Help with getting refund from American Airlines

[Dar28]

We cancelled our Caribbean B2B cruises and now need to cancel our flights. They require medical documentation for a refund however with the Canadian travel advisory for non essential travel and Omicron we thought that may be enough proof. Any suggestions on what to do? We don’t want another credit since we have so many other airline credits from cancelled cruises. 

[lots-of-km2]

@Dar28,  having used AA a lot, I know that only some tickets are eligible for a refund. Have a look at the terms and conditions that were issued with the ticket.  The T&C's are very specific about the reasons and documentation needed for a refund rather than a credit.  If you're not following those T&C's to the letter, your chances of getting a refund are dicey. 

 

Of course, you can always phone AA and plead your case -- customer service agents might have some discretion to refund rather than to credit.  I dunno, worth a try. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by lots-of-km2

[Fouremco]

While I applaud your initiative, I highly doubt that a US airline is going to give you a refund for cancelling flights to and from the US on the basis of a Canadian Level 3 travel advisory. Still, no harm in giving it a try, I suppose.

 

BTW, when did you book your cruise and flights? If either was booked at the time that non-essential travel and cruise advisories were in place, it would make justifying your refund based on the travel advisory rather difficult.

[Tango99]

19 hours ago, Dar28 said:

We cancelled our Caribbean B2B cruises and now need to cancel our flights. They require medical documentation for a refund however with the Canadian travel advisory for non essential travel and Omicron we thought that may be enough proof. Any suggestions on what to do? We don’t want another credit since we have so many other airline credits from cancelled cruises. 

I’m pretty sure that if you have to opt for a credit you can transfer it to someone else on AA, maybe other airlines as well. And it’s good for a year, and any ticket you book on that ia good for a year so you might end up using it. 

 

 

 

[Atlantic Girl]

Just a bit of info. We had flights booked with United Airlines for our March cruises. We had paid in US dollars as we have an US Visa card and we got a better exchange at the time. We cancelled the March trip in January, and cancelling the United Airlines flights was so simple. Filled out an online cancellation form and I attached a pdf of the Canadian Travel Advisory page as our reason for asking for a refund. We had non refundable tickets and within 2 weeks the full fare was credited on our US Visa card. Pretty impressive customer service by United. 

[DirtyDawg]

OP I recommend you try what @Atlantic Girl  did. Couldn't hurt if you mention that United is giving refunds. 

[Dar28]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:40 PM, Atlantic Girl said:

Just a bit of info. We had flights booked with United Airlines for our March cruises. We had paid in US dollars as we have an US Visa card and we got a better exchange at the time. We cancelled the March trip in January, and cancelling the United Airlines flights was so simple. Filled out an online cancellation form and I attached a pdf of the Canadian Travel Advisory page as our reason for asking for a refund. We had non refundable tickets and within 2 weeks the full fare was credited on our US Visa card. Pretty impressive customer service by United. 

Thanks, Atlantic Girl, and all others who gave me suggestions.
 

FYI I cancelled our flights online first. Then went to REFUNDS, entered my ticket#, last name and reason for cancellation. I chose Involuntary cancelled flights then I had a Very small window to write comments. I wasn’t able to download the PDFs of the actual travel advisories though. So I explained I had to cancel my b2b Caribbean cruises and flights due to Canadian advisories. I then gave the website Travel.gc.ca for them to see.

I did this Monday afternoon and just  received our refund confirmation email this morning! ,Wednesday.
 

YAHOO ! I should see our refunds on our Visa within 7 business days!

 

Thanks againfor all of your help and hopefully this helps others as well.

 

Happy cruising and stay safe!

 

 

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, Dar28 said:

Thanks, Atlantic Girl, and all others who gave me suggestions.
 

FYI I cancelled our flights online first. Then went to REFUNDS, entered my ticket#, last name and reason for cancellation. I chose Involuntary cancelled flights then I had a Very small window to write comments. I wasn’t able to download the PDFs of the actual travel advisories though. So I explained I had to cancel my b2b Caribbean cruises and flights due to Canadian advisories. I then gave the website Travel.gc.ca for them to see.

I did this Monday afternoon and just  received our refund confirmation email this morning! ,Wednesday.
 

YAHOO ! I should see our refunds on our Visa within 7 business days!

 

Thanks againfor all of your help and hopefully this helps others as well.

 

Happy cruising and stay safe!

 

 

I really didn't think you'd be successful, but I'm very happy to be wrong! Well done!

[Dar28]

4 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I really didn't think you'd be successful, but I'm very happy to be wrong! Well done!

Yes, especially since they were non-refundable tickets bought May 2021. 

[Potstech]

We are still waiting airline refunds from 2020 from rwo airlines.  One US and one Canadian.  Good luck with that.

[Dar28]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:58 PM, Potstech said:

We are still waiting airline refunds from 2020 from rwo airlines.  One US and one Canadian.  Good luck with that.

Oh, no, that is taking way too long ! Maybe you should resubmit your request again. Did they give you a credit at least? ! I put the request in on Monday and Visa was credited on Friday! 

[lots-of-km2]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:43 PM, Dar28 said:

Yes, especially since they were non-refundable tickets bought May 2021.

I'm glad and impressed that you were able to get a refund. This thread is going to be my go-to now if I have trouble getting a refund from AA.  Thanks! 

[gubby]

Just used your example Dar28 to try to get refunds from both AA and United for flights I cancelled when the latest travel advisory was issued in Dec. I received a flight credit but would prefer cash back to my CC, as we don't necessarily want to plan flights within the time limit the airlines give us. I hope I have the same success you did.

[Dar28]

15 hours ago, gubby said:

Just used your example Dar28 to try to get refunds from both AA and United for flights I cancelled when the latest travel advisory was issued in Dec. I received a flight credit but would prefer cash back to my CC, as we don't necessarily want to plan flights within the time limit the airlines give us. I hope I have the same success you did.

I hope that you have the same success, too.  Since I booked directly with AA rather than my TA , I mentioned my ease of getting my refund to my TA .She told me that she is having no problem with getting refunds from the airlines right now especially with Omicron and Canadian advisories. I suggest that everyone apply for their refunds ASAP. 
Glad that this thread could be of help to you. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Potstech]

On 2/5/2022 at 9:29 PM, Dar28 said:

Oh, no, that is taking way too long ! Maybe you should resubmit your request again. Did they give you a credit at least? ! I put the request in on Monday and Visa was credited on Friday! 

No credit no nothing.  Have even filled a complaint with the Dept of Transportation.  Basically everyone is blaming everyone else.  By the time I went to credit card company they said it was to late.  This was at the begining of Covid and the nightmare began. We have heard other stories from our TA.   Unfortunately we have written it off as lose and will never fly West Jet again.

[Dar28]

40 minutes ago, Potstech said:

No credit no nothing.  Have even filled a complaint with the Dept of Transportation.  Basically everyone is blaming everyone else.  By the time I went to credit card company they said it was to late.  This was at the begining of Covid and the nightmare began. We have heard other stories from our TA.   Unfortunately we have written it off as lose and will never fly West Jet again.

I can’t imagine your frustration with this!!! We decided to cancel our September 2020 New England/ Canada cruise out of Boston, knowing that Canada wouldn’t allow cruise ships in. Therefore I cancelled our West Jet flights in June 2020 and was able to get a credit. I can’t remember what I did because they weren’t refundable tickets.  I thought that I heard that our Canadian airlines HAD to give refunds especially in the beginning of Covid in 2020. I guess I was wrong. So sorry about your failed attempts. 

 

 

[cdn_tbird]

52 minutes ago, Potstech said:

By the time I went to credit card company they said it was to late.

How's your relationship with the issuing bank? That seems to be the standard response from CC companies during Covid.

 

Similar thing happened to me, and they wouldn't budge even when I showed them emails with the company and the fact that they ghosted me which is why I didn't call the CC sooner. After that call I got a hold of our account manager at the branch and after a few days I got two calls back, one from the CC and the other from the bank's head office both offering $250 each as a "goodwill" gesture. Since it was for a service, it almost covered everything we were owed on a pro-rated basis. We're not wealthy by any means but we have enough business with them for long enough that they don't want to give us a reason to move our business. Worth a shot.

Edited February 8, 2022 by cdn_tbird
additional info

[bookbabe]

I tried filling out the AA form as mentioned previously to try to get a refund instead of a voucher for my December AA flight that we had to cancel.  Submitted the form Friday, got a “denied” email just now.  Ah well, it was worth a shot.

[Dar28]

5 hours ago, bookbabe said:

I tried filling out the AA form as mentioned previously to try to get a refund instead of a voucher for my December AA flight that we had to cancel.  Submitted the form Friday, got a “denied” email just now.  Ah well, it was worth a shot.

Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe since you already were given a credit,  they denied you. What about phoning AA and make sure that you talk to a supervisor.? But I’m sure you’ve tried that already. 

[bookbabe]

18 hours ago, Dar28 said:

Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe since you already were given a credit,  they denied you. What about phoning AA and make sure that you talk to a supervisor.? But I’m sure you’ve tried that already. 

Yeah, but thanks.  It’s only a small credit, since it was just a one-way flight for one person, so it’s not worth going to a lot of hassle.  I’d just hoped that since others were getting refunds we might luck out.  Ah, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained…