). It is truly an offer no passenger can refuse.
BTW, as a private company, Viking Cruises perhaps has a lot more leeway in being creative when it comes to business strategies.
JAL just moved my business revenue ticket from April 27 to April 26, 2020, for my SAN to Narita (transit) flight to Bangkok later, apparently going to a frequency of less than daily on this route. I cannot find any information on any fully paid business tickets on Japan Airlines and what to do with my April 26 departure bought last year. Any advice?
I booked a couple of tickets when there was uncertainty around the Coronavirus impact (around mid Febuary) and as U.S. airlines first began implementing free change policies. These tickets cost me about $40 and $70. The credit promo is certainly appreciated and while not much for my case, I'll gladly take whatever I can. To support the airline, of course ;)
What they arent telling you is if you take that voucher for 20% increase that 1200.00 flight when it gets back to normal that flight is now gonna be 1500 so u owe another 300..Take the cash screw the voucher....
For clarity, if I have a trip from upstate NY to FL next week 4/3 (Florida is refusing anyone from NY in without 14 day isolation --and that means not staying with family whom I am visiting); is it better to cancel online or wait to see if some or all legs of the flight will be cancelled? I see that most flights through CLT have been cancelled this week. Not sure what will happen...
For clarity, if I have a trip from upstate NY to FL next week 4/3 (Florida is refusing anyone from NY in without 14 day isolation --and that means not staying with family whom I am visiting); is it better to cancel online or wait to see if some or all legs of the flight will be cancelled? I see that most flights through CLT have been cancelled this week. Not sure what will happen next week...
If I cancel online, are you saying I will see the option for a voucher or for a refund? What if I don't cancel online and a portion of the trip is cancelled by AA, can I get a refund? What is the better course of action for getting a refund?
@Lucky said: If you had a $1,000 ticket, this means you could accept a $1,000 cash refund, or a $1,200 American Airlines voucher.
Smart idea, but not enough.
Still BIZZARE that I have to call and ask that my miles go back to my account for a previously cxld trip. No luck getting thru to their call center, understood. Should happen automatically and not have to be done by the agent.
Take the refund. You never know when you’ll be able to use the voucher but the refund can be used for anything.
Get your cash and run. Airlines are like banks. LIARS!!
Doesn't this mean if I want to purchase a $240 ticket, I should just buy a $200 ticket, cancel it, get a $240 voucher, and then book my originally desired itinerary?
I want to thank American Airlines for getting me out of Barcelona Spain on March 19th. After BA left me with no flight after not allowing me to move my flight home up a week without a 28% surcharge on my roundtrip ticket. BA promised me my flights were good until 36 hrs. before takeoff and then cancelling them late in the evening by email, while not cancelling them in their flight computer.
American...
I want to thank American Airlines for getting me out of Barcelona Spain on March 19th. After BA left me with no flight after not allowing me to move my flight home up a week without a 28% surcharge on my roundtrip ticket. BA promised me my flights were good until 36 hrs. before takeoff and then cancelling them late in the evening by email, while not cancelling them in their flight computer.
American employees were great, polite, helpful, professional. I will be looking to AA for my travel needs in the future. THANKS
I’m definitely in the cash camp. I want total flexibility when rebooking, especially now. No one can know how long this will last and not sure how these vouchers work. The old ones were almost useless.
So we should expect AA fares to increase by about 20%, once travel starts again.
Update to Ben's original story: The AAgent I am just finishing up with had not heard of a 20% bonus for taking a voucher instead of cash, but she checked with a supervisor who confirmed it was true, BUT it's only for those who cancel online, not for those who call in. The reason given: They are trying to reduce the call volume.
Henry LAX prefers UA's solution: 1) no refunds and 2) a 0% goodwill credit for going that route. So easy to defend!!!
I would gladly welcome AA's offer should UA offer it - but they are a follower and not a leader, so I have my doubts.
@Kay - The outbound flight was already cancelled, so AA customer service said they would redeposit the SWU before I get the refund (which I'm hold for now). She confirmed that they are generally adding an extra 3 months to the expire date, and she said it would be 4/30/21, so I think I'm good. THX!
@Jeff
Yes, I’ve heard that Aer Lingus in offering 10% bonus, but the voucher is good for 5 years.
@Disco - The SWU won't be redeposited until you cancel the ticket. AA redeposited by expired SWU and extended the expiration to April 30, 2020. AA are allowing use of the SWU beyond expiry as long as the upgrade is confirmed prior to instrument expiration.
@ Ben (Lucky), or anyone with a similar experience...
I have a roundtrip LAX-LHR ticket scheduled for late April/early May. I used a systemwide to upgrade the outbound when I ticketed in January. The systemwide was supposed to expire 1/31/20, but I was able to apply it to this trip without a problem. I also dropped from Exec Plat to Plat (lifetime) with the start of the new year.
I called AA a couple weeks...
@ Ben (Lucky), or anyone with a similar experience...
I have a roundtrip LAX-LHR ticket scheduled for late April/early May. I used a systemwide to upgrade the outbound when I ticketed in January. The systemwide was supposed to expire 1/31/20, but I was able to apply it to this trip without a problem. I also dropped from Exec Plat to Plat (lifetime) with the start of the new year.
I called AA a couple weeks ago, as the conference I was attending has been cancelled. The agent told me that the flights had not cancelled and there was no advantage to cancelling before the flights cancelled -- under the scenario in Lucky's story, he may have been right. I also asked about what would happen with my SWU, he said it would be up to AAdvantage Customer Service, but he didn't know what policy they would have.
The outbound flight for this itinerary has now cancelled. I have not received notification from AA -- I caught it when I looked at my account today. There is no evidence of the SWU being re-posted to my account.
Anyone have any experience on what AA has been doing along these lines? Surely I'm not the only one in this boat. Now waiting for my callback (in 34-47 min!) from AA....
When canceling a trip online that is eligible for a refund, you’ll be presented with the offer via the prefunds website. Note, the default option is a travel voucher. If you decline that option, you’ll then be presented with the 20% bonus offer which you would then need to decline to request cash. Note, the interesting thing is the voucher is valid 1 year from issue date (no mention of ticketing date).
(1) they keep your money for extended periods of time
(2) if you end up unable to travel within validity period of the voucher, for whatever reason, funds expire, and they won it all
(3) if you only rebook with a small portion of the funds, and can't use the rest, they won the abandoned portion
(4) if you rebook with small portion for 1st trip, and want to use the remainder...
(1) they keep your money for extended periods of time
(2) if you end up unable to travel within validity period of the voucher, for whatever reason, funds expire, and they won it all
(3) if you only rebook with a small portion of the funds, and can't use the rest, they won the abandoned portion
(4) if you rebook with small portion for 1st trip, and want to use the remainder for a 2nd trip, they might have footnotes listing only 2nd trip or beyond require the usual change fee
(5) if you rebook with more than the face value of the voucher and need to pay the difference, they earned your ADD COLLECT.
and THIS, is how people fall for AA's trap.
Please explain how vouchers work (global article, or update to existing article about airline policies, would be great). Is it a one time use with any remaining value forfeited, or can it be used for multiple trips? Can it be used for someone other than the originally ticketed passenger? Can multiple vouchers be used to purchase a single trip in the future?
@ Hepworth -- Good topic for another post. Generally speaking it has to be used by the same traveler, and it can be used towards multiple tickets. You can also apply multiple vouchers towards a single ticket, as far as I know.
Expiring currency that can only be spent at one company---and in this case, a company that is circling the drain--- is not worth just a little less than cash. It is worth a LOT less. Maybe if they offered a 1000% premium rather than a 20% premium..
My friend had a flight through Aer Lingus and they *only* offered her a credit + 10%. A nice incentive, but still shitty to not get money back.
Passengers with cancelled flights are unsecured creditors of the airlines. I bet you don't see other unsecured creditors taking "credits" from the airlines. There's a good reason for that. It's stupid.
The only creditors who accept credits like this are those who (a) are secured, so they're already senior to the other schmoes, or (b) they are already hosed, so they have nothing to lose.
You're an idiot not to take the cash and run.
Take the cash. I'm about to lose $1,200 because I booked it in June 2019 for an October 2019 trip, and then changed it until April 2020 and now canceled.
I wish I never canceled it at all. Will look into reinstating, to see if it later gets canceled.
Ben, sorry a bit off topic maybe.. in order to qualify for a free award cancellation on AA due to departure time change... What's the rule here? What would they consider allowable time change to process the refund?
Thanks
BA vouchers are 1 yr fm date of voucher issue, not from original tix purchase. No bonus.
I'm with others on this one - this would be okay if they extend the life of the vouchers beyond the typical one year from date of purchase date. While some of this is for personal reasons (my job responsibilities won't allow for any travel for about eight months beginning this fall), there is the more macro-level unknown of when things will be normal enough to allow for any travel going forward for everyone.
They really should extend the vouchers well into next year. There's no telling when things will get back to normal.
If the voucher is only usable once and any value renaming on the voucher after use is forfeited, then I'd just take the cash refund. There's a lot of uncertainty for both international and domestic travel right now such that I'm not sure a voucher above a certain dollar amount will be usable in a manner that would result in any net benefit. At least not in the next 4-6 months, probably.
My biggest issue/concern with taking a credit is the expiration dates on those credits. No one has any idea how long this will impact us and when things will get back to normal. If airlines were to offer the airline credits w/o expiration I would be somewhat more inclined to accept them although obviously a full refund would still be more preferable.
I'd only consider this if they had the voucher valid until 12/31/2021. I'm not sure we'll be through this by March 2021, assuming they even had a 1-year expiration. I think Delta is only giving until 12/31/20 (not even a year) for their eCredit vouchers, which I personally wouldn't take although with Delta you may not have any choice.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/First-ever-direct-El-Al-flight-to-Australia-evacuates-stranded-Israelis-622120
READ!!!!!
CASH IS KING
Wizzair has the same policy.
Right now I wouldn't wait to cancel, I'd do so ASAP because it is clear that Trump wants businesses to return to normal. If that happens, airlines may not give those that would prefer to stay safely at home the option to cancel w/o significant penalties.
Now for those who don't mind the risk that may be ok, but for many others it wouldn't be.
I don't know the likelihood of it happening but...
Right now I wouldn't wait to cancel, I'd do so ASAP because it is clear that Trump wants businesses to return to normal. If that happens, airlines may not give those that would prefer to stay safely at home the option to cancel w/o significant penalties.
Now for those who don't mind the risk that may be ok, but for many others it wouldn't be.
I don't know the likelihood of it happening but I think it would be foolish to ignore the possibility. Right now the world is messed up with incompetent and scared leaders and common sense is out the door.
Online, or only with an agent on the phone?