Originally Posted by swag

AA only has two levels of awards. I'm going to guess these flights are for Mexico or the Caribbean? The 35K is the "Anytime" coach last seat price, and the 17.5 is the "Saver" coach level with limited inventory. But the 30K is the saver level for business class.

So I agree with the advice that there's no rush to book at the 35K level, you can wait until 21 days before departure (that's the cutoff to avoid the fee). But if you see a 30K ticket open up, I'd jump on that for the increased comfort, rather than waiting around for a 17.5K ticket that may well never appear.