How do I get a credit when tthe airfare goes down?
 

I bought tickets awhile ago for my trip to St. Croix and the fare is currently $130 less for the tickets we purchased from american Airlines. I've read on this board that you can get a credit from the airline for the difference in price. What is the best way to go about doing this?

I would give American a call.

In the past, the airline would simply refund the difference in fares. That's unlikely now. You'll have to pay a re-booking penalty with American, which is usually $100, plus you might also have to pay an additional fee for them to do the rebooking on the phone. I don't know AA's policy at present. Basically, I can't imagine you'd realize more than a $10 or perhaps $20 savings even if the airline allows it, but it's worth a try.

Thanks Doug. I forgot about the rebooking fee. We bought them far in advance because we were using two FF as well. I thought the fare was decent but I didn't think it would drop $130 per ticket including taxes and fees. I'll call to double check with AA.

You may also want to check the American Airlines board on www.flyertalk.com...

I am not sure on American but on United if the price drops you can refare even a nonrefundable ticket without paying a change fee - as long as you don't make any changes to your itinerary and are willing to accept a voucher instead of cash.

Thanks for your advice. I did call AA and they charged a $100 change fee for each ticket. Since the difference between the old and new fare was actually $160 (ouch), they gave me a voucher for $120 for the two tickets and all flight arrangements remained the same. We also had 2 frequent flyers so we still did OK.