Repricing American Airlines Flights Is So Fun!

The only way I've been able to use AA trip/flight credit is by calling so I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I think I read in some of the terms that you needed to call in?

I agree! I used to track prices after purchasing flights to see if I did indeed get the best deal. It is much more fun now that if the price drops, I get the credit instead of the disappointment. I’ve generally had luck changing to the same AA flight but not 100%.

That's because American Airlines has terrible IT - you can do it all online or even the app on United.

Delta's process is much easier. Just select Modify flight, choose the original flight, check out, then it's all set. If there's been a schedule change, you can basically change to any flight with no extra cost as long as the origin and destination are the same and it's within 2 days of the original itinerary.

When I tried doing this with United the agent told me that it will be a downgrade fee of $50

It’s not eliminating change fees for regular flights if basic economy is ineligible and the price is the same as what economy flights used to be…

Sometimes you will see a flight credit icon on the payment screen, sometimes you will not. I have yet to figure out what triggers it, but it is annoying none the less.
I also recently ended up getting a credit due to a price drop on a LAX-JFK flight for a trip next year, and can think Google flights just as you have for the heads up.
As much crap as AA gets, your ability to cancel and rebook outperforms numerous airlines. I can literally cancel an award booking and get my miles back near instantly. Try that with Emirates, Lifemiles, ect.

I just call, tell them the price dropped on my itinerary and I'd like them to reissue the tickets and send me a credit please.

As I wrote about six weeks ago: https://viewfromthewing.com/always-check-for-price-drops-even-after-youve-booked-your-travel/

I've done this online on AA.com for months without issue. Not sure why you had a problem. AA and Delta naively allow you pick the same flight when you want to 'change'. Jetblue shows you all other flights.... United I don't fly....

Even better, refundable tickets get a refund to your credit card for the difference (if you request it)!

The chat feature in the app also works and quite simple/easy to do if you don’t want to call. They can reprice and issue the credit.

AA won't apply credit from a domestic ticket to an international ticket. So i ended up with future credit and had to pay some for my recent ticket change.

I do the same thing, just call. I’m a bit nervous to do try it online.

good to know!

I’ve done essentially this a few times with United recently - not as easy as just changing the flight to the now lower-priced same flight, but neither have I had any issues with just canceling the original flight and using the credit to rebook the same flight, while retaining the balance in future flight credits. Fun indeed!

I have been doing this a lot lately Easy to do on line if only one person on the reservation. With two - you have to call and an agent as to do.

Your flight credit (for a cancelled flight) and/or trip credits (surplus) both show in your wallet. You can apply either. Best to use the Flight credit first (this is the cancelled ticket number) - then add trips credits as needed. Or if lower, you get a new trip credit.

Depends on what agent you get. Some agents can do it and put in for ticket issues. Others have to call the ticketing desk to enter.

Again you can apply as many trip credits to add up to a new ticket. They just copy and past the trip credit number from your account. I have had trip credit auto post for as low as 20 cents - ie new ticket was 20 cents less. No issue just adding them up.

I usually don't bother is less than $10 - base on time to do for 2 people on reservation. But seems like AA ticket prices are very dynamic. I am getting back anywhere from $20 to $200.

And I always now book one way ticket. Then if the one way gets cheaper you only have to cancel the one way and not lose the other direction - since that other direction may cost more. With a RT - you have to cancel the whole ticket.

Does AA even have Basic Economy anymore? All my recent flights purchased and/or priced have regular Economy as their lowest price.

I’ve been able to reprice four or five tickets on aa.com by using the change flight option and then picking the same flights. These were all non-stop DCAMCO flights, so maybe that made it easy? Using the credits is more of a hassle (4+ hour call backs), but once they’re on the phone, it’s been cake.

Just yesterday I re-priced several upcoming hotel stays for a trip to Hawaii. Saved over $700 versus price paid just a few weeks ago. Guessing hotel bookings haven't kept up with expectations and so the hotels are lowering prices?

This all sounds great and will look into this in the future, and this may be what leads to the Airlines reinstating change fees. I like the idea of booking one way since do not save anything for RT tickets, plus most of our travel is through multi city booking. They do not really like to loose fares since this not a new customer booking, just thinking, what would an airline really think of this when planes are fuller.

The flight credit only appears if you are booking one passenger. If more than one, you have to call and hope that there is not an hours long wait, even as an elite. I missed out on a great fare for a reservation I had on hold. After unsuccessfully trying to book online before the 24 hold expired, I finally got through but the fare expired and they would not honor it despite the long hold time.

Grammar police here. It’s not “ so fun”. You have to add a preposition “ much”. I’ve noticed this recently, “ oh it was so fun” ( chew gum) and it bothers me

This is not true. If you are using "fun" as a noun, then yes, you'd need a quantifier. But if it's an adjective (which is the case here), you simply use the adverb: "so fun" (i.e., as-is).

It's like emphasizing that a house is very big. You say, "That house is so big!" You do not say, "That house is so much big!"

Oh, and "much" is not a preposition; is an adverb. If you're gonna go all "grammar police" on us, at least be right.

I saved €100 on KLM by rebooking a ticket for a flight during christmas that droped in price. Got a new voucher. So it works in Europe aswell.

tried to do this a while back, and the aa.com site would not allow the change; kept creating an error, although it was the same itinerary and lower price. decided not to wait on hold with an agent, as the hold times were long.

I use this all the time, free option. The only issue is if you have a reservation on a hold and then need to purchase it because the fare has gone up, something I also do all the time, then you have to call to apply the voucher.
You can only do it yourself on a new ticket that isn't on hold...

I’ve done the same on short- and long-haul itineraries booked thru AMEX Travel, which offers discounted AA tickets by default. Simply call AMEX Travel to receive and/or redeem travel credit. Btw, AMEX fares have been cheaper than Google Flights, Air Hint, Skiplagged, etc or even booking direct. Rumour has it that discount perk will end in 2023.

I booked a trip leaving on 12/23 through 12/27. I called American Airlines to change the time on the return flight only to be told it would be over $300 to do so. I will NEVER book with American Airlines again!!!

Just because changes fees are gone, there are still price differences in flights, because time is money. Earlier flights are less, so are the late at night "red eyes", but other times in the middle are for "convenience". I think that's a completely fair price for a time change during Christmas.

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Welcome to the repricing club. The only problem is that you May get over 20 flight credits without the ability to combine them.

Interesting, I have always set price alert before I fee a flight. I hope people changing flights for cheaper tickets does not stop them from continuing the no change fee.

UA pro tip - change to a different flight on the same routing with the new (lower) price, spitting out the credit, then change back to your original flight.

A classic definition if a bully is someone who slaps you until you cry, then tells you he won't slap you anymore. Not all the time at least.

The victim thinks the schoolyard is fun again.

It is sad how we are getting excited over something that should be normal.

Rebooking Southwest flights using points is seemless and efficient. No time frames or restrictions. Canceled points are redeposited into your account immediately and you are able to use them within security book your new flight. I recently rebooked a flight 4X getting it down from $178 to $49!

I get this same error message every time, too, & have to call an agent. MAKE SURE & save the Ticket ID to rebook or the agent might select one you dont want/later expiration.

I have also asked several times for an agent to only apply part of a ticket credit & they do all instead.

Actually that happened to me;by spirit airline.Not only I lost everything $$ From Previous ticket'
The agent get me also.
I will not recommend Spit it airline to Nobody period.

Speaking as an English teacher, that's true-ish. Much depends on what function the word is playing in the sentence in order to determine its class.

For example, in the previous sentence, I used "much" as a noun; it's a noun because it's in the subject slot of the first clause of that sentence (and hence is an adjective performing a nominal (subect) function.

"I want much more"--"much here is functioning like an adjective because it qualifies the direct object, "more." And Rob is also right--"much" can function as an adverb, as can many adjectives, depending on what they modify and where they are placed. "It was much more fun than I expected"--in this sentence, "much" modifies more, so it's an adjective describing an adjective--and when that happens, we call it an adverb. This is hard to explain to students because they've been trained to spot word classes (noun, pronoun, verb, etc), not functions (adverbial, adjectival, nominal, etc.).

Super easy. If you book the reservation on your own and put it on hold you will have to call in to use the credit.

Instead you go into your travel wallet and you'll see a chance to use your travel wallet from within and start the reservation from there and then you'll be able to use your credit.

However with the amount that you travel I would have just canceled the other reservation and left it alone and put another reservation on my credit card. Knowing very well you'll be able to use the travel credit thats sitting in your wallet in the future.

I have canceled 1 flight every week for the past eight weeks. I fly roundtrips between Boston and DC every week. This route shuttle flights on AA and jet blue, departing every 60 minutes and 30 minutes during rush hour. I purchase one ticket inbound and two outbound. I finish my work roughly at the same time, but I can get delayed at work for up to an hour some days.

Since July, I have had a revolving credit that I used to buy the second ticket. If I miss the first flight, I make sure I cancel it before it takes off. If I make the first flight, I cancel my second flight while boarding the first.
I do this all in the AA or jet blue app. In American, I go to my wallet. View my flight credit, highlight and copy the credit number. Then I search for my desired flight, and when I get to the final screen for purchasing, just above the credit card info, it asks you if you'd like to apply a trip or flight credit. I then paste the flight credit number into the appropriate box, using it to the cost. Jet blue works pretty similarly, except that when you get to the payment screen, it simply asks you if you'd like to use the funds in your travel bank. This indeed has taken a lot of stress out of traveling for work. Also, when my job keeps me longer, it's comforting to know I can take another flight without any penalties. I hope they keep this going forever. The price drops are significant also, but for someone who commutes by plane every week, this takes a lot of the stress out if frequent flying