Award change and connection CLT
 

Is this an AA award on a single ticket? You said "Primarily an AA issue." I don't know what the published international-to-domestic connection time in CLT is, but if 2:15 is genuinely tight, AA will likely be very accommodating on creating award space. However, if the incoming is not on AA metal, they have somewhat less flexibility.

The best thing to do is look at schedules and decide what you want, then call AA and ask. Your request isn't ridiculous, it's not like the connection changed from 4 hours to 3:50. But it will be helpful if you know what you want rather than asking AA what they will give you. Don't confuse the poor agent.

If it's just one or two items and rates of duty they will be very quick to take your money - probably under 5 minutes. If you have 15 items at 15 different rates of duty, yes, you need to allow time for that.

The CBP site is a bit confusing but essentially I'll get $800 duty free and then $1,000 @ 3%. Do I get to choose what is in the $1,800? Essentially, it will be golf equipment, jewelry, clothing that will have a value of $2,500. It would be nice to hear from someone with real life experience, especially at CLT.

There is a good chance that with non-commercial non-luxury items, you will simply be waived through. The people who get nailed are those who file false declarations and wait for a random inspection. In order to prepare for payment, best to have the receipts with a table showing the current dollar value at a reasonable exchange rate (shaving a few bucks off the conversion to save <$1 is not worth the effort).

What is the alternative you seek? Best to provide the exact details of what you currently have booked.

Are you using Global Entry? If yes, then getting to pay duty is really pretty quick. If you do not have GE, then 2:50 can be tight even without duty. But have receipts, have payment ready, and there is a chance you'll just be waived thru especially if the items are for personal use. I came thru with 3 cases of wine once, declared, said I was drinking it 100% myself (hey it was great wine) and I was waived right thru. It's the liars who get stuck

MCT is 60 minutes. I doubt that AA would be willing to open up award space because a traveler thinks that 135 minutes is too tight.

CLT is my home airport so I've been through immigration and customs at CLT many times and it has always been extremely quick. I am regularly out of the airport faster when coming in on an international flight than a domestic flight (they seem to be faster with the baggage coming off of the international flights). CLT security is also usually quite fast especially if you have pre-check or priority. There have occasionally been long security lines but usually if you head to another check point (such as E) you can find a much shorter line. Even considering that you may have to pay duty, I would not consider your new shorter connection time to be tight. I don't think you have anything to worry about and if it were me I'd leave the reservation alone.

Thanks for all the replies. The routing is CPT-JNB-MAD-CLT-SEA and the CLT-SEA is the last flight of the day. There was a flight via DOH but that seems to be gone now. I'll take a chance on the connection and keep watching.

Yes, you get to choose what the order is. That is, you have the option to use the items with the normally higher duties into the first $1800 and put lower duty items in the over $1800 group. Of course, as noted, some duty is not collected