Originally Posted by
emptiness
i plan to fly to bangkok on December 30th, 2012(international flight) but I am not 100% sure of our trip yet, so if I book AA award flight today, I only have 3 days to finalize? If I cancelfrom oct 12th, I will pay $150 fee to get our miles back?
I believe AA will hold your reservation for 5 days.
If you cancel then you can pay $150 to have the miles re-deposited to your account.
Unless you're sure that you won't be able to use the tickets, rather than cancel outright you could try to find availability up to 1 year from the date of booking, just to delay a final decision. Once you've made the actual booking, if you decide to cancel the reservation then you will have to pay the $150, whether it's on Oct 12th, 2012 or Oct 11th, 2013.
It sort of sounds like you're a bit lost here and, while FT is a great resource, you really should review all the conditions related to award travel. They're listed on AA's website or you can call AA's award reservation number and ask an agent. Just a suggestion.