Originally Posted by
JDiver
It makes a great deal of sense, unfortunately, given AA rules governing awards.
Exchanging an award for one of greater value does not incur the redeposit fee; exchanging for one of lesser value does.
You should have been able to forfeit the miles’ redeposit to your account if you had the requisite miles available for your new award flight, IMO. (But replacing those miles might cost as much as three cents per mile, so you might want to do the maths on the cost forfeiting, say 57,500 or even 22,500 miles to save $150.)
I'm reassured to find out that this wasn't mishandled, thanks! The number of miles involved was 15,000, which using your conversion rate could be worth $450.