American Airlines have made some changes to their 24 hour refund policy. As long as your ticket is booked/issued two days prior to depature and cancelled within 24 hours:
- Tickets cancelled within this window will be automatically refunded. Filing a request is no longer required (does not apply to tickets purchased via a third party)
- Award bookings can also be cancelled and miles reinstated without penalty (including partner bookings)
Previously American Airlines required you to file a request to receive a refund and award bookings were not covered by their refund policy. As asked in the comments, the hold period rules are currently staying the same.
Hat tip to @xJonNYC
Previously got burned by the caveat that award bookings were not refundable within the 24-hour window. My Mom foolishly booked a domestic award at 20k, and I intervened a few hours later, only to find that it could not be redeposited without a hefty fee. Too bad this policy wasn’t around then.
So if I book an award trip for December right now, then cancel within 24 hours before flight leaves, they will just put the award points back? No more $175 fee? That’s a big development.
The 24 hour window refers to booking, but travel. So if you book a December trip right now, you’ll have 24 hours to cancel and get your miles back without having to pay a fee.
i dont believe anything AA says. they are total BS. sounds too generous. this crap will get raped too. even when you are EXP, their CSRs are dumb. let see how well this policy is enforced.
After speaking to a rep for an international award, she said if you need the points refunded by the day of your trip. Fee would be $150 for first ticket, $25 for every other ticket on the itinierary. Full refund of points would be established.
I was also able to get a 96 hour hold on an award I didn’t end up getting.
Also, she said shes excited to announce that sooner than later they will allow partner airlines to be booked on AA.com website to ease their call centers lol.
Is this on top of their 72? hour hold period?
Hold period is staying the same, added to post.
Filing a refund request was tpain for itinerary with multiple traveler. Did a cancellation in January and had to do each traveller separately. Glad no longer the case.
Are they changing they way they refund tickets purchase using gift cards??
Currently they mailed you a new voucher which takes forever to come….
Not sure, sorry.
So if you cancel a ticket that was paid for with a gift card, they send you a voucher to cover the amount used from the gift card?
Yes
I just tweeted AA about refund paid with Gift card.
This is the response. “the refund will go back to the gift card. Please allow 7-10 business days for the process. “