I'm 80 and got AA lifetime Gold decades ago. It has since lost all value. I can't imagine what else they can eliminate.

As I understand it on AA rewards --
1. If you have a web fare reward - you can not change it - data/time/routing/etc. You must redeposit and rebook based on the current mileages.
2. If you have a non-web fare reward - you can make changes within the parameters.

Of AA rewards - I find it is best to book two one-ways - then you can change one without impacting the other. And for now there are no change or cancellation fees.

Please correct me if my thinking is off.

Pretty much true, however with web specials you can often get better pricing for a round trip than two one-ways. So you may pay more from the outset for that extra flexibility later.

Can I ask -- could anyone please elaborate a bit more on what this might mean --- maybe with an example or two of what might be allowable and what might not, if consistent with the last devaluation?

You can change routing without repricing the award, while keeping the airlines constant, with a few caveats. Basically you cannot break the fare. You cannot add a stopover. You�re going to have to stick with a legal routing for the primary carrier on the itinerary.

Not sure how I understand how this would work, once it's no longer a 1-1 on the route, because the mileage available later would likely not be the same, or what qualifies as a "minor route change".

It�s likely that any voluntary changes to a ticket will result in a repricing of the reservation by the computer. Sorry to say!

Looks like some major partner schedule changes are going to wipe out most of my award bookings. Qatar seemed hit particularly hard with only options offered being to find new inventory (which for popular times is now impossible). Sadness.

Any updates or new "rumors?" Things seem ominously quiet.

Maybe they'll drop it on a Friday afternoon to minimize the impact of any media exposure?

This is my biggest concern, that although I've allocated most of my miles now, it's almost irrelevant due to exactly this. There'll be a point, if there is a devaluation, where any schedule change is basically an automatic redeposit.

The majority of my speculative bookings include Qatar. Over the past two months I've had four (of four) QR award ticket schedule changes tank badly enough, that the only viable option was canceling, adjusting dates, and starting over. Even for things that seemed like they should be easy, AA strangely struggled to fix. But either AA has huge swaths of time blocked to awards for next year, or QR isn't making them available, and each time this happens its increasingly difficult to find alternate selections. Ironically I'm working on the latest (#5) right now.

I've booked a J award on AY (HEL-ARN-LAX) for January 2022; I booked it last month.

I didn't post it immediately, but right after posting the above, I went and checked anyways and lo and behold, there was a series of single award seats through early June (didn't check beyond), so I snagged one that fit best for me at the end of May. Not really sure what happened haha

Without being conscious of it, I had practiced close to what you had said.
One year when I was kind of way behind meeting re-qual for AA EXP, I grapped a OSL-DOH-AKL return for less than US$1,800 with QR in J.

No more ominous than had this pointless rumor thread never been started in the first place.

There are no new updates. You'll wake up one morning to bad news. That's how these things work.

Not for me, I'll accept all schedule changes, come hell or high water.