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
Jan 3, 2015, 5:38 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
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ARCHIVE: 2015-16 Award change date change route all changes
I have an AA award booked for HEL-TXL-ORD-CLT on AB/AA. I'm thinking of changing my plans and returning from ARN instead. I thought I'd read in the past that the fee for changing origin/destination was waived for AA if you were not changing the region, but I can't find anything to that effect now. Maybe that was an old rule? Or my memory is poor. Is that true? Assuming not, any other ways to get around the fee? I thought about dropping HEL-TXL and booking ARN-TXL with BA Avios. Would I be protected on the TXL connection in case of IRROPS?
Last edited by dukerau; Jan 3, 2015 at 5:52 pm
Jan 3, 2015, 5:58 pm
#2
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Dropping HEL-TXL would not be a free change, as the award's origination country would be changing from Finland to Germany.
Dropping HEL-TXL would not be a free change, as the award's origination country would be changing from Finland to Germany.
Jan 3, 2015, 10:11 pm
#3
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Moderators alerted to move to the AA forum... But agree, there is no rule that allows free changes to origin and destination.
Jan 4, 2015, 7:13 am
#4
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I thought I'd read in the past that the fee for changing origin/destination was waived for AA if you were not changing the region, but I can't find anything to that effect now. Maybe that was an old rule? Or my memory is poor. Is that true?
Assuming not, any other ways to get around the fee? I thought about dropping HEL-TXL and booking ARN-TXL with BA Avios. Would I be protected on the TXL connection in case of IRROPS?
Assuming not, any other ways to get around the fee? I thought about dropping HEL-TXL and booking ARN-TXL with BA Avios. Would I be protected on the TXL connection in case of IRROPS?
You cant do this either, if you dont show up for the first leg of the itinerary, the remainder of your ticket will be cancelled.
Jan 5, 2015, 10:15 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Posts: 1,516
changing aanytime to milesaaver
Apologies in advance as I am sure this has been asked and answered, but I didn't find it.
If I book an aanytime award and a milesaaver opens up on a different day, but same city pairs, what is the cost to change or do I just get a redeposit of mileage difference?
Also, what if the milesaaver opens up for first class, can I just pay the additional miles without a fee?
If I book an aanytime award and a milesaaver opens up on a different day, but same city pairs, what is the cost to change or do I just get a redeposit of mileage difference?
Also, what if the milesaaver opens up for first class, can I just pay the additional miles without a fee?
Last edited by ksucats; Jan 5, 2015 at 10:18 pm Reason: another question
Jan 5, 2015, 10:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
I think you'll have to pay the $150 to reinstate your miles (unless you're EXP), then rebook using a saver award, since they're different types of tickets. May or may not be worth it depending on the number of miles you'd gain.
Jan 5, 2015, 10:21 pm
#7
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You would have to cancel the AAnytime award and pay a $150 mileage-redeposit fee (unless you have EXP status in the AAdvantage program).
You would have to cancel the AAnytime award and pay a $150 mileage-redeposit fee (unless you have EXP status in the AAdvantage program).
Jan 5, 2015, 10:25 pm
#8
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Thanks for the replies. So is there any reason then to book the Aanytime award now (for a trip in May)? I guess there is potential for aanytime to sell out, but looking for a trip to Orlando from either MCI or ICT, so thinking that won't be an issue. Would book Saturday through Saturday to get the 20k rate. Mainly, I don't want to spend $500 per ticket and want to start making other arrangements. I have a Disney cruise booked and the kids want to try to get a day in the park also.
Jan 5, 2015, 10:27 pm
#9
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If you are going to make arrangements such as hotels and/or park tickets et al , I would suggest that booking anytime awards and paying the $150 for 1st and $25 per additional award redeposit fees if saver awards become available rather than risking not being able to get any award seat
Jan 5, 2015, 10:30 pm
#10
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If you are going to make arrangements such as hotels and/or park tickets et al , I would suggest that booking anytime awards and paying the $150 for 1st and $25 per additional award redeposit fees if saver awards become available rather than risking not being able to get any award seat
Jan 5, 2015, 10:41 pm
#11
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"There is still plenty of availability, so I may just keep a close eye on it for awhile. Trip is Memorial week, so that may make it less likely for something to open up."
Have you checked cash fares on Southwest MCI-MCO (or MCI-TPA)?
"There is still plenty of availability, so I may just keep a close eye on it for awhile. Trip is Memorial week, so that may make it less likely for something to open up."
Have you checked cash fares on Southwest MCI-MCO (or MCI-TPA)?
Jan 5, 2015, 10:50 pm
#12
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
"There is still plenty of availability, so I may just keep a close eye on it for awhile. Trip is Memorial week, so that may make it less likely for something to open up."
Have you checked cash fares on Southwest MCI-MCO (or MCI-TPA)?
"There is still plenty of availability, so I may just keep a close eye on it for awhile. Trip is Memorial week, so that may make it less likely for something to open up."
Have you checked cash fares on Southwest MCI-MCO (or MCI-TPA)?
I budget so much for vacations each year, along with miles and points and we just need to figure out the best way to get to Orlando on miles or postpone it. Again, my preference is to postpone it, but told the wife and kids I would try to make it work. I guess if flights would happen to drop to around $200, I would reconsider.
Jan 5, 2015, 10:51 pm
#13
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Seems to be a good bet to me
Jan 6, 2015, 7:45 am
#14
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When you have been checking saver award availability, have you been looking for four seats at once? You might have better luck looking for 1 or 2 seats, or even splitting your party into two groups of two passengers (e.g., one parent and one child).
Jan 6, 2015, 8:11 am
#15
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Good idea. Occasionally, I think about that and search for 2 or 3, but most of the time search for 4. I am going to go search for 2 right now. Thanks for the reminder.