Yesterday I wrote about changes you will be able to make to American AAdvantage awards after award chart price changes go into effect March 22 without having to pay additional miles.
I pointed out that for an award you book before March 22 you’ll still be able to:
- change date and time without repricing the award, while keeping airlines and routing constant.
- change routing without repricing the award, while keeping the airlines constant, with a few caveats. Basically you cannot break the fare. You cannot add a stopover. You’re going to have to stick with a legal routing for the primary carrier on the itinerary.
However you cannot change award types, which means you can’t go from American only to flying partners. You can’t go from an extra mileage award to saver award without a redeposit of miles and re-issue.
There’s really no special rules for March 22. What’s at issue is whether or not the changes you’re making require a new award or merely involve changing your existing award.
Readers had several questions about what this means in practice, so I sought additional clarification.
You can change from one oneworld carrier to another on your itinerary.
Spokesperson Laura Nedbal tells me,
If an All Partner award is claimed, we will allow to change from/to a oneworld carrier and not collect the ticket change. Taxes/carrier imposed charges will apply. We only do this for oneworld carriers.
You cannot change from American-only to a oneworld or other partner airline. You cannot change from a oneworld airline to a non-oneworld partner.
You can drop a segment as long as your origin/destination remain in the same region.
I mentioned being able to make changes as long as your city of origin and destination airport remain the same. In fact, it’s a bit more generous than that. As Laura explains,
We have a drop segment rule that would apply, provided the origin/destination remains in the same region of the award claimed. SFO and ORD require the same North America award so the ORD to SFO could be dropped, retain the same award and no charges apply. As long as dropping the segment does not change the:
• mileage required
• award claimed
• number of awards claimed on the ticket
You cannot simply change your origin city or your destination city but you are allowed to drop a segment. I had an idea of booking a Cathay Pacific first class award to Manila. I can only find first class space on Hong Kong – Manila, and business class across the Pacific Ocean. That forces AAdvantage to issue a 67,500 mile first class award instead of a 55,000 mile business class award. And it lets me upgrade the transpacific flight to first class later for no additional miles.
Cathay Pacific First Class
It turns out that I can do this and drop the Hong Kong – Manila segment later since both cities are in the ‘Asia 2’ region.
I don’t even have to mess with Manila, I should be able to book first class New York JFK – Los Angeles – Hong Kong as a 3-cabin first class award (with New York – Los Angeles in 3-cabin first) and then drop New York – LA later. Or book Hong Kong – Los Angeles – New York and drop Los Angeles – New York later.
How far out can this be changed? Lets say I was planning to use AA miles for a flight on Fiji Airways next NYE 2017/18. Can i book the flight whenever there is availability and then move it out that far?
I booked LAX-NRT on AA first, then connecting to JAL business class (on a 2-cabin aircraft) from NRT-BKK. If JAL first class opens up LAX to NRT, do you think I’d be allowed to change the AA flight to JAL? I’d be going from a mixed award (part AA, part oneworld partners) to an all-partner award.
@Levi,
No, AA award tickets are only valid for 1 year from issue date. So latest you could fly on a current-price award, theoretically speaking, is March 21. That assumes you book on 3/21/16 and later move the date to 3/21/17, and there could be practical issues like if your arrival is 3/22/17, that may not fly, pun intended.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for getting and sharing all this info. Would this mean that if you book JFK-LAX-HKG-MNL with HKG-MNL in first then you’d also conceivably be able to move to the SFO-HKG route if that’s where first opens up AND drop the JFK segment, if there’s no saver availability and still drop the HKG-MNL segment on the other end?
I am scratching my head here, having read this a couple times.
What is the difference between “changing your origin or destination city” and “dropping a segment”? Does removing a segment from a ticketed itinerary, more specifically one that leads you to or from your origin or destination, not comprise changing your origin or destination? How does booking from JFK to Manila and getting ride of Manila not comprise changing your destination?
Hi Gary,
Thanks for providing all of these – right in time for my need. One additional question that I didn’t see answered in this or the previous post is – AA has not been charging a fee when upgrading an award given that your origin/destination are the same and all you need is to pay the difference between the say business and first class award – if I book the award before March 22 and later want to upgrade, will it use the old or the new award pricing?
Does changing between co-terminals count as a change in origin?
I have a routing (business) on hold LGA-CLT-DFW-HKG-BKK. Only the last segment is on Cathay. I’d like to be able to jump on Cathay if it becomes available, but should I change the departure to either JFK or EWR before I ticket (I don’t get fee waivers)?
Also, although I already have Cathay on the routing the main segment is on American. If Cathay becomes available will I be able to change the overwater segment from American to Cathay? (There was some mention of “primary carrier” or something similar in your previous post on this).
If I have a hope, which do you think is a better chance for last-minute Cathay availability, JFK or EWR?
Does doing an award cancel-without-redeposit allow one to change the names on a ticket? For example, I book an award now for myself and person A, after which I do the cancel-without-redeposit. When I reinstate the award after March 22nd, can I switch person A for person B? And can it be done without getting a reprice?
So if I book JFK-HKG-MNL with transpac in business and HKG to MNL in F, and no F awards open up and I decide to drop the last segment, will I get the miles back for it being only a business award?
@alex no you would not get the 12,500 miles refunded
@uk – no you cannot change the names on the ticket
@larryinnyc – i actually don’t remember the co-terminals rule on an international award i need to check. For sure if you ticket lga-clt-dfw-hkg-bkk you could change to lga-ord-hkg-bkk or lga-bos-hkg-bkk. Or to clt-ord-hkg-bkk etc. Need to check on changing to jfk/ewr. just don’t remmeber with total clarity the answer on that one.
You have a oneworld award, it’s not an AA-only award, so you should be able to swap to a different oneworld carrier (cathay)
@AL that would entail new pricing
How many types of awards are there?
It references All American Awards and All Oneworld Awards. I assume there is also a non-Oneworld Partner award. Is there such thing as a mixed award? If for example, I have JFK-LHR-TXL on AA and BA and want to change to Air Berlin JFK-TXL when it opens up, would that be considered changing the award type?
@CW you *can* change origin/destination by dropping a segment, that’s an example where change to origin/destination is ok. As long as you’re still traveling to and from the same award regions.
@AndrewOnTheRoad – I think the safe thing would be to:
1. rebook JFK-SFO-HKG-MNL with JFK-SFO in coach if needed.
2. then drop JFK-SFO
Change #1 is definitely permitted, since you’re still flying JFK-MNL
Change #2 is permitted, dropping a segment.
But I wouldn’t do both at the same time.
@Jed you’re on a oneworld award and can change the oneworld airline you fly
Thanks, Gary, interesting.
@Gary super useful info. I wish I’d have known this before. A months ago I ended up booking JFK-HKG in J for the date I want and JFK-HKG in F on a date further in the future. I know I’ll need to pony up $150 to redeposit the J ticket if F becomes available, but I figure I can slide the F ticket into the available slot when it opens. 12.5k additional AA miles + $150 sounded a lot better for the upgrade than 55k additional AA miles. This would have saved me the $150 and not tied up an extra 55k AA miles for the J ticket, but live and learn!
I have another ticket that is JFK-HKG-SIN in J. Can I just add SFO/LAX-JFK in F to the beginning of the itinerary to force the F award, then drop it immediately for a total charge of 12.5k AA miles? Obviously, I’d be betting the 12.5k miles that F opens up JFK-HKG later.
Gary,
If I am reading this correctly, changing an award SEA – LAX – NRT – HKG ( Alaska and JL) to SEA – LAX – HKG (Alaska and CX) should not result in any increase?
Thanks
If you go from
JFK-LAX-HKG-MNL to JFK-LAX-HKG OR JFK-HKG. You are changing the DESTINATION. This is in the same region but is a CHANGE in the Destination thus shouldn’t this be classified as a reticket (new award chart), in addition, non EXPs gets hit w the $150 O/D change fee
Are you saying the award price would be grandfathered because HKG is in the same region as MNL? For non-EXPs we just get hit the the $150 fee?
**It turns out that I can do this and drop the Hong Kong – Manila segment later since both cities are in the ‘Asia 2’ region.**
@Gary, I am also very interested to hear what info you can get about Larryinnyc’s situation. As a NYC resident myself, getting a definitive answer about AA’s policy of whether changing airports (LGA/JFK/EWR) constitutes a change of origin is #1 on my priority list. I once asked this question to an Aadvantage PLT desk CSR, and she said i’d have to pay a change fee to change from EWR to JFK since it’s technically a change in origin, but CSRs often don’t know what they’re talking about.
Let us know!
thanks Gary, i was able to use the MNL “trick” since im going there for christmas this year. Hopefully F space will open up for me for the transpac segment
Thanks for the info Gary.
I’m booked DFW-HKG-HAN with DFW-HKG on AA F and HKG-HAN in KA J. It seems like I might be able to change to DFW-LAX-HKG-HAN then since my award isn’t American only?
Why are they allowing the dropping of a segment? This is new, no? If it looks too good to be true…
Awesome post Gary!!
If you are planning a flight to Europe in the summer (and found availability), why not book during the Saver Award period and then change the flight dates to the summer without having to pay the higher point redemption rate? If at all possible, why would anyone not book during the discounted award period and make the timing adjustment. What am I missing here?
@54austin i do not believe that is new
@mark gould that sounds right
@kai – you can drop MNL because it is removing a segment (the only destination change permitted) and is still in the same region.
@Anh the only thing i’m not 100% certain of is the role of the alaska segment here though it likely doesn’t matter.
Let’s leave the alaska segment out for a moment.
LAX-NRT-HKG can be changed to LAX-HKG for no additional miles. I don’t think SEA-LAX changes that.
@Matt S NYC – you may not be permitted to do SFO/LAX-JFK-HKG-SIN, it may be within MPM but could be denied as not the most direct routing.
If i can drop it, would i have to pay $150 if i’m not EXP as i am changing my destination. or?
I believe you can change from AA to codeshare partners (BA, IB) without having it trigger a different award. Basically the F or J ticket from US to Europe (and vice versa) should be transferrable between the codeshares, while transferring to a different OneWorld carrier would trigger the rebooking.
Can I add a segment? Say DFW-NRT-TPE on aa and JL but change to DFW-JFK-HKG-TPE on AA and CX?
I booked Business Class from JFK to BKK several months ago using AA miles, for a trip in May. If First Class award space opens up after devaluation, can I upgrade at pre-devaluation rates (12,500 more per ticket) or am I stuck with the post-devaluation “cost,” which is substantially more?
I think I know the answer to this question already, but I don’t like it.
I know it would be best to grab First Class space before March 22nd, but Cathay Pacific probably won’t open up First Class space until shortly before the flight in May.
Matt S, you wrote:
“A months ago I ended up booking JFK-HKG in J for the date I want and JFK-HKG in F on a date further in the future. I know I’ll need to pony up $150 to redeposit the J ticket if F becomes available”
My understanding is that changing from J to F with the same routing will NOT need a $150 redeposit fee. However, after 3/22, it will require more miles from the new chart, UNLESS you do the MNL trick Gary mentioned.
Gary, on your example of JFK-LAX-HKG. Since that is AA metal, if you drop the JFK-LAX segment, you end up with a valid routing of JFK-HKG. However if that is CX metal, dont you have to reticket because now it is a Oneworld award? (And thus pay the fee and mileage increase)
Need the mixed oneworld question answered. Going dca-ord-hkg-sin on AA to ord in first and CX in business to hkg, then first again . If JAL opens First Class, can I change from CX to JAL without repricing. DCA-ORD-NRT-SIN?
What about this scenario: LAX-BKK on Oct 1 2016 booked CX first class for 67.5K miles on March 20 2016. I want to change to a later travel date but cannot find availability before Oct 1, so I cancel the ticket (not redeposit). If I find availability before March 20 2017 (one year from original booking) can I still make the change at the 67.5K level? The difference here is that I had to cancel the flight, though the ticket remains valid.
You cannot change from American-only to a oneworld or other partner airline. You cannot change from a oneworld airline to a non-oneworld partner.
Can you change an itinerary where the first segment(s) are AA and the final segment is a OW airline?
ie. LAX – NRT – HKG – KUL first segment in AA and rest in CX. would a change to LAX to HKG to KUL all in CX reprice the award?
basicaly I’m asking if we can go from AA/OW mix to just OW. Care to comment? Thanks!
Can I add a segment. I have originally booked as two OW segments. EWR-DPS AND CGK-JFK however want to add PHL.
@cory yes you can change an itinerary where the first segment is AA and final segment oneworld. you can go from aa/ow to just oneworld. since it’s still a oneworld award.
@davis sanok — it sounds like you are booking aa business class award (unless you are saying hkg-sin is in first). if it’s a business award you can’t change to first without repricing.
but if it’s a first class award, sure, you can change routing and oneworld carrier on your oneworld award.
@adam as long as there is cathay in the award (aa+cx) it’s a oneworld award not an american award changing to a oneworld award
@mack sperling – post-devaluation cost
why do people want to drop the last segment? AA booking is always one-way and I would think you can just do “no show” for the last segment?
@mario Among other reasons, checked bags.
@Matt S NYC: checking bag is indeed a good reason. If I don’t have checked bags, then I don’t have to bother with drop a segment? wonder what could be your “other reasons”? 🙂