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Voluntary Award Change / changes: date, time, routing, airline, co-terminal, etc.

Old Jul 27, 2015, 9:19 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
Please feel free to add to or correct the information herein.
NOTE: For involuntary award changes (caused by the operating carriers), see Involuntary Award Changes / What To Do (merged threads).

Ordinarily, one must call to request or make changes to award tickets.

Award changes, ordinary

NOTE: More extensive listing of terms and conditions are listed in oneworld and other all partner awards rules, Information 2015 on

Award carrier, connection, date or routing changes: As long as origin and destination (but read on for exceptions such as first / last segment) remain the same, change / award redeposit fees are usually waived for awards under certain circumstances when date, connection, routing or carrier changes are made But:Airline / carrier changes incur no change or redeposit fees as long as you do not try to change between all AA oneworld airlines and non-oneworld airlines or vice versa.

E.g. an AA award such as SEA-HNL-SYD using AS can not be changed to use JL without requiring award redeposit. An award using AA LAX-HKG can be changed to JL via NRT or CX Without redeposit ing miles.

If Maximum Permitted Miles (usually 125% of the most direct available routing) for an award is exceeded, two awards may be charged

or

MSC fare requirements: The most significant or prevailing carrier, usually the one with the transoceanic sector, must offer an unconstructed fare between desired origin and destination; if a fare would require "married segments", two awards may be required.
Award validity: Awards must be used within one year of original booking. For travel beyond that, the award miles will have to be redeposited and new awards secured.

Award cancellations can be by phone or online, but online cancellation requires separate action to reinstate the miles. Canceling online does not request or result in miles redeposit.

Award miles reinstatement: Redeposit fees are waived for Executive Platinum members. See here for more information on award miles reinstatement.

"Upgrading" class of service by using miles requires redepositing the original award and issuing a new one for the higher class if service. AA will waive the deposit fee on the redeposited award, and will not charge for this. (However, taxes may differ, such as going from the discounted U.K. Air Passenger Duty to the full APD if upgrading from Y / PE to J; if there are higher taxes and fees imposed by the new fare, the passenger is charged for those.)

Co-terminals: For award purposes, there are no co-terminals; changing co-terminal airports (MIA and FLL, PBI; JFK, LGA, EWR etc.) will incur a $150 change fee. See this thread for detail on award miles redeposit.

An award using AS, FJ, HA or TN to South Pacific (e.g. AKL, SYD) can not be changed to AA or QF without requiring award redeposit (or vice versa).

Dropping segments: Awards made on AA or / and "all partner" carriers will allow changes mentioned above without requiring redeposit fees. Instances of dropping an origin segment can be allowed, or a final segment - as long as doing so does not change the destination zone (or sub-zone, in the case of intra-North America awards); changing the mileage (miles required) of the award claimed or the number of awards claimed.

Segments can be dropped as long as doing so does not change the destination zone (or sub-zone, in the case of intra-North America awards). If you are refused, refer agents to the in-house memo/advisory dated 02/03/11 entitled "Dropping OWFA segments." (guv1976)

As JonNYC posted:

This document was current as of December 2014:
For permitted changes and fees, see this post in the airline partner award thread.

If the award is AA and oneworld, changes may be made as long as the main / governing /Most Significant Carrier makes an unconstructed fare on the award routing and the governing fare's carrier is not changed to one not offering such a fare.

Close-in booking fee: Changes made to bring travel to under 21 days from award issue will incur close-in booking fees of $75.

Schedule changes: On international awards, schedule changes of two hours or longer, or those breaking connections by bringing them below MCT / minimum connection times, flight cancellations, generally may be cancelled and redeposited without fees, or engender greater flexibility in changes. With AA awards, it is possible award seating may be opened when there is none; with partners, AA can appeal to the Liaison to the partner to open seating in these cases (the partner airline may or may not grant the exception requested). Equipment change constitutes a schedule change and you will be able to get the fee waived pre this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

Partner changes: If the award includes non-oneworld partners such as AS, EY, FJ or TN, or a oneworld carrier award is changed to include a non-oneworld carrier, or vice versa, significant fees will be incurred ($150).

"Upgrading" class of service by using miles requires redepositing the original award and issuing a new one for the higher class if service. AA will waive the deposit fee on the redeposited award, and will not charge for this. (However, taxes may differ, such as going from the discounted U.K. Air Passenger Duty to the full APD if upgrading from Y / PE to J; if there are higher taxes abd fees imposed by the new fare, the passenger is charged for those.)

Changes that require different award type -

Changes to the itinerary which involve different AAdvantage award(s) than originally ticketed require a reinstatement of the original award ticket, payment of the applicable award reinstatement charge (see below), and a new award ticket issued (waived for AAdvantage Executive Platinum members using miles from their account). However, SAAver awards canceled for AAnytime awards, or changing to a higher class of service, will not incur redeposit fees.

Changes to your outbound travel date, resulting in a departure within 21 days -

Close-in booking fee: A $75 USD award processing charge will apply for a confirmed change to the date on an AAdvantage MileSAAver and AAnytime award ticket if the change results in a new outbound travel date that is within 21 days of the original booking date (waived for AAdvantage elite members using miles from their account).

Contact AAdvantage Reservations to change your itinerary, pay the applicable charge and have your ticket reissued prior to travel.

Canceling Awards / Reinstating Award Tickets
(Waived for AAdvantage Executive Platinum members using miles from their account)

AAdvantage mileage will be reinstated for unused and unexpired awards upon payment of a processing fee. For tickets booked on or after November 1, 2018, AAdvantagemileage will be reinstated upon payment of a processing fee for unused and unexpired awards canceled prior to departure. For each additional award reinstatement from the same account at the same time, an additional charge will be collected. These charges are payable by credit card.

Award class changes: MileSAAver to AAnytime changes generally incur no fees; conversely, AAnytime to MileSAAver awards generally will.

Award cabin class "upgrades" (e.g. Y to J): If the change made is an increase of miles to another cabin class, fees are not normally charged (but some government required fees such as UK Air Passenger Duty, airport passenger facility fees, etc. may change).

Redepositing awards incurs a fee of $150 other than for Executive Platinum members redepositing to their accounts. If two or more awards are being redeposited to the same account at the same time, the fees are $150 for the first award, $25 for every award thereafter. Note the awards do not have to share the same PNR, though some less knowledgeable agents will insist so.

Note: given a 120 hr / 5 day hold is offered, there is no right to Free cancellation (without redeposit) within 24 hours of securing the award. OTOH, mere date changes to a year from Booking are free of charge in most instances.

Please see: State of the award reinstatement fee (Nov 2015 - clarifying)
FAQ: Cancel award ticket / cancellation (time frame, taxes, etc.) (merged threads)
Link to ARCHIVE 2017: Award Change for date, time, routing, co-terminal, cost, all changes.
Link to ARCHIVE 2015-2016: Award Change for date, time, routing, co-terminal, cost, all changes.
Link to ARCHIVE 2012-14: Award Change for date, time, routing, co-terminal, cost, all changes.
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Voluntary Award Change / changes: date, time, routing, airline, co-terminal, etc.

Old Jan 15, 2019, 4:10 pm
  #151  
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If there is award availability for SEA-ATL when travelling SEA-DOH via ATL ( ie that there isnt married sector availability issue ) then you can change the economy sector to business class for no charge
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 9:42 pm
  #152  
 
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Awesome, thank you guys. I called AA and got the F class ticket for SEA-ATL. Didn't think that this change would be free.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 10:25 pm
  #153  
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Good to hear

You had already paid for business class, so no reaon for it to have a cost to rebook into the cabin paid for
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:06 pm
  #154  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Trying to make sure I understand the rules. If I were to book an AA award IAD-LAX-PPT-AKL that is AS for the first leg then TN, but later found availability on AA metal for IAD-LAX-AKL then I would likely pay $150 change fee PP for switching out of oneworld into oneworld only. However, I may get lucky and get a CSR that waives the fee.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:38 pm
  #155  
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Originally Posted by burnthebarn
Trying to make sure I understand the rules. If I were to book an AA award IAD-LAX-PPT-AKL that is AS for the first leg then TN, but later found availability on AA metal for IAD-LAX-AKL then I would likely pay $150 change fee PP for switching out of oneworld into oneworld only. However, I may get lucky and get a CSR that waives the fee.
You got it.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:43 pm
  #156  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Originally Posted by JJeffrey
You got it.
Great thank you. Unfortunately I still am completely torn what to do. 26 hours through PPT which isn't too bad and they have new planes on TN. On straight AA more direct its 20 hours. If you HUCA a few times are the odds you could find a CSR willing to waive the fee high? If that's the case I would probably book it today through PPT since it's business award saver which is rare and hope biz saver opens up later on the more direct path. If $300 fee is likely I'd probably wait for econ / biz saver on the more direct route.
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 5:11 am
  #157  
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Originally Posted by burnthebarn
Great thank you. Unfortunately I still am completely torn what to do. 26 hours through PPT which isn't too bad and they have new planes on TN. On straight AA more direct its 20 hours. If you HUCA a few times are the odds you could find a CSR willing to waive the fee high? If that's the case I would probably book it today through PPT since it's business award saver which is rare and hope biz saver opens up later on the more direct path. If $300 fee is likely I'd probably wait for econ / biz saver on the more direct route.
If your flights are for 2 people, and all the miles are coming from your account, then the change fee would only be $150 for the first award +$25 for each subsequent award redeposited months same account (so $175 total).

Finding just one business award seat to Australia or New Zealand can be very tough, and 2 starts getting into unicorn territory depending on when you're trying to go. I would grab the TN routing now if it's suitable, and if a better routing on AA happens to open up consider yourself very luck for the opportunity to pay AA $175 to switch .

And as to getting an agent to waive the fee, it's not about asking them to waive it, as any agent that correctly understands it will charge it and they won't waive it just for asking. It's more about finding an agent that either forgets to charge it, or one that doesn't understand it and doesn't think it would apply to this change, etc. Just luck of the draw.
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 9:53 pm
  #158  
 
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Originally Posted by JJeffrey
If your flights are for 2 people, and all the miles are coming from your account, then the change fee would only be $150 for the first award +$25 for each subsequent award redeposited months same account (so $175 total).

Finding just one business award seat to Australia or New Zealand can be very tough, and 2 starts getting into unicorn territory depending on when you're trying to go. I would grab the TN routing now if it's suitable, and if a better routing on AA happens to open up consider yourself very luck for the opportunity to pay AA $175 to switch .

And as to getting an agent to waive the fee, it's not about asking them to waive it, as any agent that correctly understands it will charge it and they won't waive it just for asking. It's more about finding an agent that either forgets to charge it, or one that doesn't understand it and doesn't think it would apply to this change, etc. Just luck of the draw.
sage advice, will book it. also the $175 rather than $300 total certainly helps
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Old Jan 23, 2019, 7:19 pm
  #159  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Hi all,

I recently made an award booking less than 21 days out (departure on Jan 31), and paid the $75 close-in booking fee. However, I now need to change my flight to Jan 29 - will I be charged the close-in booking fee again?
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Old Jan 23, 2019, 7:23 pm
  #160  
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Originally Posted by Jing Xian Ng
Hi all,

I recently made an award booking less than 21 days out (departure on Jan 31), and paid the $75 close-in booking fee. However, I now need to change my flight to Jan 29 - will I be charged the close-in booking fee again?
Nope.
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Old Jan 24, 2019, 9:28 am
  #161  
 
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I was lucky enough to get an AA miles award from DFW to MEL with a 2 hour layover in SYD. I now want to spend 3-4 days in Sydney. If I as AA to book with a stopover will I lose the seats? Are stopovers possible? Or should I just get off the plane in SYD and buy a later ticket to MEL?
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Old Jan 24, 2019, 9:38 am
  #162  
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Originally Posted by tfizzle
I was lucky enough to get an AA miles award from DFW to MEL with a 2 hour layover in SYD. I now want to spend 3-4 days in Sydney. If I as AA to book with a stopover will I lose the seats? Are stopovers possible? Or should I just get off the plane in SYD and buy a later ticket to MEL?
Stopovers are no longer permitted on AAdvantage awards.

You should be able to have AA remove the SYD-MEL segment without charge if you call, but be aware that not all agents are aware that this is a free change. You might have to escalate to a supervisor.
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 2:29 pm
  #163  
 
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Change award class after booking

I booked 4 award tickets yesterday, LHR-DEL-CMB. I got the LHR-DEL in BA First, but the DEL-CMB was economy on Sri Lankan. Didnt think much about it until I choose seats on UL and realised there was a business class cabin. Trying award bookings in business from DEL-CMB I can see that there are 2 available. Would calling the EXP line allow me to switch 2 of the tickets to business leaving the other 2 in economy and then if further business award space opens up upgrade the other two later on (guessing an expert flyer subscription would be the best way t9 look for that).

if it is possible, would someone like to tell my teenage daughters Im leaving them in economy while me and Mrs Robofki upgrade? 😊
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 4:12 pm
  #164  
 
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Yes.
...
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Old Feb 5, 2019, 8:25 am
  #165  
 
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Originally Posted by robofski
I booked 4 award tickets yesterday, LHR-DEL-CMB. I got the LHR-DEL in BA First, but the DEL-CMB was economy on Sri Lankan. Didnt think much about it until I choose seats on UL and realised there was a business class cabin. Trying award bookings in business from DEL-CMB I can see that there are 2 available. Would calling the EXP line allow me to switch 2 of the tickets to business leaving the other 2 in economy and then if further business award space opens up upgrade the other two later on (guessing an expert flyer subscription would be the best way t9 look for that).

if it is possible, would someone like to tell my teenage daughters Im leaving them in economy while me and Mrs Robofki upgrade? 😊
Depending on your daughter's ages, you or your wife may be required to sit in the same cabin as your children.
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