American Airlines cancelled my flight and booked me 18 days later. What to do?

[rickulivi]

Any suggestions as to what to do? I flew American Airlines from California to BA on March 15, and my return trip was scheduled for June 12. A few minutes ago I received a call from them saying they had to cancel my return flight, and the earliest they can rebook me is June 30. What??? That's 18 days later. They told me that if anyone cancels a booked ticket, they may be able to get me on a plane sooner.

Any suggestions as to how to deal with this situation is greatly appreciated. I don't mind spending another 3 weeks in BA, but I have a ton of appointments back in California that I booked months ago..

 

[antipodean]

Welcome back to Argentina.
If you need to return urgently, you should be able to seek a partial refund and take the hit for any gap in costs.
Another option could be to ask for a re-routing, for example if you can fly yourself to LIM or BOG you may be able to convince AA to pick you up from there if they have space available.
Otherwise a waitlist may be your only option. This is happening to a lot of other people.

Out of curiosity were you booked on a flight via DFW or MIA?

 

[rickulivi]

Antipodean: Thank you for your reply. American just told me that ALL flights out of Argentina have been cancelled, which I find hard to believe. They re-booked me for July 2, three weeks after our original departure date. Yes, they did tell me they would refund 100% of my money and I could use that anyway I wanted. When I asked them who would pay the hotel bill for the next three weeks, they said they could not answer that question. Oh well, time to relax and do some research. I appreciate your feedback and will look into your suggestion.

 

[ben]

I imagine can be fixed.
How did you book your original ticket?

 

[cholita]

I also had an AA flight on June 15th to DFW, and the earliest I could rebook was for July 2nd. It does seem a little weird that all flights were supposedly cancelled for June...

 

[antipodean]

Antipodean: Thank you for your reply. American just told me that ALL flights out of Argentina have been cancelled, which I find hard to believe. They re-booked me for July 2, three weeks after our original departure date. Yes, they did tell me they would refund 100% of my money and I could use that anyway I wanted. When I asked them who would pay the hotel bill for the next three weeks, they said they could not answer that question. Oh well, time to relax and do some research. I appreciate your feedback and will look into your suggestion.

Interesting! Also check your travel insurance policy in regards to accommodation and out of pocket costs (or if you have one with your credit card used to purchase the ticket)

 

[rickulivi]

I also had an AA flight on June 15th to DFW, and the earliest I could rebook was for July 2nd. It does seem a little weird that all flights were supposedly cancelled for June...

Cholita: we are on the same flight on July 2nd. We also got rebooked for that date. Something is fishy; will see what else I can find out.

I imagine can be fixed.
How did you book your original ticket?

I booked thru AA; I will do some research and see what can be done.

 

[rickulivi]

Here's all the information we need to know about what to do in case of cancellations: https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/flight-delays-cancellations

Here is the core issue: "If your flight is cancelled, most airlines will rebook you for free on their next flight to your destination as long as the flight has available seats." Given that Argentines are flocking to the States to get vaccinated, there may not be any available seats till July. What seems unfair to me is that if my flight got cancelled, I should have priority booking on the next flight. Oh well, patience.

 

[rickulivi]

I went to aa offices this morning. They blame the government. They only allow maximum of 2000 passengers per day. Aa us more so they cancelled their flight.

 

[antipodean]

Was your flight listed here on the approved list?

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