Jan 5, 2019, 6:11 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Voluntary Award Changes Questionsfor carrier, co-terminal, date, destination, add / drop a segment, origin, routing, cancellation AAnytime <-> MileSAAver and other changes
See the current thread here, please.
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:
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.
See TravelingBetter.com here and illustrations here.
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)
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 2012-2014 archive of older posts on this topic
See the current thread here, please.
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.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 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.
See TravelingBetter.com here and illustrations here.
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)
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 2012-2014 archive of older posts on this topic
ARCHIVE: 2015-16 Award change date change route all changes
Dec 8, 2016, 8:24 pm
#1306
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 85
My guess is that they were lumping two separate things into one when they told you the cost of mileage difference.
1) you are changing your pre-deval 55K award to the post-deval 70K award, since you are changing the origin of your award from ATL-TPE to HKG-TPE; This part costs 15K extra;
2) you are separately paying for an Anytime award for domestic in either Y or F. This part costs the rest of additional mileage.
That's my best guess.
1) you are changing your pre-deval 55K award to the post-deval 70K award, since you are changing the origin of your award from ATL-TPE to HKG-TPE; This part costs 15K extra;
2) you are separately paying for an Anytime award for domestic in either Y or F. This part costs the rest of additional mileage.
That's my best guess.
1. The award was actually booked at the 70 k level. The origin remains ATL and the destination remains TPE.
2. Mosty, I'm confused how they got 55 k extra and 90 k extra for Y or F in a domestic leg.
Dec 8, 2016, 10:43 pm
#1307
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
Respectfully, the community isn't going to know. What you need to do is just call AA and ask for a breakdown of the what was done. Or, look under transactions on ur aadv account.
Dec 9, 2016, 9:17 am
#1308
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,470
If you're talking about Dec. 23, the AAnytime F price for ATL-ORD is 90k miles. So to do that, it would be ATL-ORD (90k AAnytime F) + ORD-NRT-TPE (70k sAAver J).
The Y AAnytime price for ATL-ORD is 65k. However there are a few sAAver Y seats open on Dec. 23 for 12.5k so you should be able to take a voluntary downgrade to Y on ATL-ORD and get the whole award to still price at 70k.
It goes without saying that using AAnytime awards for the domestic segment is a terrible deal.
Dec 9, 2016, 8:44 pm
#1309
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 85
AAnytime awards are only valid on AA metal, so you cannot combine an AAnytime domestic segment with a sAAver partner award, it will price as 2 awards.
If you're talking about Dec. 23, the AAnytime F price for ATL-ORD is 90k miles. So to do that, it would be ATL-ORD (90k AAnytime F) + ORD-NRT-TPE (70k sAAver J).
The Y AAnytime price for ATL-ORD is 65k. However there are a few sAAver Y seats open on Dec. 23 for 12.5k so you should be able to take a voluntary downgrade to Y on ATL-ORD and get the whole award to still price at 70k.
It goes without saying that using AAnytime awards for the domestic segment is a terrible deal.
If you're talking about Dec. 23, the AAnytime F price for ATL-ORD is 90k miles. So to do that, it would be ATL-ORD (90k AAnytime F) + ORD-NRT-TPE (70k sAAver J).
The Y AAnytime price for ATL-ORD is 65k. However there are a few sAAver Y seats open on Dec. 23 for 12.5k so you should be able to take a voluntary downgrade to Y on ATL-ORD and get the whole award to still price at 70k.
It goes without saying that using AAnytime awards for the domestic segment is a terrible deal.
@AAExecPlatFlier I did ask the agent to explain how the repricing work, but still wasn't getting through to me. I now understand now that I know it's priced as 2 awards.
Last edited by brito11; Dec 9, 2016 at 8:50 pm
Dec 10, 2016, 7:13 am
#1310
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Largo, FL
Posts: 1,270
Cancel Award Ticket and Apply Award to Held Reservation ok?
I may cancel award tickets to travel on dates for which I have a held reservation. The destination is not the same (but it is in the same region) so there would be a fee to change. Can I cancel the award ticket and apply the award to the held reservation without incurring a fee since I will not be redepositing the miles? Does it make a difference if the canceled ticket was a oneworld award for QF and AA but the new held reservation is an all on AA? Does the award itself have an expiration that may impact this?
Dec 10, 2016, 7:49 am
#1311
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 199
There's no such thing as an 'award' in this situation; if you use miles to purchase tickets, then you have tickets. If you cancel those tickets, you'll either redeposit the miles or lose them, you can't trade them for other tickets directly.
In other words, you didn't purchase an 'award' with your miles (and used the 'award' to buy tickets), you bought tickets.
In other words, you didn't purchase an 'award' with your miles (and used the 'award' to buy tickets), you bought tickets.
Dec 10, 2016, 9:10 am
#1312
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: AAdvantage (Platinum)
Posts: 470
An award is specific to the city pairs you booked, so the change in destination will prevent you from reusing the award to buy the held reservation. If you really want to test this then you can ask an AAgent to do an exchange of the booked res for the held res (but all you're likely to get is a verbal refusal/explanation about the change in destination).
Dec 11, 2016, 8:03 pm
#1313
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Largo, FL
Posts: 1,270
In July I did cancel an award ticket and the agent asked if I wanted to keep that award and use it later or redeposit the miles. I redeposited the miles since there was no fee due to a schedule change.
Dec 11, 2016, 8:10 pm
#1314
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: DFW/LAX
Programs: HH Diamond, AA EXP
Posts: 534
Yeah, so you can keep the award to use it later on the same city pair, but you can't just keep the value of the award for any future award, it has to be the same city pair.
Dec 12, 2016, 1:24 pm
#1315
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Largo, FL
Posts: 1,270
OK. Got it. So does the award have an expiration? If a redeposit fee would apply, it appears that it is best to use the award again on a new itinerary for the same city pairs (origin and destination).
Dec 12, 2016, 3:36 pm
#1316
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 845
So booked an award ticket for March in Y (12.5k miles) going LAX-STL-LGA. Schedule change will cause me arriving into LGA +10 hours later than booked. Can I choose any routing of my liking to get into NYC close to the original time regardless of current award availability on those flights?
Dec 13, 2016, 8:10 am
#1318
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: South Florida
Programs: AA LTG (EXP), Hilton Silver (Dia), Marriott LTP (PP), SPG LTG (P) > MPG LTPP
Posts: 11,329
So booked an award ticket for March in Y (12.5k miles) going LAX-STL-LGA. Schedule change will cause me arriving into LGA +10 hours later than booked. Can I choose any routing of my liking to get into NYC close to the original time regardless of current award availability on those flights?
Dec 13, 2016, 3:13 pm
#1319
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 845
Thanks for the reply! Will call them later this week.
Dec 13, 2016, 5:00 pm
#1320
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 4,431
My parents booked an award flight for January 2017 from LAX-NRT-TPE in AA F and JL J. At the time of booking early 2016, the AA flight was a 3-cabin plane. A few months ago, the plane was changed to 2 cabin so they were involuntarily downgraded to J. After a lengthy phone call, the miles refunded and they were charged the pre-devaluation cost.
At this point they're interested in just doing LAX-TPE in EVA J, but only if they can get the AA flights cancelled without fees. Normally it would be $175 + $25, but since this was an involuntary downgrade in class, would you expect AA to allow free cancellation? They have no status with AA.
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At this point they're interested in just doing LAX-TPE in EVA J, but only if they can get the AA flights cancelled without fees. Normally it would be $175 + $25, but since this was an involuntary downgrade in class, would you expect AA to allow free cancellation? They have no status with AA.
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