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 Ą1,000 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.




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


Awards assistance tools: Use at your own risk; may not be up to date. These are not recommendations.

• 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