Jan 5, 2019, 6:51 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
Link to the current thread.
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 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.
AAnytime <-> MileSAAver and other changes
Link to the current thread.
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 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.
ARCHIVE: 2017 Voluntary Award Change: date, time, routing, airline, co-terminal, cost
Mar 13, 2017, 8:05 am
#61
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Delete, did not read correctly.
Last edited by arollins; Mar 13, 2017 at 8:14 am
Mar 13, 2017, 8:12 am
#62
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If saver F opens up later, you should be able to switch into that cabin.
Mar 13, 2017, 8:28 am
#63
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: TUS
Programs: AA Plt, HH Diamond, IHG Plt
Posts: 268
Thanks. Seat offered was in Main Cabin extra. Plane is two class flight. Last time I did the award, picked a seat in First on domestic legs to the trip. Just checked seat map for both domestic legs and it shows all seats open in First Class.
Mar 13, 2017, 10:05 am
#64
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The fact that all seats are open in First Class means nothing about whether there is SAAver availability in F on that flight.
Mar 13, 2017, 10:07 am
#65
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Nothing has changed in that your Business Class award still entitles you to First class on the domestic flight. However in this case it appears that there are no F awards available on TUS-DFW, only coach. The seat map is irrelevant, it's very common on AA these days to have an empty first class but no award space. As mentioned above, if an F award does open up on TUS-DFW, you can call and switch for no fee.
Mar 13, 2017, 10:13 am
#66
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Remember that AA has changed domestic First to Business and uses C/R/U booking codes. Call AA and have the agent adjust the feeder flight. Would seem to be a glitch as a result of this change though more likely there is no front cabin award inventory released.
Mar 13, 2017, 11:07 am
#67
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: mci
Programs: aa
Posts: 669
Name change on award reservation
We have 4 economy away seats to Europe for late July for myself, wife, son and sons friend. Friend can no longer make the trip. I know it's not as simple as paying a fee to change the name, but I'm not sure exactly how this would work.
Will I pay the redeposit fee, then immediately get to rebook the same award flight? Or will I have to take my chances that that seat won't be available we give it up? I don't mind at all paying the fee, I just need to make sure I can quickly rebook the seat with the new name.
Any guidance with this would help.
I also need need to do the same thing with Ua on the return
thanks in advance for the help
Will I pay the redeposit fee, then immediately get to rebook the same award flight? Or will I have to take my chances that that seat won't be available we give it up? I don't mind at all paying the fee, I just need to make sure I can quickly rebook the seat with the new name.
Any guidance with this would help.
I also need need to do the same thing with Ua on the return
thanks in advance for the help
Mar 13, 2017, 11:27 am
#68
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: TUL
Programs: AA EXP 2MM; Marriott Titanium; Hilton Diamond; Hyatt Explorist; Vistana 5* Elite; Nat'l Exec Elite
Posts: 6,177
We have 4 economy away seats to Europe for late July for myself, wife, son and sons friend. Friend can no longer make the trip. I know it's not as simple as paying a fee to change the name, but I'm not sure exactly how this would work.
Will I pay the redeposit fee, then immediately get to rebook the same award flight? Or will I have to take my chances that that seat won't be available we give it up? I don't mind at all paying the fee, I just need to make sure I can quickly rebook the seat with the new name.
Any guidance with this would help.
I also need need to do the same thing with Ua on the return
thanks in advance for the help
Will I pay the redeposit fee, then immediately get to rebook the same award flight? Or will I have to take my chances that that seat won't be available we give it up? I don't mind at all paying the fee, I just need to make sure I can quickly rebook the seat with the new name.
Any guidance with this would help.
I also need need to do the same thing with Ua on the return
thanks in advance for the help
Your only hope would be to cancel the ticket with the non-traveling passenger's name and hope that the award availability is still available. Just because you cancel an award ticket, the seat does not necessarily go back into an award buckets.
If you do not have access to Expert Flyer, you could at least see if you could make an identical award reservation prior to cancelling the current one. If you can make a new reservation and you have enough miles to do so then you need to take that route prior to cancelling the current reservation. If you are short on miles but could make an award reservation otherwise, then at least you know there is a good chance award availability will still be available if you immediately cancel your current reservation.
Last edited by controller1; Mar 13, 2017 at 11:32 am
Mar 13, 2017, 12:20 pm
#69
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Is this something new?
I 'bought' award tickets for my mother and sister last year, but I goofed and used my sister's maiden name. I called AA, and they were able to change the name, no problem. Well they had to split the PNR.
Has something changed?
I 'bought' award tickets for my mother and sister last year, but I goofed and used my sister's maiden name. I called AA, and they were able to change the name, no problem. Well they had to split the PNR.
Has something changed?
Mar 13, 2017, 12:24 pm
#70
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Posts: 1,635
In OP's case, he wants to change to an entirely different person, not just correct the name.
Mar 13, 2017, 12:56 pm
#71
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: mci
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As you know, you are not able to change a name on a ticket.
Your only hope would be to cancel the ticket with the non-traveling passenger's name and hope that the award availability is still available. Just because you cancel an award ticket, the seat does not necessarily go back into an award buckets.
If you do not have access to Expert Flyer, you could at least see if you could make an identical award reservation prior to cancelling the current one. If you can make a new reservation and you have enough miles to do so then you need to take that route prior to cancelling the current reservation. If you are short on miles but could make an award reservation otherwise, then at least you know there is a good chance award availability will still be available if you immediately cancel your current reservation.
Your only hope would be to cancel the ticket with the non-traveling passenger's name and hope that the award availability is still available. Just because you cancel an award ticket, the seat does not necessarily go back into an award buckets.
If you do not have access to Expert Flyer, you could at least see if you could make an identical award reservation prior to cancelling the current one. If you can make a new reservation and you have enough miles to do so then you need to take that route prior to cancelling the current reservation. If you are short on miles but could make an award reservation otherwise, then at least you know there is a good chance award availability will still be available if you immediately cancel your current reservation.
thanks so so much for the tip. That's exactly what I needed to know. Looks like the availability is still there. I don't have enough miles in my account right now to book it so I'll have to wait till they are redeposited. Do you know how long that usually takes to show up?
thanks again
Mar 13, 2017, 1:08 pm
#72
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thanks so so much for the tip. That's exactly what I needed to know. Looks like the availability is still there. I don't have enough miles in my account right now to book it so I'll have to wait till they are redeposited. Do you know how long that usually takes to show up?
thanks again
thanks again
Mar 13, 2017, 4:03 pm
#74
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Mar 13, 2017, 7:34 pm
#75
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Perhaps I should have said you are unable to change the "passenger" on a ticket. OP was not wanting to change from Ann Smith (maiden name) to Ann Jones (married name and same person/passenger as Ann Smith). OP was wanting to change from Richard Smith to Robert Jones.