Questions and Answers

I recently took a trip on American in which I flew from Seattle to Dublin on American Airlines in business class. My flight on the morning on May 26th was cancelled the evening of the 25th. I got a phone call which advised me they put me on a later flight but my class of service was cancelled. I wrote the following request for a partial refund and received a reply that I could apply after I completed the trip and a link. I completed the trip and went to the link. I received an immediate reply indicating I was not eligible for a refund.

The American system does not seem to address this kind of issue well. Any suggestions?

Here is my initial email:

I booked a round trip business class ticket from Seattle to Dublin with departure on 5/26/2016 at 6:30 a.m.

I received notification by phone 12 hours before flight departure that flight 1624 was cancelled and I was moved to a flight later that morning and switched to a different class of service. The other flight would get me to ORD with about a one hour layover. I was staying near the airport so I went to American and discussed the issue with them. I told them that my connection at ORD was to Dublin and I had concerns about missing my connection. The agent was able to put me on an Alaska Air flight in economy class cabin and the flight would avoid the short layover issue. There were no first class seats available.

I opted to take the Alaska flight to increase the likelihood of arrival in plenty of time for my connection. I later looked at the 11:30 flight to ORD on American and see that 12 percent of the time the flight is over a half hour late.

I checked and saw that the American price difference for first versus economy for the SEA to ORD flight was about $230.

I am requesting a partial refund due to the cabin class change. I would like to have a check issued for the applicable refund amount. The original ticket was purchased with either a credit card that expired or one that recently changed my credit card number due to a security breach somewhere it might have been used.

I have not completed the return leg of my trip. I look forward to my flight home and opted to try American due to my desire to avoid Heathrow. I fly twice yearly to Dublin and think American affords a good option for me.

I have MVP Gold Status on Alaska and fly often on your One World Partners such as British Air, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas.

I would hope that you will provide me with fare adjustment and refund due to the change in cabin class. I also hope the return flight does not involve a similar complication.

Please mail the refund check to:

Global traveler, my assumption is that AA would treat this as a voluntary downgrade. As long as the new connection in Chicago was above the minimum connection time and they booked you, AA would have been responsible for finding alternatives if you missed your flight. However, if you chose an earlier flight knowing that Y was all that was available they wouldn’t see themselves as being liable for a refund. It’s unfortunate.