Originally Posted by
susiesan
How long will AA keep a hold on award seat on CX? Since you have to book as one ways, if you get your outbound flights but need inbound 2 weeks later and the booking date is not open yet, will AA hold the outbound segment for 2 weeks? I'd hate to find myself in the position of being able to get to my vacation destination but not being able to get home. I don't have status and would have to pay the redeposit/change fee. Since I will be using 2 AA accounts for my vacation trip award tickets I'd have to pay 2 fees.
As others said, it is 5 days max for the hold, although when your hold expires and the seat goes back into inventory, you can re-hold again. Also, if you're willing to take a small chance, I've actually *flown* an outbound to Asia without the return booked, or at most with a dummy itinerary so I could show I had an onward ticket (for countries like Singapore that like to see it).
And within the few days before the return departure, I've *never* failed to secure an excellent redemption heading back to the US, because as I mentioned earlier, CX releases the majority of their unsold premium seats within 2 weeks of departure, and sometimes within 2-5 days, with availability changing by the hour.
It can make your trip a bit stressful, but in general, I've never been stuck in Asia without a return, and I've personally made 3 CX award trips to Asia in the last year where the return was booked last minute, just as I've described.