Originally Posted by
checkerboard
In one sense, I am sympathetic to the OP: as the ticket seems already to have been issued for some time (from before YQ were collected on AA-issued awards), now being asked to pay the YQ for a simple date change seems a bit over the top.
If YQ is called a tax, a charge, a fee or an insult, the fact remains that under the current policy, AA will collect it on all BA-operated award flights. The more troubling point in all this is that the change in YQ collection policy seems to be retroactive, making the dates/times of BA-operated award reservations very expensive to change. If there were anything to complain about, I'd say it was this post-facto limitation of flexibility.
Agree, that's what would have burned me up the most in OP's situation. The whole YQ situation stinks, but at least going forward we're aware of it at this point and can try to plan accordingly. It's quite slap in the face to be hit with a huge upcharge for a mere date change. Would be nice if AA would exempt bookings made prior to the YQ implementation in situations like this.