iowa guy

Hello.

I had a flight that departed today (DSM - MFE). The DSM-DFW leg was canceled by AA.

They rescheduled to tomorrow but the flight doesn't arrive at MFE until late and I'll miss my appointment--the rescheduled flight is 12 hours duration versus the original flights 4 hour duration (and 2 stops instead of 1 stop).

Besides getting a refund by cancelling how far out can I reschedule this flight?

Also, for some reason aa.com doesn't let me change the time of the first leg of my rescheduled flight....just the subsequent legs.

Thanks

HaleiwaFlyer

Go on google flight and find the next available flight that fits your schedule. Call AA. If it's another AA flight, easy to change. If its UA, then just cancel your AA flight and use the trip credit towards a future flight. Just book UA on your own.

lrdpenn

I think it's worth calling AA and asking them to route you on UA (fully) or DSM-ORD-HRL (AA775 connecting to UA5436) if that can work for you. Buying a last minute ticket on your own is probably pricey.

HaleiwaFlyer

When your flight is canceled, significantly delayed, or a delay could cause you to miss your connection, we�ll rebook you on our next flight with available seats at no additional cost. If no American Airlines flights are available until the next day, we�ll rebook you on one of our partner airlines at no additional cost.In cases where a delay or cancellation is caused by us, upon request we�ll give you:

• A voucher for an approved hotel with available rooms if you are delayed overnight if you�re away from your city of residence.
• Transportation to a hotel and back to the airport by hotel shuttle / third-party transportation service, or a transportation voucher.
• Meal vouchers if your delay is 3 or more hours after your scheduled departure.

If we can�t provide you with a voucher for an approved hotel, we�ll reimburse you for reasonable hotel costs. If a hotel shuttle / third-party transportation service isn�t available, or we can�t provide you with a transportation voucher, we�ll reimburse you for reasonable transportation costs.

I don't think AA is going to rebook the OP on another airline since there is an AA flight available the next day. But, won't hurt to ask. If OP has some loyalty status with AA, that will be helpful. I believe Plat Pro/EXP/CK get to be rebooked on other airlines too. There is a chart out there that I've seen before, of who is allowed to be rebooked or not based on status.

lrdpenn

I agree, I wouldn't bet on it, but if OP frames it against the initial delay (e.g., it sounds like OP might be delayed close to 24 hours) vs the incremental gain of AA rebooking vs OAL rebooking, that might also be marginally more successful.

tennessetom

Also your flight was cancelled so you can claim a trip in vain and get a refund rather than a flight credit if you can find flights on another airline that don’t cost more than you paid for your ticket or you want to just rebook a new ticket a few months from now you can go that route

iowa guy

I called AA and they wouldn't let me change my flight to a week later...just the next day. The flight the next day was too late for me to make my appointment at the destination.

I am not sure how long I have to cancel my rescheduled flight. In case it needs to be done before the rescheduled flight(s), I better cancel it.

npretnar

AA rebooks on UA all the time. I�ve had it happen 3x this year already, but maybe that�s a function of status?

Aliquot

According to what you posted AA should book on a "partner" airline BECAUSE there are no AA flights availble till the next day. I don't know how they define partner airline, but bit probably doesn't include airlines they only have an interline partnership with, like UA.

However, from experieexperience they usally are willing to book on interline partners when AA/partner flights aren't available untillnthe next day. This usually wont happen automaticaly or online. If you don't have status you may need to talk to someone at the aiport.

iowa guy

I don't have any type of status. I ended up cancelling the rescheduled flight by contacting AA (via chat). I tried to cancel via AA.com but it wouldn't allow.

guv1976

Did you request a refund?

iowa guy

Yes, I forgot to mention that I did request a refund. It seemed that I really had to work for the cancellation and refund. It took 1 hour and 25 minutes to do it.

HaleiwaFlyer

The issue with talking with someone at the airport is the potential wait time, especially having no status.

The biggest issue for a flight cancellation is that everyone else on that plane is trying to rebook; and if the OP needs to be there, sometimes rebooking yourself and taking the refund/flight credit is a much faster option in order to get yourself there on time. Of course, everyone has a different financial threshold to do this.

Sometimes by the time you reach an AA agent, viable rebooking options disappear, especially for a smaller airport. Hopefully for the OP learning how to self trouble shoot IRROPs by learning how to research and rebooking himself becomes a learning point.

The other issue, is that you maybe able to see available flights on UA and DL, but won't be bookable by AA. Even CK desk sometimes have issues rebooking on UA/DL for last moment flights that I see available online, so I end up rebooking on them myself.

The learning experience for the OP is that, for time sensitive matters, take it up on yourself to get it done, and don't rely on any airlines to do it for you. Get the credit, or refund if available and use it later on.

iowa guy

When I talked to an agents at AA (I called multiple times), they never mentioned to me that I could book the flight on another airline. They just told me that I had until the following day to find a different flight on AA.

Oh well...