I recently booked an American Airlines flight out of Chattanooga. The flight, after 6 hours of delays, was cancelled as the plane never arrived in Chattanooga. I went back to the counter to have them rebook me. They couldn't get me to MSP until the next day, but I had a full schedule of patients to see starting at 8:00 am the following day that could not be rescheduled. The agent at the gate told me she was unable to book me on another airline for the outgoing portion and that I would have to do that myself. She told me to use the app for a refund once I had done so.
I booked a Delta flight and made it to my destination with no problem. When I chatted with the agent on the app, I was told that a ticket would be reissued so that my return portion of the trip would be unaffected and she gave me a link to request a refund for the outbound ticket.
When I arrived at MSP to return home, there was no ticket. I had to buy another one way ticket (the last one!-almost got stuck another night). So, I wound up buying 2 one-way fares ($950) when my original ticket was $505. If I had known to buy a round trip ticket on delta when the other flight was cancelled, that would have saved me about $300. AA didn't issue a refund for my luggage that was pre-paid.
After sharing my story with AA - AND I FLY WITH THEM ALMOST MONTHLY - I was told, "Sorry for the miscommunication. A refund will not be forthcoming!" Going forward, I will do all I can to use other carriers when possible. It's a priority to me to be sure my customers are treated fairly and given excellent service. I am disappointed and shocked that AA would snub a regular customer in this way without so much as an apology for the inconvenience this interruption in travel caused. AA would not even issue a credit for future travel.