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
Apr 3, 2017, 8:16 am
#106
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Or are you speaking of PNRs? I've never seen that term used in airline parlance, so I'm asking genuinely.
Apr 3, 2017, 3:24 pm
#107
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 6,434
I've heard record locator from numerous airline agents, including from AA. I'm guessing it's thought of as less confusing than PNR for most people. I've never seen RLOC.
Apr 3, 2017, 3:40 pm
#108
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Fort Worth, Texas USA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum 5 million miles
Posts: 1,001
I booked round-trip award tickets for two passengers from DFW to SAN. The coach fare dropped to $225 so I cancelled the award seats and booked paid coach. I called to request reinstatement of my miles. The agent re-deposited the miles for one of the two tickets; assigned a new record locater to the other ticket and left it valid. I called the Executive Platinum desk again and explained that I wanted the mileage for the other ticket reinstated. The agent assured me that he was processing it but it could take a while. I am still waiting.
Apr 3, 2017, 6:47 pm
#109
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
So this is new phenomena?
Last year when cancelling an award the miles literally posted within hours. The taxes refund took a while to hit the credit card but the miles posted without any delay.
Now whatever system upgrades AA has gone thru, seems like things no longer work the same, as I do not believe agents would be so incompetent as to not knowing how to process a redeposit.
Last year when cancelling an award the miles literally posted within hours. The taxes refund took a while to hit the credit card but the miles posted without any delay.
Now whatever system upgrades AA has gone thru, seems like things no longer work the same, as I do not believe agents would be so incompetent as to not knowing how to process a redeposit.
Apr 4, 2017, 11:07 am
#110
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Here and there
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,551
Related to OP, when I cancelled an award (and request points reinstatement) last week, the EXP reservation agent told me that the points would be in my account by the next day and they were.
Apr 4, 2017, 11:39 am
#111
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
What do you mean that 1 is useful? Do you cancel the reservation and rebook later for the same origin and destination? I would have thought a change to the reservation was different from a cancellation.
Related to OP, when I cancelled an award (and request points reinstatement) last week, the EXP reservation agent told me that the points would be in my account by the next day and they were.
Related to OP, when I cancelled an award (and request points reinstatement) last week, the EXP reservation agent told me that the points would be in my account by the next day and they were.
Apr 6, 2017, 1:02 pm
#113
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: ORD
Posts: 1,844
No you don't lose the miles. You can pay to redeposit or use for same origin/destination at a later day up to one year from original ticket issue.
Award tickets do not carry endorsement of "TICKET HAS NO VALUE UNLESS PASSENGER CANCELS TICKETED FLIGHT
RESERVATIONS PRIOR TO TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME"
They do carry "AFTER TRAVEL HAS BEGUN - MILEAGE MAY NOT BE REINSTATED" but that is if you partially use a part of the award. So if you flew LGA-ORD as part of LGA-ORD-LHR and decided not to fly ORD-LHR, no miles.
Award tickets do not carry endorsement of "TICKET HAS NO VALUE UNLESS PASSENGER CANCELS TICKETED FLIGHT
RESERVATIONS PRIOR TO TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME"
They do carry "AFTER TRAVEL HAS BEGUN - MILEAGE MAY NOT BE REINSTATED" but that is if you partially use a part of the award. So if you flew LGA-ORD as part of LGA-ORD-LHR and decided not to fly ORD-LHR, no miles.
If I'm a NO SHOW on an AAward ticket, do I lose the AAmiles? Can I call in a day later and have the AAmiles reinstated into my account?
Would you please give me an AA like with that information?
With EXP status, the reinstatement would be free.
Thanks.
From this thread, the answer is yes, the AAmiles are lost with a NO SHOW on an AAward ticket:
Expired tickets will not be reinstated. If a portion of the miles used to claim an award ticket has expired, only those miles that have not expired will be reinstated. Partially used tickets will not be reinstated.
Apr 6, 2017, 1:02 pm
#114
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Why not cancel instead of no-showing?
We've merged your query into the existing thread.
/Moderator
We've merged your query into the existing thread.
/Moderator
Apr 6, 2017, 1:09 pm
#115
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
What's your motivation for not cancelling? Reason I ask is *some* reasons for doing that can run afoul of AAdv T&Cs.
Apr 6, 2017, 1:12 pm
#116
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: ORD
Posts: 1,844
ORD-NRT - short layover - connecting on a separate AAward ticket to FUK.
Last minute decision to insert a short side trip into our Tokyo visit.
AAgents have said I will lose the ticket, seems like the Wiki above confirms that, but other AAgents, as well as this old thread, have said reinstatement is possible after a NO SHOW.
So... "Expired tickets will not be reinstated. If a portion of the miles used to claim an award ticket has expired, only those miles that have not expired will be reinstated. Partially used tickets will not be reinstated."
What's the interpretation of the word "expired". I guess when the plane takes off, rather than one year after issuing.
Can anyone help? Thanks.
Last edited by zznoname; Apr 6, 2017 at 1:21 pm
Apr 6, 2017, 1:25 pm
#117
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Apr 6, 2017, 1:30 pm
#118
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 6,434
Just to make sure:
No show does not forfeit the miles. They may be redeposited, provided no part of the award was used and you pay any applicable fees, until the one year anniversary of issue.
No show does not forfeit the miles. They may be redeposited, provided no part of the award was used and you pay any applicable fees, until the one year anniversary of issue.
Last edited by richarddd; Apr 6, 2017 at 2:02 pm Reason: clarity
Apr 6, 2017, 1:36 pm
#119
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,620
There is a good chance I'll still be in the air.
ORD-NRT - short layover - connecting on a separate AAward ticket to FUK.
Last minute decision to insert a short side trip into our Tokyo visit.
AAgents have said I will lose the ticket, seems like the Wiki above confirms that, but other AAgents, as well as this old thread, have said reinstatement is possible after a NO SHOW.
So... "Expired tickets will not be reinstated. If a portion of the miles used to claim an award ticket has expired, only those miles that have not expired will be reinstated. Partially used tickets will not be reinstated."
What's the interpretation of the word "expired". I guess when the plane takes off, rather than one year after issuing.
Can anyone help? Thanks.
ORD-NRT - short layover - connecting on a separate AAward ticket to FUK.
Last minute decision to insert a short side trip into our Tokyo visit.
AAgents have said I will lose the ticket, seems like the Wiki above confirms that, but other AAgents, as well as this old thread, have said reinstatement is possible after a NO SHOW.
So... "Expired tickets will not be reinstated. If a portion of the miles used to claim an award ticket has expired, only those miles that have not expired will be reinstated. Partially used tickets will not be reinstated."
What's the interpretation of the word "expired". I guess when the plane takes off, rather than one year after issuing.
Can anyone help? Thanks.
If concerned. why not just cancel the award prior to time of departure and save worrying about it?
Apr 6, 2017, 1:37 pm
#120
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: AA EXP 3MM
Posts: 1,773
"You can request to have your AAdvantage mileage reinstated for a wholly unused AAdvantage award ticket and if the ticket has not expired"
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ard-travel.jsp
As JonNYC states, the ticket does not expire at the time of departure. As long as you don't take any of the flights in the award you can get it redeposited within one year of when the award was originally ticketed.
Correct.