My lucky American Airlines award cancellation after only an hour change

Introduction

This post is MY story of how I lucked out into getting a free award cancellation with AA after a 1 hour schedule change.  This was highly YMMV.  You may not be so lucky.  Please don’t go around saying, “This random blogger was able to do it.  I should get it too.”  I’m just giving you ONE data point.  Here is a good Flyertalk thread.

Rules on American Airlines

Here are AA’s official rules on what would qualify for a free ticket cancellation:

SCHEDULE CHANGE 
IN THE EVENT, AFTER TICKET ISSUANCE, SCHEDULE 
CHANGES ARE MADE BY AA THAT: 
(I) AFFECT A PASSENGER'S DEPARTURE AND/OR 
ARRIVAL BY 2 OR MORE HOURS; 
(II) RESULT IN THE ADDITION OF AN INTERMEDIATE 
STOP ON THE PASSENGER'S ITINERARY; 
(III) RESULT IN A SUBSTITUTION OF EQUIPMENT NOT 
ACCEPTABLE TO THE PASSENGER; OR 
(IV) IF A CANCELLATION OR A CHANGE IN EITHER AIR 
OR TOUR ITINERARY IS INITIATED EITHER BY AA 
OR IT'S TOUR OPERATORS WHICH IS UNACCEPTABLE 
TO THE PASSENGER, THE PASSENGER WILL HAVE THE 
OPTION OF CANCELLING WITHOUT PENALTY, OR 
REROUTING ON DIFFERENT FLIGHTS TO/FROM THE 
SAME OR DIFFERENT DESTINATION. HOWEVER, THE 
PASSENGER MUST PAY ANY ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS 
RESULTING FROM THE REROUTING.

Calling up AA

I had booked this flight back in February for an October flight.  In July, AA sent me a schedule change notification and rerouted me through DFW instead of CLT.  I didn’t think much of it then (this is important later) whereby I am now getting back into Seattle an hour later than my original booking.  I was procrastinating on calling them, but finally got around to doing so (a little less than 4 weeks out of my departing flight.)

I called up AA and a nice lady got on the phone.  I told her that there was a schedule change on my flight that got me in an hour later than normal that would make me miss my work meeting (this was a Monday flight.)  She quickly put me on hold to see what she could do (most likely looking for other options.)  I had actually prepared myself and noticed that my original flight had me going through CLT but this new route was going through DFW.  If she had moved me back to the CLT routing, I still would be 30 minutes later than original booking.

After 10 minute hold

After a 10 minute hold, she comes back on and asks if there were any options.  I thought it was odd she was asking ME what the options were.  I told her that she could route me through CLT, but I’d still be 30 minutes late and the only flight was a Delta flight through ATL that would get me back at noon.  She then told me that I had accepted the schedule change already.  I told her I DID NOT!  She said I had gotten the schedule change back in July.  I told her I didn’t remember getting it.  She then read my email address to me.  She got me there.  She then told me if I wanted to cancel, I’d have to pay a redeposit fee.  I had given in at this point, and so just asked her how much that would cost (I already knew the answer, but wanted her to tell me.)  I used this as a last ditch negotiating tactic since I already knew the answer from FT –  $150 + $25 for 2nd passenger.  She didn’t know the answer immediately and put me on hold again.   If she had known the answer, I would have tried to HUCA to be honest.

After another 10 minute hold

While I was on hold, I thought it over and was okay with keeping the flight versus paying the $175 fee to cancel the award.  When she back on after 10 minutes, she told me she had talked to a supervisor and was okay with letting me cancel for free.  I was actually indifferent about the free cancellation since I was mentally okay with keeping the flight.  She told me I’d be refunded the ~$10 for the TSA fees and would see my miles back in about 24 hours.  I thanked her and that was it.

Lessons Learned

While the official rules may say one thing, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask.  And play dumb sometimes!