Questions and Answers

11 of us are travelling to Ireland on May 17th. Clearly that may not happen. We purchased our tickets on July 3, 2019. American is telling us if we cancel we would have to fly on or by July 3, 2020. In light of the covid events that seems unfair and unreasonable of them. We’re being penalized for early purchase as others have to December 31, 2020 depending on their purchase date. Do we have any recourse or hope of not losing pur ticket cost if travel by July 3 isn’t possible? This is the 2nd time I regret booking with this airline.

[QUOTE=”Carolob, post: 69105, member: 6478″]11 of us are travelling to Ireland on May 17th. Clearly that may not happen. We purchased our tickets on July 3, 2019. American is telling us if we cancel we would have to fly on or by July 3, 2020. In light of the covid events that seems unfair and unreasonable of them. We’re being penalized for early purchase as others have to December 31, 2020 depending on their purchase date. Do we have any recourse or hope of not losing pur ticket cost if travel by July 3 isn’t possible? This is the 2nd time I regret booking with this airline.[/QUOTE]

HUACA – “Hang up and call agin”. I know that can be tough with the wait times. Stay calm and just explain the situation without any adjectives like “ridiculous” or “crazy”. Be like this o_O not :mad:. I would also try to DM the Social Media team at AA – @AmericanAir

Finally – you may just have to wait. Don’t cancel now, just wait until AA cancels your flight. Then ask for a refund. AA will try to get you to rebook – tell them the dates that work for YOU. When cancelling without your flights being cancelled the policy you quote above is correct. But just wait. The flights will be cancelled – perhaps even through July 3 – we have no way of knowing.

If all else fails – after May 17, if AA refuses a refund or to extend the July 3 deadline – consider disputing it with your credit card company.

I am in the exact same situation, with AA, ironically also for a trip to Ireland. We were supposed to go last week, and I purchased my ticket in May 2019. So, now I have until May 2020 to use my credit, which is essentially impossible given everything going on.

I agree that it seems unreasonable to force you to use it by that date, however, as someone who is literally arguing the same thing to AA right now, I can’t say I blame AA. I am hoping for a refund or an extension of the expiration date of my voucher, but have resolved that it may not work out in my favor and I may just lose the money. I’m only looking at around $1,000 here, and I imagine with 11 of you, you’re looking at a lot higher amount, so giving up may not be an option. My last resort is to dispute it with Chase.

With all that said – I agree with OCTinPHL’s advice above, that you should just wait. At this rate, AA will inevitably cancel your flight as it gets closer, thus making everything easier. I’m only dealing with mine now because my flight would have been last week.

Good luck to both of you. In the last week I’ve just cancelled three Int’l trips with AA and partners, but all were on miles. 2020 was going to be the year of using my stash.

One more thing (for the OP) – wait until AA cancels your flight, and then if AA won’t either provide a voucher with a date that works for you or a refund, consider filing a complaint with the DOT. By their contracts of carriage, airlines are only required to get you from A to B. That is not happening. File the DOT complaint and see what happens. Can’t hurt you. It’s not like the DOT is keeping a list (unlike CC companies which don’t like multiple disputes from the same customer).

I will say that as a lawyer I find it interesting that JetBlue is arguing that this a force outside of its control (which it is), so no no refund is due. But a court could find that portion of the CofC unenforceable as a matter of law (if cases ever make it to trial) because of the unequal bargaining power between the parties.
[URL]https://viewfromthewing.com/airlines-are-breaking-the-law-by-refusing-refunds-for-cancelled-flights/[/URL]

Carol, I just received a reply from American customer service for my situation.

“We are offering a six month ticket validity extension, for customers covered under [URL=’https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/coronavirus-updates.jsp?anchorLocation=HomePageHero1&reportedTitle=Caring%20for%20you%20is%20our%20priority.%20The%20latest%20information%20about%20travel.&reportedPosition=0&url=undefined&_locale=en_US&repositoryName=undefined&repositoryId=undefined’]our travel waiver[/URL] who are traveling in March, April or May.”

I’d encourage you to reach out to AA customer service ([URL]https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=#/[/URL]) just like I did.

Th
[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 69127, member: 1436″]Carol, I just received a reply from American customer service for my situation.

“We are offering a six month ticket validity extension, for customers covered under [URL=’https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/coronavirus-updates.jsp?anchorLocation=HomePageHero1&reportedTitle=Caring%20for%20you%20is%20our%20priority.%20The%20latest%20information%20about%20travel.&reportedPosition=0&url=undefined&_locale=en_US&repositoryName=undefined&repositoryId=undefined’]our travel waiver[/URL] who are traveling in March, April or May.”

I’d encourage you to reach out to AA customer service ([URL]https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=#/[/URL]) just like I did.[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much. All of you have been so helpful. I’ll try the link you suggested above rather than calling them first if that would be better.

As an update, when I checked my flight details online today, no details were available. I called and found that the flights for 14 of us had been cancelled by AA. I have applied for and they are processing a full refund for my individual reservation since they initiated the cancellation.