I cancelled: they say I didn't....
 

Back in October, I had a flight on AA to Chicago I had to cancel because of my husband's illness. Tonight I was talking to someone at AA and they say that I never cancelled and that I was a no-show, so I lost all of my credit toward a futuure flight.

I remember cancelling, remember the conversation ( I needed to pay $100 for the next rebook) and even sent myself an email with the info. I went to the AA site and sent an email to Customer Relations. This is ridiculous. I shouldn't have to lose out on $$ because their agent screwed up.

Has anyone experienced this with AA? If so, what was the outcome?

Austin, they didn't give you a cancellation number? Sorry you're having this problem ...

You need the confirmation number if they are saying you didn't cancel.

AFAIK, there is no cancelation number. The agent should have explained the procedure. The PNR is recycled within days after travel is completed or canceled, so it's useless. The agent should have told you to keep the ticket number, written down somewhere and kept in a safe place. The ticket number was made available to you in the ticket confirmation e-mail once you were ticketed for the original flights. I always save my e-ticket confirmation until I either complete my itn or until I use my credit from cancelled flight.

AA's ticket numbers start with 001 and are ~13 digits long. Without having the ticket number you are out of luck locating the ticket. The PNR, a six letter long alpha code is long gone and can't be used to locate anything at this point.

AA - Right, I don't remember a "cancellation number" either. She just told me the procedure for rebooking. I have the 6 letter alpha code and the ticket number from the original booking. When I was on the phone cancelling back in October, I sent myself an email with the info, since the agent told me I needed it when I re-booked a flight.

Another reason I remember cancelling is because she said it would be either a $50 or $100 penalty when rebooking. She checked my reservation and said it would be $100. How on earth would I know these things if I didn't cancel?

I had to cancel a flight on NW, and I was given a cancellation number. And granted when I rebooked I had to pay a extra $100. No problem. Without a cancellation number it will be almost impossible to prove, your word their word. But mine was with NW. So perhaps AA does not give out cancellation numbers. Don't know.

In that case plead your case to AA CS. What usually works for me is a very concise, professionally written requests. Angry, name calling, demanding e-mails hardly ever get the wanted results. You may consider actual snail-mail instead of e-mail. I find that it works better for more serious situations as it seems to get to the higher ups, but it does take more time.

I don't have any other advice.

Good luck!

I did send an email to CS. I was polite and to the point. I've remembered a few things since then about my conversation with the agent upon cancelling - like her telling me it would be either $50 or $100.. so when I get a response to my initial email, I'll see if I need to expand further.

My daughter will be attending college in NYC in the fall. I had planned on using AA for some of my trips there. Whether or not I use them will depend upon their response to this situation.

I'm not saying that it didn't happen to you but I cancelled about 10 non-refundable tickets in the last 4-5 years and I never had a problem. Kept my ticket number until I was ready to use the credit and it always worked.

For future reference:

When canceling a non-refundable AA ticket:

1. the credit is good for 1 year of the original ticketing date NOT cancelation date (could that be the problem in your case?)

2. keep the ticket number (starts with 001) as a reference. The PNR (a six letter long code) becomes useless few days after cancelation

3. It may help to ask for and write down the agents name, station location, date, etc.

Austin - while I understand your frustration and you sound like an honest guy, you would not believe the stories people cook up and try to pass off. If they believed every honest-sounding person in a he said-she said situation, it would be a mess.

Don'tcha just love the way the airlines are allowed to treat us? Family emergency, illness, death....they sock you for the $100 change fee with no mercy. But if the weather causes THEM any frustration, or if their "flight crew doesn't show up", we're expected to wait for hours, even days while they figure out what to do with us. We should be able to dock THEM a hundred bucks for every change they make to OUR plans.

AA, like I said, I kept the ticket number.

Gail, yes, I'm sure they get hundreds of people trying to scam them. Thing is, I'm pretty anal about this stuff. I saved all the info, sent myself and email, etc. etc. I was stunned when she said I was a "no-show". I'm too cheap to let something like this go. I agonized over cancelling in the first place. I remember my conversation with the agent.

We will see how this plays out. Appreciate your help.

Joe, that reminds me even more....I asked the agent if I could get a pass on the $100 (with a doctors'note) because I had to stay home and give my husband injections in his PICC Line. She said no.

On a side note, I now avoid airlines that charge cancellation fees at all...

Austin - doctor's notes don't even count for much. Lots of people have MD friends who can write them notes.

My husband who teaches a couple of graduate courses at a local university has had to refuse to grant extensions, absences for deaths in family, hospitalizations, etc without death certificates or other hard documentation. Seems that everyone had a story.

UH-OH SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME - I DID NOT GET A CANCELLATION 3 EITHER...I WAS GOING IN FOR EMERGENCY SURGERY AND DID NOT THINK TO GO ANY FURTHER THAT LETTING THEN KNOW...

Not only would I get a #, but I always ask the name of the agent I'm speaking with (& write it down). I also request a confirmation to my email address.
Maybe that would have helped a bit?

I still think you need to pursue this in some way.

Austin - I am a little confused - do you have the orginal ticket number?

Without it I am not sure you have a case - as I do not know what their record keeping system is. I have had to cancel more flights then I ever want to remember - and the only airlines that I had to cancel on PRIOR to the flight leaving were Jetblue and maybe Southwest. On Delta and AA it is the ticket number that remains in the system.

Let us know what happens!

,,,On a side note, I now avoid airlines that charge cancellation fees at all...


Fine, that means that you do not fly on discount tickets since everyone charges. Nearly all airlines offer tickets that are refundable and changeable without fees. Just buy the correct ticket.

If you are a FF on American, you really should not be having this problem; I am surprised they are not being more helpful.

Something similar to what you are describing happened to me--needed surgery-- and if I had booked directly thru American, they (AA) would not have charged me the change fee. However, that was the one (and only!!) time I had booked thru Travelocity instead of directly thru AA. Customer service at AA could not help, and Travelocity *would* not help. Travelocity permanently lost 2 customers and I learned a lesson about the inflexibility of using a 3rd party agent.

ok Austin, I wasn't aiming my last post at you specifically, it was just a general FYI post, but you didn't answer the question I did aim at you.

AA non-refundable ticket is cancellable and the credit is kept in the system for 1 year from the time the <b>original</b> itn was ticketed, not from the date of cancellation.

So, is it possible that you purchased the ticket more than a year ago?

For example, if you bought the ticket on 1/15/07 for travel on 10/15/07 and cancelled on 10/01/07, the value disappeared on 1/15/08.

I'm just trying to be helpful and explain how the system works and maybe figure out what happened.

fmpden: <i>Fine, that means that you do not fly on discount tickets since everyone charges. Nearly all airlines offer tickets that are refundable and changeable without fees. Just buy the correct ticket.</i>

Not Southwest Airlines. They have the best domestic service (in my opinion) and the most flexible change policy which is NO change fee (only the difference in fare). In fact, if your Southwest fare goes down you can re-book it and get a voucher for the difference. The other airlines charge change fees only because they get away with it.

The last time the economy took a nose dive, which of the established airlines remained profitable? Southwest. No doubt they will again remain profitable when in a year all the other airlines are back in the red yet again.

<b>Andrew</b>,

I guess it's safe to assume then that you don't fly internationaly?

The original poster was flying to Chicago, no?

yes, but in your first post you said....

<i>On a side note, I now avoid airlines that charge cancellation fees at all...</i>???

Right. I avoid airlines that charge change fees. Wasn't that clear enough? Must have missed the part where I said I would <i>NEVER</i> fly on an airline that charged a change fee. You want to quote that back to me?

whatever...???

Dawn, I DO have my original ticket information. I have the ticket number.

AA - The flight was for October 11, 2007. I booked it in early September 2007.

I am not an AA Frequent Flyer, but recently signed up for that program with my October flight.

I will definitely write down names and agent numbers from now on. I wrote down the name of the supervisor I spoke to last nite, tho she said she couldn't do anything. I had to send an email to CS via the website.

I keep a file folder in my desk called &quot;cancellations&quot;. I never cancel so much as a car reservation that doesn't even have a penalty without getting the name of the person I spoke to and whatever cancellation number or confirmation I can possibly get out of them. I've needed to go into that file a couple of times to prove my point, and wouldn't be without it. About once a year I clean it out.

Austin - I am surprised with your orginal ticket number is does not work? Keep us posted I am interested.

What airline does NOT charge a change fee?

dawnnoelm: <i>What airline does NOT charge a change fee?</i>

Southwest Airlines does not charge a change fee. What's more, if they lower the fare on a flight you've already booked you can rebook and get the difference back as a credit voucher.

Gee, if only Southwest flew anywhere I want to go, especially non stop or flew from a nearby airport, I might consider them.

Check the date when you sent yourself that email about cancelling, it might help out. When you write to AA, mention the exact date that you cancelled. Although the agent may not have cancelled your reservation properly...they do have notations as to what date and time any agent has pulled up your ticket &amp; information for any reason. A supervisor could check that date and their system shows that your reservation was accessed on that day, you might have more of a case.

Patrick, for me flying in the continental US Southwest is the most convenient airline for me most of the time. I have a friend in Albuquerque and they are the only airline that flies there non-stop from Portland. They have great service from here to all over the western US and to Florida.

They also fly Portland to Philadelphia (somewhere else I visit) via Chicago Midway, sometimes with a direct &quot;one stop&quot; flight that's super convenient (great times). USAir has a non-stop to Philly but one leg is a red eye and I don't like red eyes. I don't think I've seen that flight priced competitively anyway. The last few round-trips I've flown to Philly on Southwest have been under $200 total. My alternates other than US Air all change planes in Chicago O'Hare, Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta, etc. I'll stick with Chicago Midway.

Alaska Air is the only airline that might be more convenient from Portland to some cities.

Andrew, sure it works for many people, particularly in the west and somewhat for some larger cities in the east. I was really surprised however booking a flight from Ft. Myers, Florida to Phoenix last year that even that didn't work for me. I thought sure Southwest would be perfect for going to Phoenix, of all places. But the only options were flying out at 6:30 in the morning (I'd have to get up at 3:30 AM to do that flight and be at the airport on time!) and cost just under $400. What's more it went through Chicago -- talk about out of the way routing and too much time on planes! Returns were just as bad. I got a flight on American for under $200 round trip, with just a one hour stop in Dallas -- perfect.

Can't help it that Southwest was so popular that they sold out their cheap fares before you were able to book, Patrick. Right now Southwest has fares as low as $89 each way from Ft. Meyers to Phoenix with a change in Kansas City (outbound departs at 1:30PM), so they certainly have convenient flights and good prices if you book early enough.

You can bet that the only reason American has a good fare on that route is <i>because</i> of Southwest's competition. Southwest is notorious for forcing competitors to lower fares to compete on the same routes.

Andrew, sorry I only booked three months ahead.

But I'm not sure you know what you're talking about in THIS particular market. Southwest currently is booking flights until August 3. I just checked Ft. Myers to Phoenix the end of July (who would do that, anyway?) and the very cheapest web special fare is still $324 total round trip -- well over $100 more than I paid on American. Please note -- that is booking 6 months ahead! The lowest round trip fare with flight times I'd want to do (and having TWO stops going, ONE coming back) is over $400.

I don't think Southwest's fares from Ft. Myers to Phoenix are causing American to beat them like that! I don't think Southwest's Ft. Myers flights via Chicago at odd hours for over $300 is ANY reason for AA to undercut them by almost half.

I'm sure the Southwest debate is very helpful to the OP.

Perhaps after this experience you will join those of us who print copies of all reservations and cancellations.

Having a service rep's &quot;word&quot; is useless. Recently three employees at Bank of America's told me they had done something for me that actually get done until I talked with a &quot;customer service senior representative.&quot;