Last edit by: Prospero
oneworld and other airline Awards Rules, Information 2015 on
NOTE: Check AA award charts for current awards costs.List of airlines you can use in redeeming awards:
oneworld airlines (and their oneworld affiliates) are:
- AA - American Airlines (and American Eagle)
- AS - Alaska Airlines
- AT - Royal Air Maroc
- BA - British Airways (and BA Cityflyer, BA Euroflyer, Sun Air of Scandinavia) (incurs high YQ surcharge)
- CX - Cathay Pacific
- AY - Finnair (and Norra)
- IB - Iberia (and Air Nostrum, Iberia Express) (incurs YQ surcharge)
- JL - Japan Airlines (and J-Air)
- MH - Malaysia Airlines
- RJ - Royal Jordanian
- QF - Qantas (and QantasLink, Jetconnect - not Jetstar)
- QR - Qatar Airways
- UL - SriLankan Airlines
Non-oneworld airlines one can redeem (MileSAAver) awards on are:
- TN - Air Tahiti Nui
- CZ - China Southern
- EY - Etihad Airways
- FJ - Fiji Airways (oneworld Connect partner)
- HA - Hawaiian Airlines - except mainland - islands
Airlines that can be booked for award travel on aa.com:
oneworld alliance partners and other partners
- TN - Air Tahiti Nui
- AA - American Airlines
- AS - Alaska Airlines
- AY - Finnair
- BA - British Airways (awards incur YQ airline imposed surcharge)
- FJ - Fiji Airways
- HA - Hawaiian Airlines (not interisland not North America - Hawaii)
- IB - Iberia (lesser YQ surcharge)
- MH - Malaysia Airlines
- QF - Qantas Airways
- QR - Qatar Airways
- RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
- UL - Sri Lankan Airlines
All other airlines have to be requested by telephone; calling to book awards that cannot be booked online no longer incurs telephone service fees.
Routing assistance, etc.
Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes, and you can sign up for British Airways Executive Club or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. Also see this link to AA.com listing oneworld airlines with information about each.
Awards may be put on hold for five days. Awards may take time to be verified by the operating airlines. Once approved, they will proceed to a booking queue for ticket issuance; the sooner the trip, the faster the process - and vice versa. See link to thread, below.
Booking for, or changing an award to, travel sooner than 21 days out requires an early booking fee (waived for Executive Platinum members). One can not book farther out, change to closer in and evade this fee any longer (as of 16 Feb 2012)
Booking Business or First awards with JL / Japan Airlines one will only be able to fly in Economy domestically in Japan, but upgrades are quite inexpensive at ¥1,000 or so per flight.
See more below in "General Rules"
Latest changes:
- As of Aug 2017, Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards. Link
- Nov 2016: MH can now be used on AA or CX transpacific awards to India subcontinent via HKG in addition to CX
- May 6, 2016: Regions split (Indian Subcontinent, Middle East)
- As of 7 April 2014, the "free stopover" discussed can no longer be used as free award stopovers at international North American gateways have been eliminated.
- Airlines are normally precluded from writing tickets with more than 16 segments.
AA Region Definitions*
Region definitions changed again May 6, 2016. Link
Links and resources:
- See (AA) oneworld and other airline partner awards chart
- See (FT) AA's current One-Way Flex Awards(May 9, 2009, including new stopover rules)
- See (AA) AA Award Reservations
- dealing with BA and IB surcharges
- For the older, archived very long (but information-rich) thread, see here.
_________________________________________________
updated April 2021. Modified and updated from JonNYC's original post in the archived thread (please feel free to update):
Introduction
There are two types of awards discussed below, AA Awards and oneworld and Other Airlines Awards, which are targeted to passengers traveling to a single destination.
As of 1 October 2010 awards may be redeemed for travel on all British Airways flights, including previously excluded flights between the U.S. and U.K. Note that additional British Airways high YQ surcharges, as well as Iberia's lower YQ surcharges, apply based on class-of-service and market flown: see Earning and redeeming AA miles / upgrading on BA/IB; BA fuel surcharge (Oct 1, 2010)
Award Rules
- American Airlines Awards are valid for travel on flights that are marketed and operated by AA (no codeshares). These awards can be booked online at AA.com.
- oneworld and Other Airline awards are valid for travel on AA and any of its partner airlines, and can include travel on multiple partners. Many of these awards must be booked over the phone, and will not incur a Ticketing Service Charge (waived for EXPs in any case) if they cannot be booked online.
- Up to four one-way awards can be booked on a single PNR.
General Rules, Routing and Connections
Passenger has 4h on domestic / 23h59m international travel to connect. If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover may require two awards).
If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m windows and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight.
Effective on 14 Jul 2014 on an all-AA-metal award itinerary, you now have up to 18 hours to connect when traveling to/from Hawaii [[URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25730421-post993.html"]Ref]
The particular carrier's Maximum Permitted Miles / MPM + 25% on a particular route. (The MPM by itself often exceeds the distance between the origin and destination airports because connections may be required.)
Or, the "most significant carrier" (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) must publish a non-constructed fare between your origin and destination.
To price as a single award, AAdvantage requires the most significant carrier to publish a cash fare (non-constructed) between the origin and destination. Airline MSC would have to have a published fare from XXX to YYY that allows travel on all included airlines, and routing that you want. If the MSC only offers constructed fares between your desired origin and destination, AA will price this as two awards.
Stopovers
None allowed.
Partner award inventories
Award booking inventory classes for each carrier in the AAdvantage Award program are listed below and may be useful when on the phone with an AA rep or when checking availability. See also the Award Booking Codes page in the FlyerGuide wiki for updated information.
Code:
oneworld Partners First Business Economy -------------------------------------------------------- AA - American Airlines Z U T -------------------------------------------------------- AY – Finnair U X -------------------------------------------------------- BA – British Airways Z U X -------------------------------------------------------- CX – Cathay Pacific Z U T -------------------------------------------------------- IB – Iberia U X -------------------------------------------------------- JL – Japan Airlines (Intl) Z U T JL – Japan Airlines (Dom) Z D S -------------------------------------------------------- MH - Malaysia Airlines P U X -------------------------------------------------------- QF - QANTAS Airways P U X -------------------------------------------------------- QR - Qatar Airways Z U X -------------------------------------------------------- RJ – Royal Jordanian U X -------------------------------------------------------- S7 – S7 Airlines U E -------------------------------------------------------- UL - SriLankan Airlines -------------------------------------------------------- Other Partners First Business Economy -------------------------------------------------------- FJ – Fiji Airways U X -------------------------------------------------------- TN – Air Tahiti Nui F for Business U for Economy -------------------------------------------------------- LY – El Al Israel P X E -------------------------------------------------------- EY - Etihad O I N -------------------------------------------------------- HA – Hawaiian Airlines D T --------------------------------------------------------
General Routing Rules
Routing
General Rules
Passenger has 4h / 23h59m to connect (depending on domestic or international travel). If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover.
If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m window and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight. It is not necessary to check every flight/carrier to ensure passenger is booked on next scheduled flight.
Must meet Married Segment Logic - a prospective trip may be available when searching segment by segment, yet not be bookable through from origin to destination. When selling seats for through flights and the desired inventory is not available, you cannot opt to sell the flight point-to-point. If sold point-to-point, the error response MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR SAME FLIGHT - SELL AS ONE SEGMENT will be received, indicating this booking is not allowed. Overriding the error check by ending the PNR twice is not acceptable.
If the partner airline doesn’t sell an unconstructed ticket for the desired routing, it won’t offer an award using that routing.
Within North America
- Awards wholly within North America are valid on all partner airlines that market and operate their own service within North America.
- Travel between two cities in the United States via Canada/Mexico is not allowed.
- Travel between two cities in Canada/Mexico via the United States is not allowed.
- Passenger must travel the most direct routing.
- Connections of more than 4 hours are considered a stopover unless the passenger is taking the next scheduled flight and it is outside the 4 hours.
- Any connection of 24 hours is always considered a stopover.
- Award travel between Hawaii and North America does not include inter-island flights.
- Inter-island award travel will allow a maxium of 2 flight segments.
North America To/from Other Regions
- Award travel to/from North America is allowed on any combination of carriers that service the applicable region except as noted below.
- Passenger must use most direct routing.
- Hawaiian Airlines is not valid for these awards.
- As of Oct 1, 2010, British Airways is valid for all routes, including transatlantic flights between the U.S. and U.K.
- Travel to Europe, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent/Middle East must be via the Atlantic only.
- Travel to Asia 1, Asia 2 and the South Pacific must be via the Pacific.
- Travel to/from Fiji/Papeete cannot be via Australia/New Zealand.
- Travel to Easter Island (IPC) must be via Papeete (PPT) or use two awards.
- North American travel to/from Guam or Saipan, the transpacific segment must be on AA.
- Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.
- A connection with more than 23h59m will be considered a stopover.
Travel Wholly Within or Between All Other Regions
These awards do not allow a connection via North America and therefore, do not include travel on American Airlines.
- Passenger must travel the most direct routing.
- Connecting travel is not allowed outside the region or regions.
- Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.
- A connection with more than 24 hours will be considered a stopover.
Travel Via a Third Region
Travel via a third region is not allowed (note the exception table below).
EXCEPTION TABLE:
To/From Via
- North America to/from Africa can connect in Europe or in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- North America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- North America to/from Asia 2 can connect in Asia 1
- Central/South America to/from Africa can connect in Europe
- Central/South America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- Central/South America to/from South Pacific can connect in South America 2
- South America 2 to/from Africa can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- South America 2 to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- Europe to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2 or DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Europe to/from Asia 2 can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Europe to/from South Pacific can connect in Singapore or Bangkok only. Note: this may have been updated to include Bangkok, Doha, Hong Kong, Osaka, Singapore or Tokyo.
- Africa to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2 or in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Africa to/from Asia 2 can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Indian Sub Continent/Middle East to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2
- Indian Sub Continent/Middle East to/from South Pacific can connect in Asia 2
- Asia 1 to/from South Pacific can connect in Asia 2
Regions:
- Asia 1 = Japan, Korea, Mongolia
- Asia 2 = Bhutan, Brunei, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
- South America 2 = Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile (excluding Easter Island), Paraguay, Uruguay
Travel on LAN direct flights between North America and South America Region 2 are allowed. Currently, only one market, Miami to/from Buenos Aries, has direct service. These can only be booked by the liaisons. Contact support for booking assistance.
For permitted changes and fees, see this post
- Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes.
- British Airways Executive Club: You can sign up for British Airways Executive Club, Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. Can show "phantom" availability.
- Award Nexus: It's easy to do your experiments for some free browsing (click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up with your FlyerTalk login info). You might want to run each segment rather than origin to destination. [/quote]
Links to other threads of interest:
MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion (consolidated)
Help with British Airways / BA surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA, consolidated)
UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures
Award with available segments not bookable? (Married Segment issues)
MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity >= Aug 2011 onward (consolidated)
Ticket or Award status: On Request, Pending, Purchased and Ticketed (consolidated)
Link to archived older posts from this thread.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to aktchi, eponymous-coward, guv1976, hillrider, iztok, JonNYC and others who have contributed to this wiki.
- AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Second
- AwardHacker: "a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles"
- Award Nexus: which can search availability but can't determine cost, with FT member free limited use
- Economical Excursionist's Tools: compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions
- ExpertFlyer is a common tool used on FT. There is a $99.99 annual fee, monthly fee and five day trial
- Great Circle Mapper is useful for calculating distance and MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage)
- You can try PEX+ (currently in beta), which will even tell you how many miles you'll need, though it draws data from aa.com and S7 so it can't reveal awards that can not be seen on those sites.
- Travel Codex Award Maximiser commercial blog
AA oneworld & Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (master thd)
#286
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
She is pricing it as 2 separate awards. It's not dynamic and it's 57.5k.
I booked one of these recently. I also had to call in (the AY-AY connections never show up on search). It was booked within a few minutes. Being EXP helps, as the EXP desk agents generally know what they are doing.
The right way to do this is to give your start point and final destination, and then feed flight numbers. If she is searching for availability between anywhere and HEL she is doing it wrong.
Once the res with the two separate awards is held, it will use up the award space and no one else will be able to book it (assuming that there was only 1 availability on the long haul). That's why the other agents couldn't find anything. You need the on hold PNR to be cancelled and a competent agent needs to start over once the space starts showing up again.
I booked one of these recently. I also had to call in (the AY-AY connections never show up on search). It was booked within a few minutes. Being EXP helps, as the EXP desk agents generally know what they are doing.
The right way to do this is to give your start point and final destination, and then feed flight numbers. If she is searching for availability between anywhere and HEL she is doing it wrong.
Once the res with the two separate awards is held, it will use up the award space and no one else will be able to book it (assuming that there was only 1 availability on the long haul). That's why the other agents couldn't find anything. You need the on hold PNR to be cancelled and a competent agent needs to start over once the space starts showing up again.
#287
Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: US
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 90
Asking since this thread got bumped anyway. Is Finnair still only releasing 1 J award per flight? I had a look a few months ago (but didn’t search very hard) and that was all I saw. Then I had read something about them doing that but not sure if it continued or not.
#288
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
It looks like it. I haven't seen another one released on the flight that I booked for June 2024 either. But maybe they will release more space as the date gets closer. I would assume that they might, depending on loads. I doubt they will fly with an empty cabin.
#289
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 7,041
Very frustrating, but I guess great if you are a single traveler.
Regards
#291
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
With a good agent this should not be necessary but it can't hurt. Because if you mention XXX to HEL first and they enter that, they are likely to go down the road of booking 2 awards.
#292
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 15
The key is to not mention HEL or AY until you have given them your endpoints. I usually say, I'm trying to book an award ticket from XXX to YYY, but I'm having trouble getting the website to show my preferred routing. They will ask you for dates, and then once they have entered all that, I say, I wanted to take AYaaa from XXX to HEL, and then connect to AYbbb from HEL to YYY.
With a good agent this should not be necessary but it can't hurt. Because if you mention XXX to HEL first and they enter that, they are likely to go down the road of booking 2 awards.
With a good agent this should not be necessary but it can't hurt. Because if you mention XXX to HEL first and they enter that, they are likely to go down the road of booking 2 awards.
#293
Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: US
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 90
Trying to plan a trip from SIN to somewhere in Europe (LHR?) for Oct ‘24 but I’m only seeing UL availability when I search 330 days out currently. Should I be seeing other airline availability? I see some EY show up around 300~ days out but I’m not sure if that’s going to continue into Oct ‘24. I know BA also flies that route but I don’t see any award availability at all for SIN-LHR on AA’s site. QR would be ideal but I know they’ve scaled back their J awards lately.
Just trying to get an idea on what I can expect while aiming for 2 J tickets in a couple of months when the dates start opening up. Are some of these flights available but just don’t show up on AA’s site? Or is what I’m seeing in the AA search basically all I have available to me? Any tips and answers would be appreciated.
Just trying to get an idea on what I can expect while aiming for 2 J tickets in a couple of months when the dates start opening up. Are some of these flights available but just don’t show up on AA’s site? Or is what I’m seeing in the AA search basically all I have available to me? Any tips and answers would be appreciated.
#294
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,022
Trying to plan a trip from SIN to somewhere in Europe (LHR?) for Oct ‘24 but I’m only seeing UL availability when I search 330 days out currently. Should I be seeing other airline availability? I see some EY show up around 300~ days out but I’m not sure if that’s going to continue into Oct ‘24. I know BA also flies that route but I don’t see any award availability at all for SIN-LHR on AA’s site. QR would be ideal but I know they’ve scaled back their J awards lately.
Just trying to get an idea on what I can expect while aiming for 2 J tickets in a couple of months when the dates start opening up. Are some of these flights available but just don’t show up on AA’s site? Or is what I’m seeing in the AA search basically all I have available to me? Any tips and answers would be appreciated.
Just trying to get an idea on what I can expect while aiming for 2 J tickets in a couple of months when the dates start opening up. Are some of these flights available but just don’t show up on AA’s site? Or is what I’m seeing in the AA search basically all I have available to me? Any tips and answers would be appreciated.
QR Qatar fly's to BHX, EDI, LGW, LHR & MAN in UK. Be different to most others and look for an airport other than LHR. But still the issue of an award SIN-DOH.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations
#295
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
More correctly, BA & QF ( plus others ) allow bookings at 353ish days in advance - it is not limited to their own scheme members, The issue for AA members is that AA does not allow booking award travel until 330 days. This is an AA issue only , not BA/QF acting in a way to disadvantage AA members
#296
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Programs: AA EP, Marriott Gold
Posts: 113
crowd sourcing here to see if it's just me, my browser, the AA site, or something else....
in the past I was able to hold two different award flights that departed on the same day, same origin city, 2 different destinations (I like having options before making a decision). I've recently started getting the dreaded "something went wrong" error saying that I already have a held booking. not sure if other folks have encountered this? while I get why they may have started to block multiple bookings, I sure do miss having options.
second, when trying to pay for an award ticket, I can't seem to get it ticketed online. had to call twice to get two award bookings pushed through. when I hit 'confirm and pay' I kept getting bumped to the final page before purchase. not sure if it may have been just a bug, or because the second segment was on another airline... luckily the ticket was still on hold and was able to get it ticketed.
in the past I was able to hold two different award flights that departed on the same day, same origin city, 2 different destinations (I like having options before making a decision). I've recently started getting the dreaded "something went wrong" error saying that I already have a held booking. not sure if other folks have encountered this? while I get why they may have started to block multiple bookings, I sure do miss having options.
second, when trying to pay for an award ticket, I can't seem to get it ticketed online. had to call twice to get two award bookings pushed through. when I hit 'confirm and pay' I kept getting bumped to the final page before purchase. not sure if it may have been just a bug, or because the second segment was on another airline... luckily the ticket was still on hold and was able to get it ticketed.
#297
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,424
Changes are no longer allowed on AA-only "Flight Awards" however changes are still supposedly allowed on partner awards.
The problem is that many agents are poorly trained and/or confused about the award changes earlier this year, and don't understand that there's a difference in policy between AA-only awards and partner awards.
If you're willing to HUCA several times you might find an agent that will change a partner award.
Lots of data points here on this issue, and some in the QR thread also:
AA Award Ticket Positioning Flight Add-On
The problem is that many agents are poorly trained and/or confused about the award changes earlier this year, and don't understand that there's a difference in policy between AA-only awards and partner awards.
If you're willing to HUCA several times you might find an agent that will change a partner award.
Lots of data points here on this issue, and some in the QR thread also:
AA Award Ticket Positioning Flight Add-On
I know she's wrong about her award, but is she right about not being able to change destination of a held partner award?
EDIT: Called again and gave the agent the flight number I wanted (showed available in U on AA.com) and he made the change in 2 minutes.
Last edited by skunker; Sep 20, 2023 at 3:54 pm
#298
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,247
Partner award on AA served route
Does AA not offer partner awards on routes that they also serve? For example, if I look at IAD-MAA, for example, I see EY, QR, BA etc. (if available), like any other partner route. However, if I search IAD-DEL, then the only options are AA metal.
Is this just because there happen to be no partner awards on that route or does AA no longer offer them? Noticed this on DOH, DEL and a few other destinations. Or is it just a website issue?
Is this just because there happen to be no partner awards on that route or does AA no longer offer them? Noticed this on DOH, DEL and a few other destinations. Or is it just a website issue?
#300
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,481
Website issue. When you search a route that is also served by AA metal, the aa.com search result algorithms flood you with a million all-AA routing options. When you search a route that isn't served by AA, aa.com is forced to compile the more complex partner results.