• How do I book award travel using my AAdvantage miles?

Your AAdvantage miles can be used for two different types of award tickets: AA Awards, Partner Awards (now called oneworld and Other Airline Awards). As of Apr 8, 2014, oneworld Awards (now called Explorer Awards) are no longer available for booking. AA Awards and certain Partner Awards can be booked online, while other Partner and Explorer Awards must be booked by telephone, usually incurring an additional service fee. Appropriate inventory must be available and reservations can be made as early as 330 days out on AA.com, or 331 days out by phone. AAwards are still subject to certain government fees, including the U.S. September 11th Security Fee (AY; $2.50 per flight); expect substantial additional fees on international flights. In addition, although fuel surcharges (YQ; varies) do not apply to AA flights, they do apply to British Airways and Iberia flights.

AA AAnytime Awards book into full-fare inventory buckets (F, J, Y) and are almost always available, unless a flight is sold out. AA MileSAAver Awards require half as many miles as AAnytime Awards but have limited availability, which can be determined using the award booking engine on AA.com. Award Nexus, a website with free, limited access for FlyerTalk members and additional premium options available for purchase, can also be used to search award availability for AA, oneworld airlines, and other partners. Some find it easier to view MileSAAver inventory (Z, U, T) directly using the subscription services ExpertFlyer or KVS Availability Tool. Award inventory for most oneworld airlines and other partners is also available via the KVS tool, while ExpertFlyer provides more limited coverage.

On May 9, 2009, AA unveiled their new One-Way Flex Awards program, in which one-way AA and All-Partner awards can be booked for exactly one half the miles required previously for a roundtrip award. One benefit is that passengers attempting to book round-trip awards no longer need to wait or extend holds until the return flight becomes available 330 days out. Conversely, however, stopovers are now restricted to only the domestic gateway city on international (Europe, India, Asia, Central and South America) travel. Up to four awards can be booked together on a single reservation (PNR) and, if necessary, changed for a single change fee.

On Aug 2, 2011, AA announced new Dynamic Air Awards. These awards are available to elite members only, for travel within the mainland U.S., and can only be booked online for immediate purchase (no holds). Mileage charges are less than those for AAnytime Awards, but vary based on current revenue fare prices at the time of booking.

On Apr 8, 2014, AA announced changes to the AAnytime Award structure, with three levels of mileage requirements, effective for travel beginning Jun 1, 2014. MileSAAver awards retain their existing two levels, with Off-peak renamed Level 1 and Peak renamed Level 2.

Wiki: Award Rules | Award Booking Codes | Inventory Classes
AA.com: Awards | AA Award Chart (from 6/2014) | AA Award Chart (thru 6/2014) | Partner Award Charts | Explorer Award Charts | Dynamic Air Awards
FT: Routing and stopover rules for AA and Partner (oneworld and Other Airline) Awards
FT: Routing and stopover rules for Explorer Awards (round-the-world) using AAdvantage miles

FT: AA AAnytime Award mileage changes (Apr 8, 2014)
FT: oneworld Explorer Awards discontinued effective immediately (Apr 8, 2014)
FT: AA MileSAAver Award availability (consolidated)
FT: AA and All-Partner One-Way Flex Awards (from May 9, 2009)
FT: AAdvantage Dynamic Air Awards (from Aug 2, 2011)
FT: BA and HA Awards now bookable on AA.com (from Apr 22, 2012)
FT: Fuel surcharges (YQ) on AAwards redeemed on British Airways / BA flights
FT: Special procedure for Award tickets originating in the Philippines
FT: oneworld Forum