Refund Information
Refund requests for travel agencies
Address of AA Passenger Refunds
Bereavement and Critical Illness
Non-Refundable Ticket Exchanges Residual Value
Travel NoticeTaxes and Fees Refund Requests
Refund requests for travel agencies
There are certain circumstances where agencies may process Refunds for Non-refundable tickets. Please refer to the corresponding file for Refund guidelines and waiver codes.
Refund may be processed for:
· Taxes of non-refundable unused tickets
· Valid refundable unused or partially used tickets
· Refundable taxes on non-refundable tickets
· Non-refundable unused or partially used tickets when following published guidelines for:
o Schedule Change – see file for guidelines
o Irregular Operations – see file for guidelines
o Travel Notice – see file for guidelines
· Refund should be processed through your GDS
Travel agencies that process unauthorized refunds are subject to a debit memo. American reservations or Agency Support sales representatives may not authorize exceptions to this policy.
U.S. Agencies ARC/IAR Refund Exchange Notification (REN)
· Valid wholly unused, partially used tickets and tax only refunds should be processed via the GDS
· If unable to refund through the GDS, you may process in your IAR/Refund Detail Screen
· Input the applicable waiver code on the Refund Detail Screen
· For assistance, contact the ARC Help Desk at 855-816-8003
International IATA agencies processing through BSP
· Valid wholly unused, partially used tickets and tax only refunds should be processed via the GDS
· If unable to refund through the GDS, contact the GDS help desk for assistance
· If necessary, you may submit a BSP Refund Application (RA)
o Input the Reason for Refund and any applicable waiver code on the RA
o Include the reason why you are unable to process through the GDS
o For instructions on how to access IATA and use BSPLink, contact the local IATA/BSP office
Refund requests for travel agencies with NO access to ARC or BSP or passengers who purchased a ticket directly with American Airlines:
· Refunds must be submitted using the online refund form at American’s Refunds site.
o Information contained on this website is subject to change at any time without prior notice. American Airlines shall not be liable for any consequences resulting from your reliance on the information.
Refunds submitted via GDS, ARC/IAR, BSP
Refunds Customer Service
· Email: Debit.memos@aa.com
Refunds submitted via the American Airlines website
· Please visit American’s Refund status tool
· In case of additional questions, contact Refunds@aa.com
For procedures and guidelines on refunding duplicate tickets, refer to Duplicate Ticket Refunds.
Refundable and Non-Refundable tickets are valid for one year from the date of issuance of the original ticket. Expired tickets have no value, the fare and their associated taxes cannot be refunded. Refer to Ticket Validity.
Refund requests associated with military orders should be submitted through American’s Refunds site
Non-Refundable 001Ticket Exchanges with Residual Value
· If the original non-refundable ticketed fare is of higher value than the new-ticketed fare unless stated otherwise in the fare rule, the customer is entitled to the residual amount
· See Residual Value Refund procedures.
Refund Due to Schedule Change or Reduction/Suspension of service
A Schedule Change is a planned change that may occur more than 72 hours prior to the flight’s scheduled departure.
Examples - Change of flight times, change of equipment or carrier, flight cancellation due to a reduction in frequency, etc.
Please refer to the Schedule Change file for guidelines to determine if a ticket affected by a schedule changes qualifies for a refund and for refund instructions.
Refund Due to Irregular Operations (IROPS)
When a customer's American or AA*/codeshare flight validated on 001 has been canceled due to an Irregular Operation (IROPS), which normally occurs on the day of departure, but can occur up to 72 hours prior to the schedule departure, and no other alternate flights are acceptable, travel agencies may refund a nonrefundable ticket(s) through normal GDS, ARC, or BSP.
Follow guidelines in Irregular Operations (IROPS) file
· Travel Agent should Process the ticket refund to Original Form of Payment (FOP)
o Waiver Code to be used: SCRFND
· If the ticketed scheduled flights were voluntarily cancelled prior to an Irregular Operations (IROPS), the ticket will not be eligible for a refund.
· If the Revenue/Published/Basic Economy or Bulk/Opaque ticket has been EXCH by AA as an INVOL, the refund request must be submitted on American Refunds site.
· Once the agency has accepted and reissued the ticket for the Irregular Operations annotating INVOL in the endorsement box on the new ticket, and the customer decides not to travel, a refund is permitted.
Travel Notice
American offers rebooking flexibility when customers are impacted by events such as extreme weather, earthquakes, or uncontrollable circumstances that could result in flight disruptions.
Travel Notice Exception Policies are published to allow travel agents to assist mutual customers in rebooking or refunding their reservations. Each event provides guidelines to properly service your customer's needs.
· For general Travel Notice guidelines refer to Travel Notice file
· For a list of published Travel Notice alerts, refer to Latest Communications
Bereavement or Critical Illness
Tickets may be considered for refund in the event of the death of the customer, immediate family, or traveling companion. American requires proof of relationship for immediate family member.
For complete details refer to Bereavement and Critical Illness Exception Policy
Refund of Taxes and Fees
US Taxes
Select U.S. taxes may be refunded for a non-refundable ticket if the ticket is entirely unused. Please review Refundable U.S. Tax Codes on Non-Refundable Tickets.
International taxes
In cases where a travel agency is unsure of the refund value to be refunded, a Refund Application must be submitted via BSP as we are unable to pre-audit the requests via email. Please ensure the passenger is aware that the remaining ticket value is forfeited once the refund has been issued.
For non-refundable tickets, upon request, American will refund taxes and fees not imposed by the airline, collected at the time of sale of non-refundable tickets that are not used for travel, as follows.
· For non-refundable fare tickets, any surcharge/Q/ or service fee/YQ, YR/ that has been collected will be non-refundable.
· The airline must remit certain taxes regardless of whether the ticket is used or not. Those taxes and fees will not be refunded even if the customer doesn’t travel. See Non-Refundable Tax Codes on International Tickets
· The airline has the obligation to remit certain taxes only after the ticket is used, therefore, these taxes may be refunded if the customer does not travel.
Calculating Partial Refunds
When refunding a partially used refundable ticket, the refund should be calculated according to the amount actually paid less the amount actually used, less any penalty. American Tariff desk can assist in calculating partial refunds.
Updated: April 2025