TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin American Airlines

We are booked for late October. I contacted AA today and was told we could change dates (but not origin/destination) without fees, and that travel must be completed within one year from when we purchased the tickets. The second option is to cancel and pay the $175 reinstatement fee since we used miles. The third option is to wait and see if the flights are cancelled, in which case we'd get our miles back with no fee. I guess we'll wait for now and hope they cancel the flights. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" />

Phoned American today about our January reservations. Spoke with a supervisor. They refused to refund or allow any changes without a $200/ticket fee. They said " you will have no problem with your trip since everything will be back to normal by December 31". Hope everyone on the island gets that memo from AA.

Right...............

Pat, they did tell me the same thing. BUT why???
I'm not going to worry about it any longer--I will try when the flight gets canceled.
I am definitely going with Delta!

Just got off phone with Alaska Air, where I have my miles, although I was traveling on American in November. Reservation cancelled, miles restored, fees to be refunded on credit card. Alaska rocks!

Yes they do. Same thing for my daughter and son in laws trip to SXM on Dec 19th. Alaska is very good even without a crisis.

I had a trip planed to SXM December 27 to January 3, I purchased the ticket last March 28, I wanted to changed the flight to July 2018. The Agent said my ticket was only good for year after purchase, which I believed is true. So I had to travel before March 28. So I am traveling on St. Patrick day. The she wanted to charge me $200.00 for change of ticket fee. I reminder her of what AA web site about no charge for change of ticket fee by AA for travel before December 31. I believe I saw this link for this to AA on Travel Talk. I am supposed to stay at Le Plantation if it still there, I hope there is at least one beach bar open on Orient by then.

Thank-you AA Customer Service.
I sent a message on their website yesterday and heard back today.
It was all taken care of in less than 5 minutes!

I think that is the way to get it done. I didn't even have a long wait on the phone.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

American has posted a fee change waiver policy for travel to SXM on its Travel Alerts page
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/travel-alerts.jsp
Hurricane Irma - St. Maarten
Information current as of September 14, 2017

If you’re traveling to/through/from:

St. Maarten, St. Maarten (SXM)
The change fee may be waived if you:

Are traveling on an American Airlines flight
Bought your ticket by September 10, 2017
Are scheduled to travel September 5 - December 31, 2017
Can travel September 10, 2017 - September 30, 2018
Don't change your origin or destination city
Rebook in the same cabin or pay the difference

Good luck to all.

We changed our 2 November flights on AA from SXM to Aruba yesterday. Even though their web site says that it must be same origin and same destination, there were no change fees, we just paid the $20 difference per ticket, cost us a total of $40 for the two of us to make the change.

We are AAdvantage Gold, but I asked if that was the reason that the change fee was waived, and they said no - there would not be any change fees for anyone who was scheduled to fly to SXM before year end and wanted to change their AA ticket to fly somewhere else.

REIMBURSEMENT OF CHANGE FEES etc by your CC company (maybe)

I just hung up with a BENEFITS SPECIALIST re Travel Protection benefit on my Citibannk AA advantage Platinum World Master Card. She confirmed if you bought your ticket using that card, you are eligible to claim for change fees or loss of your refund.

Specifically she said if AA gives you a credit voucher that has to be used by a certain date, and that date expires, call after that to oursue a claim.

If you change your ticket and are assesed a change fee....call Citi benefits specilaist and they will work with you over the phone to file a claim and reimburse.

Below are links to online benefits page addressing that...and a general ohone number on the back of card. I have not yet tried to switch my oct 28 tickets to an alternate destination, but I wanted to be prepared before i contact AA

CARD BENEFIT

Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection:

Travel plans can go awry for many reasons. If certain unforeseen events get in the way of your trip, you may be reimbursed for non–refundable trip expenses, like change fees, provided you paid for the trip with your Citi card.


https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit...1HY771C1L10102W


CITI AA TEl: 8887662484

That's good news. Now to be able to get through to the resort.

I had American Air SXM reservations for Feb. using "miles". Changed destination to Jamaica with no fees.

Had non-refundable first class tickets for November and AA just let me change them to Grand Cayman, no fees.

Yesterday they said there would be a $200 change fee.

What a difference a day makes!

You know there are laws about this stuff which some of these airlines seem to be ignoring. I believe if your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund; none of this lets change destinations crap.

Correct. But if they are not cancelled as yet it doesn't qualify under the law. Future flights are still pending which is the difference.

That is correct. They are not obligated to refund in full unless the flight is cancelled. It seems a lot of airlines are only cancelling through the end of October at this point. There are other options for those scheduled further out.

Delta allowed me to change my non-refundable ticket for Seattle (going on cruise out of there) next June without a change fee. And they deposited the difference in fare into my Delta account to use up to a year from now.

For those who have had problems getting AA to refund: the reservationists do not have the authority to refund. Go online, scroll down to Contact us, and then to Compliments and Complaints. Fill out the form, explaining the situation and requesting a refund (or whatever it is you want). Our flights were for November 25 thru December 9. I explained that our unit would not be available for us, and I asked for either a full refund or a credit to be used at any time in 2018, with no change fees. I received notice today that my purchase price will be refunded in full.

After several phone calls on Thursday afternoon I was able to get our March trip rebooked to another island at no charge but no dice on returning our FF miles (unless we wanted to pay a reinstatement fee of $150.00 each) so I finally gave up and thought I'd wait it out and see if the November flight was eventually cancelled, in which event we'd get the miles reinstated at no cost to us, and if not, I'd just forfeit them. After reading The_Lurkers experience, I sent emails off yesterday morning referencing the November flights, and the miles were refunded today to both FF accounts. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

I called for the first time yesterday. AA allowed me to change my flight to Cabo, waived all fees and gave me a one year voucher for the $50 difference in cost. My flight was scheduled for December 9. Very professional, very helpful, no complaints

Our flights are in February and my wife called yesterday to change our destination from SXM to another island and the first person she spoke with stated there would be a $200 change fee per ticket. My wife asked to speak with a supervisor and was connected to a very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable person. The supervisor waived the $200 change fee.

Called on Saturday. We had purchased tickets ($660 pp) for Oct 28 from PHL. I wanted to change one ticket to Cancun in October (meet friends) while husband just wanted to cancel. Initially agent asked for $200 each to do either action. I mentioned this forum saying many were having this fee waived and agent said HOLD while I connect with HELP DESK (first she asked me what dates and flights I wanted for Cancun) after several minutes she returned saying I was now ticketed and was getting a $114 voucher fare difference credit to use within one year (next September). I asked "what about the cancellation for my husband" and after another HOLD while agent went to Help Desk, I was told ticket canceled and another "ticket" (?dummy) had been issued for use by May 10 which was a year from date of issue for original ticket. She said when making a new booking, make it online with 24 hour hold then CALL them with the "new ticket" number to apply the fare credit. I asked how could I extend that date beyond May and she said I could make a request online via their customer service email.

Thanks for the advice GaKaye. We booked in July, one way with points and one way we purchased tickets. Called last night to cancel and requested full refund and points to be returned. Was advised that per company policy they could not provide a refund, only a voucher for travel by July of next year, and that to return points there would be a $150 fee on first ticket and $25 on second. After requesting a supervisor they informed be that I could contact customer service. I submitted a complaint last night. Wish I had read your post before I made the call, would have saved some aggravation....

I have posted this previously, both here and on other sites, but I want to bring it to the top so people might read it again.
It should help......
Go to AA's website and Customer Service/Customer relations and under complaint write a message to them. It seems to be working!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

? Re AA vouchers.......
As per my post just a bit above this....I called on Saturday morning to make my changes. I am expecting two vouchers.....one for my changed flight fare difference, and one for full amount of husbands cancelled ticket (although I am confused about his because they said to use the ticket number which is same as the old one, and call in when you have another reservation on hold)
I was expecting an EMAIL from them with at least MY voucher credit on it but 48 hours later I have received no such email. I logged inti each account and can see nothing there. Evidently you need a voucher and piin number which they say are provided via email.
Has anyone else gotten their voucher emails......what is usual lag time? I sure dont want that ball dropped because we have almot $800 riding on them.

They told me to just call with the ticket numbers when I want to rebook. They never said they would send a voucher.

I think JimandBeth are right re calling AA with a TICKET number to apply credit...at least for a CANCELLED flight/refund credit. My notes re MY CHANGED destination (same record locator as for SXM) flight fare difference credit definitely said I would get a VOUCHER for 114.28 fare difference good for one full year. In their FAQs etc AA says vouchers sent by email, and you have to enter the voucher number and the piin number, provided in the email, to check a blance etc,
Would really like to know if anyone else expected a Voucher....and how quickly that was sent out (via email?) thank you

It is not working for us. We booked our 11/24 tickets on 1/21/17. If we change our flights and leave by 1/21/18 we avoid any transfer fee but there are personal complications that get involved so we can't go until later in the year. We have to pay a fee to bank the miles. Punished for booking early.
Need to edit this since I just got a call from AA that suggests I not cancel until I know when I want to go and rebook with no penalty but do this before we are scheduled to leave. Happy with that

Great advice, this worked for us as well! Our miles were returned, no redeposit fees, and taxes were refunded. Thanks, GaKaye!

Hasn't worked for us. I really have to believe these flights are not going to go in mid-November. I guess we just have to wait until they cancel them. I am wondering why different people are getting different results.

Persistence and luck of the draw.

I didn't do very well with the phone calls as half the reservation people are clueless as to what's happened in St. Maarten and everyone seems to be working under a different and limited set of rules. They're doing their best but the situation is crazy. At this point I think they should abandon all the existing rules and just give people straight refunds. That's what Jet Blue did when I spoke with them and they're the ones I feared might be more difficult. We did finally reach a suitable arrangement with AA to exchange our March tickets to another destination without any fees or penalties. The email worked very well with regard to the air mile reinstatements without any fees.

I know how frustrating it is. Good luck! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

After several unsatisfactory results we finally had better results by calling 1-800-882-8880.

Did you try writing a message on their website through customer service?
You pick American Advantage Customer Service's complaint and write a short message. (A few steps)
It seems to work.

I know of someone who wrote an email to Doug Parker, CEO of American. Got her refund later that day.

I followed your advice and went onto AA website and requested a return of my points for an April 2018 trip. I just received notification that they would be waiving the fee and miles (from AMEX) were being put back into my account to be used within a year. Very happy with this result. Thank you everyone for posting all the ins/outs. Hopefully, soon we'll all be back to our favorite place.

What email did you use to write to Doug Parker CEO of American Airlines?

I didn't have any trouble changing my November booking. No fees if the destination is the same so I just pushed it out to March. They said I would have to pay the $200/tkt if I chose another destination.