[T1]{fontenc}, [utf8]{inputenc} and {microtype}: Kerning does not work

Question

My code looks as follows:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[activate={true,nocompatibility},final,tracking=true,kerning=true,spacing=true,factor=1100,stretch=10,shrink=10]{microtype}
\usepackage{ae,aecompl}
\begin{document}
    \section{AVAW Wo}
    AVAW Wo
\end{document}

I don’t know what is wrong. I have set the option kerning=true – and it still does not work.

Answer 1

(too long for a comment, hence posted as an answer)

I would like to question your claim that the kerning option of the microtype package "doesn't work". Specifically, compare the following two screenshots: the upper was compiled with pdfLaTeX, and the lower was compiled with LuaLaTeX. (Recall that the kerning and spacing options currently aren't enabled under LuaLaTeX.) (Aside: I use MacTeX2017, on a MacBook Pro that runs MacOS X 10.13.2 "High Sierra".) To my eye at least, microtype does apply additional kerning under pdfLaTeX.

(The framelines are produced by the showframe option of the geometry package.)

Answer 2

I have finally found a solution that works for me! Ulrike Fischer gave me a good hint in a comment here.

My preamble now looks as follows:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[activate={true,nocompatibility},final,tracking=false,kerning=true,spacing=false,factor=1100,stretch=10,shrink=10]{microtype}
\DisableLigatures[f]{encoding = T1}