American Airlines - credit from nonrefundable to buy refundable?

[MeridaAndAngus]

My scenario: A month ago we bought nonrefundable, somewhat expensive tickets on American Airlines to take an end of summer vacation. Long story short, we had to cancel our trip. As I understand it, based on my previous experiences with American Airlines & conversations with the AA agents, I can reuse the amount of our nonrefundable tickets up to one year from the date we booked them, but they will take out a $200 change fee per ticket, and we'll have to pay the difference in fare.

We are looking to possibly take a trip to the Caribbean for Thanksgiving using our credit from these tickets (we've got 'em, might as well use 'em!). The fare I'm looking at now is refundable.

My question is, if I use these nonrefundable tickets, to buy what is now a refundable fare, will the new tickets be refundable? There's a slight chance my husband won't be able to travel for Thanksgiving due to his work, but we won't know for sure until about a week before the holiday weekend, and if I wait to book the tickets then the prices and availability will be terrible.

I'm assuming this is a "loop hole" that doesn't really exist, otherwise I assume everyone would just go book a new refundable ticket and get (most) of their money back from changing their nonrefundable ticket into a refundable. But maybe this is an option? I understand we'd be out the $200/ticket fare change if we had to cancel again, but if we are booking refundable tickets, would we be able to get the fare we paid on those tickets back if we had to cancel? Or does the ticket retain it's original designation code as a "nonrefundable fare" even though we'd be paying for refundable tickets?

 

[tinka-belle]

The original amount of your nonrefundable tickets remains nonrefundable on those new (refundable) tickets. Any subsequent changes would also be nonrefundable AND would retain the original "use by" or "complete travel by" date from the original ticket credit.

 

[MeridaAndAngus]

The original amount of your nonrefundable tickets remains nonrefundable on those new (refundable) tickets. Any subsequent changes would also be nonrefundable AND would retain the original "use by" or "complete travel by" date from the original ticket credit.

Very helpful - thanks!

 

[Judyat]

One of many reasons I prefer to fly with Southwest whenever possible. They give you a year from when your booked to rebook if you need to change or cancel and no fees to do that. No baggege fees for first 2 bags. Easy to rebook online if your flight goes down in price.

 

[Anthony1971]

One of many reasons I prefer to fly with Southwest whenever possible. They give you a year from when your booked to rebook if you need to change or cancel and no fees to do that. No baggege fees for first 2 bags. Easy to rebook online if your flight goes down in price.

Most people are aware of Southwest policy's however Southwest is not an option for a lot of airports and others like to have an assigned seat... Should you fly America or a premium frequently and I will now include JetBlue you can be sure what they give you for free far exceeds what southwest offers. I will however agree southwest is a good option for the those who have access and do understand the downfalls.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Most people are aware of Southwest policy's however Southwest is not an option for a lot of airports and others like to have an assigned seat... Should you fly America or a premium frequently and I will now include JetBlue you can be sure what they give you for free far exceeds what southwest offers. I will however agree southwest is a good option for the those who have access and do understand the downfalls.

I beg to differ. I fly AA and SWA a few times per year and I can't say anything AA gives for free "far exceeds" what SWA gives. AA gives a drink. SWA gives a drink and snack. SWA does not have specific seat assignments but in the 30+ times we've flown them, we've never been separated.
They still allow 2 bags free per person. That means my family of 4 can bring 8 bags, not that we ever do but we could if it were a big trip. Those same 8 bags on AA would cost us $480. If we had to change dates, AA would charge us $800.
I'm just not seeing the bargain here on AA just so I can pre-select my seat assignment. Likewise, I don't see the downfalls of SWA.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My scenario: A month ago we bought nonrefundable, somewhat expensive tickets on American Airlines to take an end of summer vacation. Long story short, we had to cancel our trip. As I understand it, based on my previous experiences with American Airlines & conversations with the AA agents, I can reuse the amount of our nonrefundable tickets up to one year from the date we booked them, but they will take out a $200 change fee per ticket, and we'll have to pay the difference in fare.

We are looking to possibly take a trip to the Caribbean for Thanksgiving using our credit from these tickets (we've got 'em, might as well use 'em!). The fare I'm looking at now is refundable.

My question is, if I use these nonrefundable tickets, to buy what is now a refundable fare, will the new tickets be refundable? There's a slight chance my husband won't be able to travel for Thanksgiving due to his work, but we won't know for sure until about a week before the holiday weekend, and if I wait to book the tickets then the prices and availability will be terrible.

I'm assuming this is a "loop hole" that doesn't really exist, otherwise I assume everyone would just go book a new refundable ticket and get (most) of their money back from changing their nonrefundable ticket into a refundable. But maybe this is an option? I understand we'd be out the $200/ticket fare change if we had to cancel again, but if we are booking refundable tickets, would we be able to get the fare we paid on those tickets back if we had to cancel? Or does the ticket retain it's original designation code as a "nonrefundable fare" even though we'd be paying for refundable tickets?

OP, I would look into trip insurance. That will cover you for any non-refundable costs. I always buy from insure my trip dot com.
I don't always, but have often bought policies that cover "cancel for work reasons" so if your dh has to work at the last minute you can file a claim. That is whether you go without him or not. You may have to date the original first booking date as the date you first bought those tickets that you cancelled. I would call to ask. The only instance where this date might be important to you is if you have a pre-existing conditions that you want covered. For those, you usually must buy a policy within 15 days of first deposit/payment on a trip.

If you should ever need medical care in a foreign country, it covers you too. Not that I sit around thinking of sad things that might happen but I do work in a hospital and so many unplanned things happen. Sometimes smack in the middle of people having a nice time. Dh has an awful family history for heart disease so I figure if he ever has a heart attack, I wouldn't want to be worrying about how to pay the bill on top of the stress of dh having a heart attack outside the US. How & when to get home, etc.
Peace of mind is priceless.