Originally Posted by anabolism

In my own experience, AA almost never revalidates tickets. Even for the most trivial schedule change (e.g., same flight number, same date, just the scheduled time of one flight changed by 10 minutes), AA has always re-issued the ticket. I say this to explain that you shouldn't get hung up on reissue vs revalidate, that doesn't matter. What matters is (a) if the change requires a reinstate and reclaim (where AA redeposits the miles and then re-issues the certificate), and (b) if the change is voluntary or involuntary.

In my experience, adding a segment always requires a reinstate/reclaim, while deleting a segment provided it doesn't change the type of award does not. Date/time and connecting-point changes also do not require a reinstate/reclaim provided you are not changing carriers from a OneWorld to a non-OneWorld or vice-versa.