Originally Posted by
malkounis
Hello all fellow travelers. I have a question concerning award travel on AA. It will be my first time using miles and was wondering has anyone had trouble getting the routes the want when the seats are released at 330 days out. Also, I am wondering should I use the one-way option as my return is 45 days from my outbound flight. In the past I used UA awards and waited till the 330 day to book the return and outbound at once, never had a problem, but I don't know how AA is. My route is ONT to ATH. on 3-24-12 departure and 4-13-12 return. Just curious if anyone has just waited to book both at once or did one-way to ensure you get your flights. Thanks if anyone can shed some light on this.
- Since your travel is off-season, I do not expect much of a problem of going either way. In the past, I would simply book a roundtrip far in advance with a desired departure date and then change the date for the return leg when the tickets are released. Note that AA allows one to change award tickets for free as long as the same inventory and the same carriers are available. The gamble here that some carriers could drop some destinations and/or schedule would become very inconvenient. Then one-way awards win. One note though is that for partner awards you have to use phone or counter service and pay the ticketing fee if you are not EXP. I have noticed that you are flying to ATH and, therefore, have to use non-AA metal and cannot book the award(s) on-line. If those fees are still in place you will be paying the ticketing fee for each of the two one-way awards vs. single fee for the roundtrip. There was no ticketing fee for changing the award tickets in the past. EXPs are exempt from the ticketing and mile reinstatement fees.