Reservations and tickets – FAQs
Book and manage your trip
You have 24 hours from the time you first buy your ticket to make changes or cancel for a refund if you booked at least 2 days before departure. After 24 hours, refunds are not allowed for non-refundable fares.
You can change or cancel your trip online in just a few steps.
Change your trip
- Find your trip using your confirmation code or log in to your AAdvantage® account.
- Click 'Change trip' in the menu.
- Choose a new flight that works for you. You can change your departure or arrival airport, your departure or arrival date, or both.
- Review and confirm your changes.
- Check your email for a confirmation of your new flight.
Important information
- Basic Economy tickets cannot be changed after 24 hours.*
- Travel must be completed within 1 year of the original ticket date.
- A difference in ticket price may apply.
*Changes for trips that begin in Europe are allowed with a fee (excludes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
Cancel your trip
- Find your trip using your confirmation code or log in to your AAdvantage® account.
- Click 'Cancel trip' in the menu. You'll be prompted to confirm the cancellation.
- Click 'Cancel trip' to confirm.
- Check your email for your trip cancellation information.
Important information
- Keep the cancellation email if you’re issued a travel credit. It contains the ticket number and original confirmation code you’ll use to rebook a future flight.
- If you paid for seats or bags, they are non-refundable if you cancel your flight.
To check your travel credit balance, follow these steps:
AAdvantage® members
- Log in to your AAdvantage® account.
- Click ‘Travel credit’ in the account summary menu.
- View your available travel credit and number available.
- Click ‘View details’ for your travel credit balance.
Non-AAdvantage® members
Before you start, you’ll need your confirmation code (also known as a 'Record Locator') or 13-digit ticket number, which begins with '001'.
If you don't know your confirmation code or ticket number, check the email we sent you when you booked your trip, your cancellation email or your credit card statement. Keep in mind that there are separate ticket numbers for add-ons like seats, upgrades and bags.
- Go to 'Manage trips / Check-in' on the homepage.
- Select 'View travel credits'.
- Enter your last name and confirmation code or 13-digit credit / ticket number.
- Click the 'Find your trip' button.
- View your available travel credit and balance.
When you’re ready to book a trip follow these steps.
- Find your travel credit or log in to your AAdvantage® account.
- Copy your Trip Credit or Flight Credit ticket number.
- Search and choose a flight on aa.com or the American app.
- On the payment screen, choose the type of travel credit and follow the steps.
Keep in mind, travel credit can’t be used for extras like seats, upgrades or bags.
To find your ticket number, check the email we sent you when you booked your trip, your cancellation email, or your credit card statement.
Your ticket number is a unique 13-digit number that identifies your reservation. The first 3 digits of your ticket number are the airline code, which is always ‘001’ for American Airlines.
Example ticket number: 001234567890
When you book a trip on American, you’ll receive a unique 6-digit confirmation code made up of letters. It's also known as a record locator.
Example confirmation code: JCQNHD
You can find your confirmation code on your confirmation email or boarding pass. If you’re an AAdvantage® member, log in to your account and click 'Your trips' from the menu.
Use your confirmation code to:
- Manage your trip
- Check in for your flight
- Get your boarding pass and check bags
- Make changes to your flight
You can book a flight up to 2 hours before departure on aa.com or the American app.
If the flight leaves in less than 2 hours, please go to the ticket counter at the airport.
You can book a flight up to 331 days before departure on aa.com or the American app.
You can book up to 9 passengers in one reservation on aa.com or the American app. For groups of 10 or more, contact Group & Meeting Travel. They offer special fares and discounts for group travel.
You will not pay an extra fee to change a reservation made by a travel agency or another website if you change it on aa.com. Once you make changes, any future changes will need to be made on aa.com or through American Reservations.
Revenue tickets on partner airlines booked on aa.com or the American app are only available on request because they must be confirmed with the other airline. This can take 24 hours or more. Some airlines may also require you to reconfirm your reservation after booking it on aa.com.
Please check with the airline operating your flight for more information.
Same-day flight change and standby
Same-day flight change allows you to confirm a seat on a different flight on your day of departure on an American Airlines flight, where eligible seats are available, within or between:
- The United States
- Puerto Rico
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Canada
- Caribbean
- New York (JFK) to / from London (LHR)
Your new flight:
- Must have the same departure and arrival airports
- Can only be confirmed within 24 hours of departure of the desired flight
You can change your trip on aa.com or the American app.
If you still want to try for a different flight, same-day standby lets you stand by for an earlier American Airlines flight (with the same route on your day of departure). Unlike same-day flight change, same-day standby doesn’t guarantee a seat on a flight.
Same-day standby allows you to fly on an earlier American Airlines flight on your day of departure if seats are available. You can request to be added to the standby list on aa.com or the American app. Same-day standby does not guarantee a seat on a flight.
If you’re standing by for an earlier flight on your departure day, you'll stay on your original flight until you're confirmed on the earlier flight.
To stand by for a same-day flight, you must be an AAdvantage® member and add your number to your reservation. It’s easy and free to join.
You can guarantee a seat on a different flight if same-day flight change is available. If it’s not available, you may be able to stand by for an earlier flight with same-day standby.
The standby policy applies to travel on American Airlines within and between the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Customers who receive complimentary confirmed same-day flight changes
Request same-day flight changes or same-day standby on aa.com or the American app.
Free holds
In select markets you can hold your trip up to 24 hours for free if you're booking your trip 7 days or more before departure.
In select markets look for the “hold” option on the review and pay page when you book an American or codeshare flight on aa.com.
If you held your trip on aa.com, choose “Travel information” at the top of aa.com, then click “Your trips" on the right.
- If you're logged in – Select the trip and then choose “Pay for trip” to enter your credit card information.
- If you're not logged in – Go to “Manage trips / Check-in” and enter your confirmation code.
No. You may not hold multiple trips to one or more destinations or around the same date or time. We will cancel duplicate trips that are on hold.
No. Trips with an aa.com promotion code are "instant purchase" only.
Customers in Latin America and the Caribbean can hold reservations using express ticket service on aa.com/espanol. Call your local American Airlines Reservations to complete and pay for your ticket.
Payment
We accept most major credit and debit cards and a variety of other payment methods. Only one card can be used when you book on aa.com (but you can use multiple gift cards).
If you aren't an AAdvantage® member, use the homepage dropdown menu to choose the country where your credit card was issued, as we might use local currency, applicable fares, and available space on flights from that specific country.
If you're an AAdvantage® member using a credit card issued in the same country registered in your account profile, log in from the home page.
If you're an AAdvantage® member using a credit card not issued in the same country as registered in your account profile, log in after choosing your flights.
Fares for countries not listed will be in USD.
- Brazil (BRL)
- Canada (CAD)
- Colombia (COP)
- Chile (CLP)
- Mexico (MXN)
- U.K. (GBP)
PayPal
You can use PayPal for all travel except award tickets on aa.com or the American Airlines app if you reside in the U.S. or the United Kingdom. PayPal charges a cross border fee to residents of other countries.
In the U.S., PayPal can be combined with an American Airlines gift card or eVoucher.
You can get a refund for tickets bought with PayPal from our refunds site.
Request a refund Opens another site in a new window that may not meet accessibility guidelines
Flight discount
Visit aa.com to book travel on flights that originate in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) that are operated by American or American Eagle or any oneworld® partner. You can also use your flight discount to travel on codeshares (flights with an American flight number that are operated by another airline).
Fares
We're sorry, we don't offer emergency or bereavement fares.
We do offer government or military fares in some markets.
Wholly unrestricted fares are fully refundable and do not have advance purchase requirements. If you purchase a ticket that is an unrestricted fare, you can make changes to your flight with no change fee (based on seat availability). However, an additional collection of fare may apply.
Reservations placed on hold on aa.com will be guaranteed for 24 hours or until midnight the following day, whichever gives you more time. In the event that your reservation is canceled during that period due to advance booking requirements, please contact Reservations.
Trip insurance
Residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico can buy trip insurance during the flight purchase on aa.com. Residents of the U.S. can also purchase trip insurance on Allianz Global Assistance’s site.
Yes, you will receive a confirmation email that contains your trip insurance details.
If you’re a U.S. resident, you can also visit the Allianz Global Assistance site to get your policy. Residents outside the U.S. can contact the insurance provider directly:
- Canada - questions@allianz-assistance.ca
- Mexico - travelprotect@allianz-assistance.com.mx
It’s possible the confirmation email may be in your SPAM folder, please check for an email from these applicable addresses:
- U.S. - Allianz Global Assistance US customerservice@allianzassistance.com
- Canada - Allianz Global Assistance questions@allianz-assistance.ca
- Mexico - Allianz Travel Mexico travelprotect@allianz-assistance.com.mx
U.S. residents may also visit the Allianz Global Assistance site or call 800-628-5404 for additional assistance.
Trip insurance products are sold by third-party insurance providers, not American, so you’ll receive a separate confirmation. All policy documentation will be sent directly to you from the insurance provider.
U.S. residents can modify or cancel a policy online by visiting the Allianz Global Assistance site to Manage Your Policy. Non-U.S. residents should contact the applicable trip insurance provider as cancellation policies vary by country of residence. You may incur additional costs for changes to your policy.
No. Trip cancellation coverage will only refund prepaid, non-refundable payments if you have to cancel for an unexpected covered reason. Reasons may include a covered illness or injury for you, a family member or travel companion, jury duty, a traffic accident on the way to the airport and much more. Please see the Certificate of Insurance/policy for complete details. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply.
No. Please contact the applicable trip insurance provider as soon as possible to make any changes and/or cancellations to your trip insurance.
In many instances, credit cards and conventional insurance such as auto, homeowners and health do not cover prepaid or added expenses associated with changes, interruptions and cancellations to your travel plans, and filing a claim could increase your premium cost. Most U.S. health insurance benefits are also reduced when traveling out of network, and may not cover the cost for overseas health care. In addition, medical transportation back home could be costly. Trip insurance can help protect your trip investment and may cover gaps left by other plans. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply.
Seats
When you book a flight operated by American, you'll see the seat map after you choose your flights.
Go to “My trips/check-in” from the homepage and enter your name and record. From there, you can choose seats. If seats are unavailable, check back later or you can change seats when you check in.
If you're unable to choose seats when you book, check back closer to departure or we'll assign you a seat when you check in.
American Airlines withholds some seats until the day of departure to allow our airport personnel to accommodate passenger needs. If you are unable to reserve a seat at the time of booking, you may get your seat when you check in for your flight.
Seats may become available closer to the day of departure; you can visit aa.com frequently to check the available seats for your flight.
American makes every effort to reseat passengers in the same seats. When this isn’t possible, we’ll attempt to seat you in a like seat. We appreciate your cooperation when special circumstances won’t allow us to reseat you in your original assigned seat.
Preferred seats are standard legroom seats that are more favorably located throughout the Main Cabin.
Preferred seats are complimentary for:
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members
- AirPass ticket customers when traveling on your AirPass
- oneworld® Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby members and companions traveling on the same reservation
- Full-fare customers*
- Active U.S. military passengers traveling on a military fare
- AAdvantage AAnytime and Business Extra award ticket holders
*For travel ticketed in booking code Y on or after August 30, 2017, you'll no longer get complimentary Main Cabin Extra or Preferred seats. This includes AAnytime awards booked in Main Cabin.
Voluntary changes to paid seats are not refundable.