It truly is not safe for me to fly. Can I get a refund for my AA ticket?

Dear Journey TROUBLESHOOTER: I a short while ago employed aspect of a $721 ticket credit on American Airways to book a flight from Fort Myers, Florida, to Birmingham, Alabama, to see my grandson carry out with the Alabama Ballet. I employed $616 in credit rating and paid out a $200 transform price.

Regrettably, that was a single of the 1st weekends of the pandemic, so the Alabama Ballet canceled its performances. I canceled the flight, fearful of the virus. This remaining me with a credit score of $616, which is fantastic right up until early 2021.

I am turning 86 in a pair of weeks. The pandemic has developed due to the fact then, and given that I am in the most vulnerable age team, I am not heading any where and am not likely to journey for a prolonged time, if at all. That is a whole lot of income to throw away and not be ready to use. I am for that reason requesting a refund, or an choice if there is 1, to receive a credit rating I can allow anyone else to use.

American Airways will not supply a refund or a voucher that I can permit anyone else use. Can you help me?

— Betty Barrett, Huntington, West Virginia

Respond to: American Airlines should enable you use your credit rating — but technically, it does not have to.

The terms of your ticket buy were clear. You experienced a nonrefundable ticket, which allowed you to terminate your flight and get a credit rating. Again then, American also charged a $200 change fee (it has considering that stopped the observe for most tickets).

Your scenario is a little challenging. You canceled your to start with ticket and received a $721 credit history. Then you rebooked a new flight, having to pay a alter price, and canceled your next ticket. That left you with a different credit score. But you simply cannot use that credit now since of the pandemic.

Airways are not in a very good area. They insist that traveling is secure, but the hazards of vacation throughout the pandemic are plain. If you are in an at-possibility group, keeping household is a practical shift, even if you drop the value of your ticket credit history.

American Airways must have proven some compassion considering the fact that you are in a significant-possibility age group. But as I already pointed out, it didn’t have to. It was subsequent the principles of your unique ticket acquire. And you agreed to all those procedures when you booked your original flight.