AA Reverses Nonrefundable Ticket Policy

American Airlines customers booked on nonrefundable tickets and choosing to make changes no longer are required to rebook before their originally scheduled departure. The carrier's updated policy, which still requires travelers to cancel their reservations prior to the originally scheduled departure and includes applicable change fees, now permits rebooking up to one year after the original ticket was issued.

The changes, effective yesterday, came nearly a year after American and the rest of the major network carriers followed US Airways in declaring nonrefundable tickets devoid of all value once the originally ticketed flight departed, unless the customer previously rebooked the itinerary and paid a $100 change fee (BTN, Sept. 3, 2002).

"Our new policy allows customers to rebook on their own timetable without losing the value of their nonrefundable tickets and without facing multiple change fees," said Scott Nason, American vice president of revenue management, adding that business customers "especially will appreciate the flexibility."

At press time, no other major carriers indicated they had matched American's general retreat to nonrefundable ticket policies in place before last August.