Originally Posted by
uszkanni
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.
My knowledge is if i book today for December 30th flight and I can't travel for any reason on that day, I can call early december for a date change up to one year like in December 2013. If I want to travel in Mid 2013, I can call again to have the date moved from Dec 2013 to travel date of June 2013 ? travel date can be changed within the year?