There shouldn't be a charge to just change the dates on an award ticket, even if it's paper. Now, that was the rule last October, but I don't know if they've changed it since. I'm not sure what the difference is, but when they change dates, it's considered a revalidation, not a reissue (even if, in practice, they have to reprint the whole ticket). I guess revalidations are those changes that once used to be implememented with stickers. AA did away with stickers because (according to one AAgent), they "gave too much leeway to travel agents (and that's a bad thing?).

Also, IB should be compatible with e-tickets (AFAIK, among OW airlines, AY isn't, not sure about EI). Now, just recently, I wanted to change into an e-ticket a OW ticket that had to be issued as a paper ticket. The segment that required the paper ticket had already been flown, so I was told by AA in the US that it shouldn't be a problem, and that there would be no charge (that was my previous experience as well). Well, in their infinite ignorance, AA in Oz (may you never have to deal with them), told me that there was a $100 charge to change a paper ticket into an e-ticket. Given that AA Oz has given me bad info two times out of three in the past, I'm inclined to ignore them - but that unfortunately requires me to mail the paper tix to the US (currently I'm in Oz).

Does anyone know if the rule has changed in the last two months?