Can you use American Airlines credit to book for someone else?

American Airlines issues several types of credits that can be used to book travel: flight credits, travel vouchers, trip credits, and gift cards. If you have had to cancel travel or you rebooked a cheaper trip and got credit for the difference or you accepted a bump voucher, you have some type of credit with American Airlines. When does it expire? Who can you book for? How can you redeem it?

I’d bet that many readers aren’t even sure which type of credit they have no less how it can be used. Thankfully, View from the Wing has published a handy chart (one issued to employees since it’s nearly impossible for them to make sense of the various vouchers either) that explains everything you need to know about each type of credit.

As Gary suggests, I was indeed surprised to know that if you exchanged a ticket for a less expensive one and received a trip credit you can use that credit to book a trip for someone else — and even combine it with some other types of credit. See his post and the chart to make sense of what you can do with the credit you have.

Now if only we could get similar charts for United, Delta, Alaska, and JetBlue as I am sure that many readers are sitting on various forms of credit for canceled travel this year. Of course, if you have Alaska wallet credit, I’d argue that you should drop what you’re doing right now and convert that credit to miles — see this post for more on that and get it done by 10/12. I’d love to see that type of offer from other airlines (I’m looking at you, United), but it’s doubtful we’ll see an offer quite that generous. Still, a chart like the one Gary shows would be a decent consolation prize.

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