New Award Fee Structure for Non-EP's
 

Coming soon to an Award claim near you...

Award Expedite Fee

* 0 - 6 days will change from $75 to $100
* Multiple awards claimed from the same account at the same time, the fee will change from $20 to $25 for each additional award.
* 7 - 20 days $50 (no change)
* The only change will be when multiple awards are claimed from the same account at the same time, the fee will change from $20 to $25 for each additional award.
* All fee increases apply to new bookings made on or after July 14, 2005. The lower fees will continue to apply to awards booked or claimed before July 14,2005.

Reinstatement Fee $100 (No Change)

* The only change will be when multiple awards are reinstated from the same account at the same time, the fee will change from $20 to $25 for each additional award.
* The additional add-on fee for awards being reinstated will apply to new awards claimed on or after July 14, 2005. Awards claimed prior to July 14, 2005, the lower fee will be applied.

Have to appreciate the gall (and genius) of (further) monetizing electronic (read: no additional cost) transactions.

So, it seems that there are still no fees if the award is claimed outside the21 day window. There's still an easy way to avoid this fee, in that case. Not sure I see this as a huge change (even if I weren't EXP).

Cheers.

Given that a fair amount of seats are not opened up until closer to departure, my sympathies for those who cannot manage to get around these fees that otherwise equate with an effective (even if not readily measurable) marginal devaluation of miles.

I booked 2 tix using miles from the same account 6 months before the departure date. Award inventory opened up for one of the legs I had paid for. I added the leg to the award ticket and was charged $100 per ticket ($200 total). Should I have been charged $120? I have not booked multiple tickets from the same account before, so don't know the ins and outs.

Thanks!

Sadly, I think $200 was right. The $20 per additional ticket is for reinstating miles to the account, AFAIK. I believe that destination changes on awards are treated the same as for regular tickets- $100/ticket (less in some markets, but the same amount per ticket). Again, this is my understanding, but I am not 100%.

Cheers.

I'm not so sure, brp. I assume the transaction was handled as a mileage redeposit ($100+$20) followed by 2 new award tickets issued (free). So it sounds to me (I definitely do not know this authoritatively, just my interpretation of the rules) like it should have been $120, not $200.

Interesting interpretation- you may be right. I was looking it as a change rather than a redposit and reissue. Your suggestion is definitely the way to go since it saves $80, and the definitely could have done it that way. That's why I love this place.

Cheers.

Bull
 

† * Effective July 14, 2005, the Award Fee for reservations ticketed within six (6) days of departure will be $100.

Another reason to jump ship... whatever happened to those FREE award tickets?

Is there any airline partner that you can book american on that doesn't charge an expidiate fee for 21 days or less.? Also I have some award tickets on american but they are through BA and midwest air. If I have to change dates is that allowed or is there a fee to change on partner airlines and/or american.?

This gets worse and worse with AA. Fees for everything including using what you earned. This is right up there with paying $280 to get back 25,000 expired miles. Miles you still already earned, expired or not.

http://www.aa.com/apps/netSAAver/Vie...omotionContent

Yes, British Airways does not charge an expedite fee within 21 days. However, there is a $50 fee for partner awards issued within 10 days of booking (based on a call to them three days ago). However, once ticketed, you CANNOT make any changes to a partner ticket. BA also charges a fee for booking over the phone.

That's another reason why one should move their BA account around to be resident in a place that doesn't charge some of BA's numerous fees. For accounts resident in the US, sometimes a request to have the fee waived for BA Silvers and Golds does work.

One word of warning about BA miles (and even many other European frequent flyer programs): vis-a-vis EXPs, out-of-the-box thinkers and advance planners' award tickets, the taxes and fees using BA miles are often quite a bit higher than what one gets hit with by AA.

I'm not sure it's as much monetizing transactions, as carrots and sticks.

AA would like to have more of their award inventory figured out earlier. Thus more disincentives for doing it late, and thus more incentives for doing it early.

The later you ticket an award, the higher-cost seat it's being "compared" against as a rule.

No, I really don't think that's it.