Originally Posted by
kitkatft
Hmmm. I think it was the ability to pay no fee to change "routing" that appealed to me. But maybe I'm misunderstanding their definition of "routing?"
There is no fee to change routing (as long as your origin and destination remain the same) whether you book a Saver or an Anytime award.
Originally Posted by
kitkatft
For example, let's say I've got a round trip to Paris, with the connection in PHL on the way out & ORD on the way back.
Then we realize it'd be better to move the trip by a week, and the only 1-stops still available are ORD on the way out & CLT on the way back. It'd be nice to be able to rebook to those flights for no fee.
This change would be free whether you book a Saver or an Anytime award, assuming there is Saver space.
Originally Posted by
kitkatft
(Another appealing "routing" idea was to completely change the itinerary, though that's more of a "would be nice." For example, get something on my partner's gig calendar books for a round-trip to Paris, just in case, but later change our minds as we talk to people in Germany about their availability and, if available, switch to flying into Paris but coming back from Berlin.)
The benefit of Anytime awards is that you can change origin and destination for free. I am not sure, though, whether changing from a round trip to an open jaw would incur a redeposit fee--I would think so. If you do book the Anytime award, I might book it as two one-ways, since there is no downside, unless you decide to cancel your trip altogether, in which case you would have to pay twice to redeposit the miles.
To answer your original question, I would book a MileSaver J award if possible because:
1) Even if your dates change, as long as your origin and destination do not (and assuming there is Saver space), there is no change fee.
2) Even if you did have to change the origin or destination on a Saver award, I think $150 is worth it for a J seat vs. a Y seat.
3) I don't know where you want to go, but booking an Anytime award limits you to the select destinations that AA flies to in Europe. Partner airlines can only be booked at the Saver level.
Finally, while I generally agree that it might be worth waiting a little bit to see if your schedule firms up, there is absolutely no guarantee that award rates are going to stay the way they are for very much longer, and it might be worth it to get ahead of everyone booking awards once the changes are announced.