I have a love-hate relationship with American Airlines (AA). I live in Los Angeles and they’re my primary carrier since I have Executive Platinum status, their top tier elite level since I fly so much with them or their partners.
I chose American Airlines because my primary destinations used to be Miami and New York and they service those destinations better than their competitors — especially in Business Class, which I could often get for free thanks to my status, or find inexpensive premium tickets using miles and points.
In addition, American Airlines has excellent lounges in all three of these airports and the lounges are a haven to pass time in if your flight is delayed. On top of that, the Flagship Lounges are usually staffed with knowledgeable ticketing agents who can help when plans go awry. I also love American’s social media team because if you’re in a real bind, they usually respond right away.
What I loathe about American Airlines is that they make using their flight credits and systemwide upgrades almost impossible. For the flight credits, you usually have to call and speak to an agent so it’s a total time suck. United and JetBlue make this process quick and easy by allowing customers to do it all online.
I just called American Airlines’ Exec Plat line to use some credits that are expiring soon for a HNL-LAX trip in early January. After the agent put me on hold to check with their exchange department (my credits were from a U.S. to Canada flight), she came back to tell me that the credits couldn’t be used for the HNL-LAX trip as travel would have to be completed by December 31.
What?! I politely asked for an extension and she said sorry, she couldn’t do anything about it and that I would have to contact their customer service team.
Per her suggestion, I sent American an email via their Contact Us form of their website, asking for an extension and quickly received this automated response: “As an AAdvantage member, if you have an original ticket issued between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021, the value of your unused ticket can be used by September 30, 2022 for travel completed by December 31, 2022.”
Is this not the most ridiculous airline policy or am I overreacting? First of all, Covid has been raging so we’ve been very careful about flying – especially with two little kids. Secondly, my kids are in school so it’s not like they can just take off and use them before December 31. Lastly, this whole travel credit thing is a total sham. Why do they have an expiration date to begin with?
Southwest Airlines made headlines last week when they announced that they’re “eliminating expiration dates on all Southwest flight credits unexpired on, or created on or after July 28, 2022. This additional flexibility applies to all currently valid, existing flight credits, with no action required by Customers with flight credit in the bank, and will apply to any new flight credit issued.”
Now that’s how every airline should treat their customers when it comes to travel credits, instead of some scheme to rake in more money. But unfortunately, as Southwest noted, “it’s a first-of-its-kind policy among major U.S. airlines” and so far, no other airlines have followed suit.
I purchased these tickets with my own hard-earned money and ended up rightly canceling because of the pandemic. But because we’re not able to travel by a certain date, they’re just going to keep my money? This doesn’t sound right to me.
Are you having problems using your American Airlines flight credits, too? Do you think these rules are draconian too?
I just had it happen to me, it was discovered 9 days beyond expiration and I apparently have no recourse, although my delay was health related. This is despicable and is tantamount to waste and abuse on their part. I agree there should be an alert with the onset of the expiration of the credit, better yet, why is there an end date. It is money that has already been allocated and payed for with the intent of travel by the named individual, therefore, it should be the customers right to determine when it is used. The issue with AA, is they are not playing fair in the sandbox, which is outrageous and a poor display of customer service.
Just wondering if this thread is still active and if there has/is anything being done to remedy this atrocious behavior exhibited by AA in not honoring hard earned monies paid for travel scheduled when COVID broke. I myself am out over $5000 and just found this out.
Just adding my name to the long list of people who lost $1,000+ worth of flight credit because AA says the money has “expired.” I’m speechless…
As someone who is also dealing with a similar situation, I am wondering if there has been any movement towards a lawsuit. It’s absurd that they get to keep all of our money when there was no communication on their end regarding the expiration of our flight credit.
No notifications are ever sent to us to warn us that the credits will be expired. whey you call them, they make you hold for 1-2 hrs, so you give up, and then they get to keep your money. I would definitely be up for a class-action lawsuit.
We have the same issues. Covid canceled our trip, and then our $2,500 expired, and AA wanted to keep my money. This is ridiculous. This is MY money, to begin with, and with inflation and all the rising travel costs, we no longer can afford that trip that was budgeted at $2500 3 years ago for us. Talking to AA is like talking to a wall. What gives them the right to take my hard-earned money while service is not provided!!! I loath them and am willing to spend more money with other airlines so I don’t go through this again. The amount of stress they give to me seriously I need to sue them for hospital bills!
I have 2 weeks before my refund credits expire for a flight that AA canceled leaving my wife and I stranded in Miami. I’m thinking we use the credits to purchase flex tickets somewhere/anywhere and then before that flight leaves cancel that flight (flex has free cancelation/date change) and reschedule for a flight later in the year. This oculd extend the expiration date. Any thoughts?
Similar issue on my end. I had an AA credit to use that apparently expired in March 2023. I’ve rebooked a few times, paying additional amounts. I finally had a trip planned to MIlan in Mid May, and unfortunately something important came up, and I had to cancel. I was planning on rebooking for two weeks later. Apparently, even the extra funds I paid towards my final itinerary to Milan on January 13, 2023 expired along with the original credit. I’m out nearly $4k now. It’s funny because I have another travel credit through AA from a cancelled trip prior to Thanksgiving of 2022. I’ve used portions of the credit, and the expiration keeps on getting extended on the remainder of the balance.
We have encountered the same issue, we had a trip to Peru planned that was canceled in May of 2020. The only information I received was an email indicating that the value of our tickets were safe, and never received any information otherwise that there was an expiration date. I emailed to attempt to get credit and received a denial email.
Did anyone receive any notification that the credit would expire? This information should be sent to the ticket holders and not dependent on discovery through their website, when the email I received indicated the value was protected.
I would definitely be up for a class action lawsuit.
I filed a complaint w/ the US Dept of Transportation today. Let’s see if that does anything
Same issue here! Had to cancel a Cancun trip due to traveling from US and back Covid restrictions. Had a $948 travel credit that is now expired as of Dec 2022. I found this out trying to book a trip for this March 2023. If feels like AA has stolen our money. If anyone files a class action, include me!