I’ve gotten several questions recently from readers wanting to know what changes they would be able to make to American AAdvantage awards after the award chart devaluation on March 22 without having to pay additional miles for their tickets.
I had a pretty good idea how this would work, but I went ahead and asked American. Spokesperson Laura Nedbal tells me,
We have advised our agents that voluntary changes to date/time only will be permitted without forcing new higher/lower award levels, and we’ll have more information once the new award levels are applicable. As long as the origin and destination remain the same, the date/time changes can be made.
I sought further clarification and learned:
- You can change date and time without repricing the award, while keeping airlines and routing constant.
- You can 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.
- You cannot change award types, which means you can’t go from American only to flying partners. You can’t go from extra mileage award to saver award without a redeposit of miles and re-issue.
Examples of What You’ll Be Able to Do Without Increasing the Price of an Award Booked Before March 22
Let’s walk through some examples.
Let’s say you book an award Chicago – Los Angeles (American) – Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) – Manila (Cathay Pacific). You can change that award to Chicago – San Francisco (American) – Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) – Manila (Cathey Pacific)
In other words, it’s fine to change the routing so that you fly through a different connecting city. You aren’t changing the airlines.
Cathay Pacific First Class
Let’s say you were booked on that same Chicago – San Francisco (American) – Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) – Manila (Cathay Pacific) ticket. You wanted to change to the Chicago – Hong Kong non-stop and drop the domestic connection on American. Again, that’s ok. Your origin and destination remains the same. And it’s still a oneworld partner award.
You can also add a connection going from the Chicago – Hong Kong non-stop to flying Chicago – San Francisco on American and connecting to the Cathay Pacific San Francisco – Hong Kong flight. I was told the routing can change, and so can the number of flights:
Origin/dest stays same and since all carriers are oneworld there would be no charge to change carriers. Provided again, the same inventory/award as ticketed is available for change.
All in all this is more generous than I expected.
Booking First Class Awards Now to Lock in Current Pricing, and Changing Later
The biggest increase in pricing starting March 22 is in American’s first class awards.
Here’s the changes in one-way pricing between the US and regions that are going up by the largest amounts:
As an Executive Platinum member I can cancel and redeposit without a fee anyway, so there’s little downside in booking awards where I’ll just change the date to something I’ll use. For instance if any Qantas or even American first class award space comes up Los Angeles – Sydney and return, I’ll book those and use those in the future. An award can be used for travel one year from original date of issue.
Without Executive Platinum status you’re risking a cancel and redeposit fee of $150 for the first passenger on a reservation and $25 for each additional passenger on the same booking.
Qantas Predeparture Champagne
Similarly I’ll try to book some Etihad First Apartment seats, just to have them at the lower price in case I need them. I’ll book as far into the future as I can and change dates when I need them.
But here’s what I want most: I want to book Cathay Pacific first class awards. The challenge is:
- Cathay Pacific doesn’t release much first class award space in advance anymore. When it’s available, it’s last minute.
- They fly from several US gateways (New York JFK, Newark which doesn’t offer first class, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).
So how do I lock in Cathay first class? I can literally just find an award seat that’s open in business class and get American to issue it as a first class award by booking a connecting flight in first class. Hong Kong – Manila is almost always available as a first class award for multiple passengers and there’s generally a couple of flights a day to choose from with first class.
As long as there’s a first class segment on the one-way journey the award will price as first class. Then I can change my dates and pick different Cathay Pacific overwater flights later, when what i want opens up. That way I can fly at the current 67,500 mile one-way price. Basically, the approach is to ‘warehouse’ first class awards at the 67,500 mile price and use them for travel within a year of issuing the original ticket.
” if any Qantas or even American first class award space comes up Los Angeles – Sydney and return, I’ll book those and use those in the future”
“Similarly I’ll try to book some Etihad First Apartment seats, just to have them at the lower price in case I need them”
I understand there’s nothing inherently against the rules or unlawful about what you’re doing, but it’s certainly pretty selfish…
To clarify. If I book an award for travel in January 2017, I can continue to push that date out (say to summer of 2017) and incur no additional mileage charges provided I book before March 2016?
I realized that came by as a bit more of a drive-by comment than was intended. I think that by conditioning people to believe that the “miles game” is a zero sum game, it becomes less enjoyable for everyone. Since your voice is large and influential, I’d urge you to reconsider the tactic.
This is much different than booking LAX-SYD with Avios, then canceling to book the same seats with your AA miles to save money and miles. This is booking seats you know full well you will not use (but somebody else could) in order to *potentially* use the same route at a later date — though you’re not even sure if you’ll want to fly the route.
Again, I’d urge you to reconsider.
If I book a Cathay JFK-HKG in first on 3/21 for as many days out as the window is open, you are limited by that window, correct, because awards are only valid for a year? So if I book in March 2017 travel for March 2018, I can’t call back in April of 17 to change to April of 18 at the same mileage level of 67500, correct?
Suppose I book edi–lhr-dfw now, with the first leg on ba and the next on aa. Would I be able to drop the first leg later, or would that force a reprice changing from a one world award to an all aa award?
Gary,
If i book an award with JAL first class, from CGK-NRT-ORD
Can I later change the date and the award to a CX first class award without repricing? Both are OW so would this work?
But the most important question is not answered — can you change between originating at LGA and JFK?
Gary,
I’ve been trying to get my head around these post-devaluation changes for a while… I’ve been playing around with a reservation for JFK-HKG lately to try and put myself in the best place.
Following Lucky’s OMAAT post, I have just had AA ticket the following:
JFK-DFW-NRT-HKG (with JFK-NRT as AA F, NRT-HKG as CX J (due no F cabin)). My understanding was that this could then be streamlined as JFK-HKG CX F.
Your post above would suggest that this wasn’t possible though, since AA would be the primary carrier and not CX? Would this matter even though it contains a partner connection?
If you use the Manila trick, can you then drop the Manila segment without repricing the award? Certainly on the outbound you can just get off at HKG, but what about the return? And what if you actually want to go someplace beyond HKG without first class service?
@Justin – Perfect point and it’s too bad it’s falling on deaf ears.
“I’ll try to book some Etihad First Apartment seats, just to have them at the lower price in case I need them. I’ll book as far into the future as I can and change dates when I need them.”
Won’t everyone try this tactic? There are only a finite amount of EY seats that will be available.
Gary –
If you use your Manila trick to lock in the current F price, how do you deal with getting rid of the HKG-MNL segment when F opens up on your trans-pacific flight? Wouldn’t changing your destination cause you to have to redeposit anyways?
You state that an all-AA award cannot be changed to include a OW partner, but can an award that includes AA and OW be changed to be only OW? For example, do you think NRT-LAX(JL)-JFK(AA) can be changed to NRT-JFK(JL) if/when availability opens up closer to departure?
Thanks!
Will be interesting to hear replies from G Leff to these Q’s
Gary, I think your “warehousing” comment implicitly addresses this, but assuming I booked JFK-HGK in J at the pre-deval price, and F opens up later, I take it the upgrade in cabin will force a reissue at the higher price, even if O/D and carrier remain the same.?
@Stannis-only the most serious mileage junkies will bother with this. Most people have difficulty booking one award, much less juggling multiple awards around various dates.
Can you push the date forward more than once? In other words, are there any restrictions on how many times you can change date/time?
@Gary If I book Cathay using the strategy you mentioned to get first class can I later change the ticket and forget the segment to Manilla and just keep the ticket to Hong Kong?
With this new info, Gary you don’t make clear about the 1 year life of the issued ticket. For example, if I reserve ORD to HKG on March 20, 2017. I would have made that reservation on say March 22, 2016. That ticket cannot be extended beyond March 20, 2017. In the past, it had to be redeposited, and reissued, with the $125 change fee. Are you saying, now American will not charge the change fee and just reissue a new ticket, when you call to cancel the old itinerary? For travel in May 2017? If this is the case, it is whole different ball game with date changes.
@Kevin, @JohnB, from the post, “An award can be used for travel one year from original date of issue.” I think that Gary quite clearly states that you can’t use the ticket more than a year out.
Just a note that was not covered by the examples (but was, sort of, covered by the explanation). If you have an award that has American and Oneworld carriers on it and change to an all American award, the ticket does get refunded and reticketed and would attract both the change fee ($150) and the new, higher award rates. I just did this on Friday and the miles were refunded and taken again. They graciously waived the change fee for me.
@farnorthtrader, thanks for the info. I was curious about this as well. I can book a partial American/CX award but was wondering if I could change to all CX if space opened up. From your example I’m guessing no.
This is an interesting strategy. I booked two seats PEK-HKG-ORD-SDF before the deval announcement. Currently have one in F and one in J. Essentially I can call back in and make my J redemption into a F award. I need to travel on this day/time, so I am gambling the additional 12,500 miles for the chance to upgrade to F after March, whereas now I’m stuck in J even if space opens up closer to the date.
test
What if I book a ticket HKGJFK in J and then F opens up? Will I pay the higher rate or the lower rate?
@LTL you will pay the higher mileage rate to increase to F if you booked a J award
@bob no restrictions on number of changes to date and time other than that ticket is valid for a year from date of issue
@LTL correct, it will force higher price [hence why i want to book an F award now, which requires a segment in F now, eg HKG-MNL]
@54Austin yes you can drop AA from an AA/oneworld award. I asked about a specific example, Chicago – San Francisco – Hong Kong – Manila changing to Chicago – Hong Kong – Manila (all CX) and was told that’s fine.
@Matt 5 NYC I wouldn’t change the destination, although I could always throw away the HKG-MNL segment
@Mike this is easier for US-Asia than Asia-US [as for Asia-US one-way you’d need to actually originate in MNL]
@Mike are you asking whether LGA/JFK are co-terminals for the purposes of origin/destination?
There’s a few specific scenarios being presented here that I’m pinging AA on
Perhaps I missed it so tell me again please. What if I’m booked in Business and want to last minute upgrade to first as a mileage seat opens? Do I pay the old fare I’m holding or get hit with the new first class mileage fare??
@Dana new first class award price
I have a complicated situation and wanted to know the possibilities in my situation. I booked a trip to India (myself only) in early January with the return segments on EY F (BOM-AUH-JFK). This was for travel in Aug 2016. This weekend when I saw AA opening up tons of award space, I booked the following routing for the entire family of 4 in Ag 2016: DFW-HKG (AA F) connecting to HKG-SIN (CX J). Stopover in SIN for a few days. Separate award ticket SIN-KUL-MEL on MH J for all 4 of us. Finally SYD-LAX-DFW in AA J for all 4 of us. Ideally what I wanted was my trip to India remain in Aug and Family vacation to Australia be in Dec/Jan over Christmas but I don’t have much hope of accomplishing but you never know. Will keep a close watch.
However, the questions on my mind are:
1. If QF space becomes available on the direct SIN-MEL flight can I change the current booking on MH via KUL without repricing the award.?
2. If QF space becomes available on SYD-DFW can I change the current booking on AA via LAX? Does adding an AS segment onwards from DFW help in any way?
3. I am currently EXP but will drop to Plat in March, hence will redeposit of miles cost me $150.
If an off-peak (under current chart) ticket to Europe is booked in Y at 40K r/t pre-Mar 22, can the dates only then be changed to the new, reduced off-peak date-range in the post-devAAl?
With regard to the ‘warehousing’ idea for originating in Asia, what about HKG-JFK(J)-BOS (or whatever) in domestic F? Would that price as an F award? If so couldn’t I use the same strategy in reverse?
Hi Gary, so you mentioned “can’t go from American only to flying partners” and “have to stick with a legal routing for the primary carrier on the itinerary.” So this lead to an interesting question:
If I now book STL-(AA)-DFW-(AA)-HKG-(CX)-MNL all in Z, or like you suggested–with at least the CX segment in Z, then do you think it’s possible to later change to (without repricing mileage)
STL-(AA)-ORD-(CX)-HKG-(CX)-MNL
with the transpacific segment in Z?
On one hand they are both AA+oneworld partner award and has same origin/destination, on the other hand the primary carrier changes (but it’s legal routing for both CX and AA).
I think this is related to the most relevant question here–can use use the broad Z/U availability of AA metal these days to lock into future partner Z seats.
I would appreciate if we can get definite answer from AA on such example.
I wish we could get these rules in writing so that we can clue in agents if need be after 22 March.
The idea is good in general to ensure the rates can be “locked in”, but I’ve had mixed experiences trying to change awards before, even if it means the same origin and destination, same ticket type (one way / return, or oneworld / all-AA) and same overall class of service.
@LTL domestic F is priced as J so no
@everybody
Guys, I see many questions regarding this that are basic and well known with the current rules, there are no new rules, the actual rules with AA awards ticket will be the same after March 21, but the only difference is, in order to maintain your actual award cost, your reservation can not get re-ticketed. Same thing happen two years ago, when AA canceled the One World Awards (distance based).
A: If you change the dates= no problem
B: If you change the routing, but you maintain the main carrier= no problem
C: If you drop the last segment= no problem
but
D: if you change co-terminals in the origin/destination (EWR to JFK, or NRT to HND)= you have to paid the redeposit fee and the new award chart price
E: If you change the routing with a different carrier on the main route (CX instead of JL)= no fee but new award chart price (ticket has to be re-ticketed) *** (still no clear, but current AA award, they have to reprice even at the current price)
F: Change from J to F= no fee for the change, but new award price
And remember, awards can be used for travel one year from original “date of issue”, since March 21 2016 is the last day for the actual award price, this mean you will be able get a flight up to mid February 2017 (at 331 days out), you can change the date at a later time, but it can not be beyond March 20 2017. In other words, the last date to complete your itinerary is March 20 2017.
@Unclesam
1: No, but no fee and there is only 5k difference with the old/new chart (20k for 4 tickets)
2: No
Booking “contingency seats”. If anyone has been wondering why there is basically zero award seat available across the Pacific in J lately here is your answer. An extraordinarily selfish practice that makes the award redemption experience bad for everyone. I know of several members that have 12+ award seats booked over the next 11 months they know quite well they might use just 1 or 2.
@Bruce
While I agree with you. The other one world carriers allow booking and redepositing awards. Can’t expect AA members to be treated differently. Asia Miles even allows waitlisting, almost all the other programs do not. Will there be consequences if there is abuse of the award/ticketing changes, yes there very well could be.
Few questions.
My example’s fare class will remain the same.
Let’s go from LAX to KUL.
Let’s say I have booked ->> LAX-HKG (on CX) -KUL (on MH)
Can I do: LAX-HKG (on CX) -KUL (on CX) Yes?
Can i do: LAX – PVG (on AA) – KUL (on MH) I’m guessing no due to AA
Can i do: LAX-NRT (JL) – KUL (on MH) Guessing a no due to JL?
Can i do: LAX-NRT (JL) – HKG (JL or CX) then – KUL (on MH or CX) Also a no due to JL for the first leg?
See my points on these permutations? All legit routing under existing plan if I am not mistaken.
Bruce, Justin and the other guys earlier. The world is not a fair place. This whole mileage and churning game is not fair. But that’s life. If you find it so ethically unpleasant to be in our company here, please feel free to leave.
@gary
I have a flight from
DUB LHR BA
LHR FRA BA
FRA HKG CX
HKG SYD CX
If Aer Lingus joins one world will AA let me do
DUB FRA EI
FRA HKG CX
HKG SYD CX
Without reticketing? Wondering as I will be changing airline
@david plant see my updated post on this, yes
Thanks Gary, availability for people actually wanting to fly these awards between now and the end of the year just went from bad to nonexistent.
@Mike~ I have changed a booking from LAX-LGA to LAX-JFK without any problems. As normal if you encounter any difficulty with an agent, ask him/her to recheck with a supervisor.
As the above scenarios are obviously much more date-sensitive than most bookings, would you clarify the following~ if I book an award today, to fly say, 21 August 2016, does the one year to ‘push out’ the ticket validity date commence today, or 21 August, allowing a new fly date sometime before 21 August 2017?