Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. By this point, everyone knows that the American Airlines devaluation is only a few days away. Everyday, I see countless blog posts telling readers to redeem their American Airlines miles before it is too late. I agree that now is a great time to use your American Airlines miles, but there are a few tricky fees to be aware of before you click the submit button. Here is the link to view the full list of American Airlines award ticket fees.
21 Day Close-In Booking Fees
This is the dumbest airline fee ever invented. If you book an American Airlines award ticket within 21 days of departure, you have to pay a $75 close-in booking fee. This fee is waived if you are using miles from an Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members’ account.
Award Change Fees
Depending on the type of award change, the change might be free, cost $75 or cost $150.
- Changing Origin, Destination or Airline – fee is $150, but this fee is waived if you are using miles from an Executive Platinum members’ account.
- Changing Award Type – example: changing award from AA economy to AA first class. The fee is $150, but this fee is waived if you are using miles from an Executive Platinum members’ account.
- Changing Travel Date – free if the routing remains the same and the departure date is more than 21 days out. Otherwise, the fee is $75, but this fee is waived if you are using miles from an Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members’ account.
Award Redeposit Fees
If you need to cancel an award ticket, you can have your American Airlines miles redeposited to your account by paying $150 for the first ticket and $25 for each subsequent ticket on the same reservation. This fee is waived if you are using miles from an Executive Platinum members’ account.
Now that you can see how costly it can be to touch an award ticket after you click the submit button, I want to share my recent experience paying American Airlines fees.
I booked an American Airlines award for 32,500 AA miles + $5.60 in taxes/fees. Since the flight was departing next week, I had to pay the $75 close-in booking fee. The total cost so far was 32,500 AA miles + $80.60. The following day, I changed my plans and no longer wanted to fly that route. I called American Airlines to cancel the ticket. Since American Airlines does not offer a 24 hour cancellation period (they offer a free 24 hour hold period instead), I paid the $150 redeposit fee. I asked if the $75 close-in booking fee would be refunded, but the rep said no, only the $5.60 in taxes/fees would be refunded. With the 32,500 AA miles back in my account, I was out of pocket a total of $225 ($75 + $150).
Lesson learned: earn 100,000 American Airlines Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) to earn American Airlines Executive Platinum Elite Status so I can get all fees waived use the American Airlines free 24 hour hold period to firm up travel plans before making an award booking.
Please learn from my mistake and don’t pay ridiculous American Airlines fees. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
P.S. Here is an advanced trick to avoid paying the redeposit fees: American Airlines lets you change the departure date for free (assuming the routing stays the same and the new flight is more than 21 days out). Find award space for the same route in the future, change to that new flight, hope/pray for a schedule change, call American Airlines to complain about the schedule change, ask them to cancel the award and redeposit the AA miles for free. It’s a long shot, but big gambles sometimes have big payoffs. Please book award ticket responsibly :)
United also has a close in fee so this is not uncommon . For those who minimize status situations like this prove being an exp is still worth it.
Airline status is still not worth it for me. I like being an airline free agent :)
I thought you don’t pay any fees to change airlines/routes as long as the new award consists of the same combo of airlines (AA+ one world)??
Here’s my big question: I have a trip coming up later this year to Asia. 2 passengers on outbound and just one on inbound. Can this still be booked as a round trip? The only advantage is I’ll be paying just 1 cancellation/redoposit fee instead of 2 if anything happens. But I’m not sure if the # passengers can change in one single reservation. Thanks!
You can try calling American Airlines and have them book it over the phone. It might be possible to book 2 outbound and 1 inbound passengers on the same reservation.
I called American about this and they told me its $150 for the first passenger and $25 for each additional, so no need to worry. Whichever way you would cancel, either one leg or the other you will pay $150 plus $25 for each other passenger. They can also split the record locators at the point so you will never have to pay twice the $150 fee.
Its good that they can split the record locator into multiple reservations. At least they give you a break so you don’t need to pay the $150 twice.
Just to clarify .. I already have 2 reservations on hold:
1. To Asia: 2 passengers (me & brother)
2. From Asia: 1 passenger (just me)
So, if the first trip isn’t happening, then obviously the 2nd one will not be either. If I keep them as 2 separate reservations, wouldn’t I be paying $150 + $25 + another $150 for my inbound ?
If I could book the entire thing as a RT, would only be paying $150 + $25, right?
Hope I am making sense here.
I understand your booking strategy. I would call American Airlines to have them book the award tickets that way. Hopefully you will not have to cancel your award bookings.
I don’t think there are any fees if you are upgrading your award from economy to first or business. I wonder if you can book economy just to have a ticket and pay the old rate when first or business opens up.
I’ve never tried, so I’m not sure if that is possible or what the cost would be in terms of miles or the difference in taxes/fees.
I think you are charged the new rate if you change class after deval.
You are correct I just did this twice in the past 3 months going from economy to business class and I was not charged a fee for upgrading the award. After Mar. 21 if you try to upgrade an existing economy award you will pay the new award price that went into affect Mar.22
Gotcha, thank you for the data points. Happy award booking and safe travels.
Interesting change is that Sri Lanka is going from asia 2 to Middle East. If I have a cathay award I need to change date what routing rules will be followed. Can I stay on Cathay …will I have the option to switch to qutar without a fee.
That is a great question. I’m not sure what who happen since the country changed zones.
A couple notes:
In practice AA does not charge a fee to upgrade from Saver Coach to Saver Business or First class.
Date and routing changes to all-oneworld itineraries are free including within 21 days of travel, as long as travel does not start until at least 21 days after the trip was initially booked (as spelled out in the T&C quoted).
I was told the same by an agent – she said if the origin and destination stay the same, there is no $75 fee to change a date (for anyone), but I haven`t tested it.
I had never heard about that, but that is very good to know. Thank you Kenny!
this article is quite inaccurate. The free AAdvantagehold period is 5 days, not 24 hours (although holds will be abolished starting april, and AA will join other US carriers to allow 24-hour cancellations)
Also, no change fee is due when upgrading to a higher class of service. If you are also changing airports and routing as well, the $150 is generally not charged (I have never paid it provided I was switching for example from business to first class).
Overall, AA has some of the most generous award policies. Yes — if you’re not 100% sure, use the hold option, and it will tell you exactly when your hold expires. Don’t let it expire if you want it, since the seats may not go back to award inventory.
Thank you for clarifying some of the AA award policies. The last time I put an AA award on hold the hold only lasted until midnight the following day, I didn’t see an option to get a 5 day hold.
What is your source or the switch to 24 hour cancellation from 5 day hold? Thanks!
I think Gary at View from the Wing write about it today.
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gary said it won’t affect awards – I really like the 5 day hold!!
I have the similar case and being charged $75 for 21 Day Close-In Booking. I was trying to book a First Class Award Seat for my family before 3/22/2016 AA Devaluation but can’t really secure any seat on preferred travel day. The agent told me just go ahead to pick a random date and issue the ticket now in order to take advantage of original award chart. He said as long as original/destination airport (stopover location can be different) and cabin doesn’t change, there won’t be any additional miles or fees needed. Just cancel the booking before the departure. And my options after the cancelled trip will be:
1) As long as no change in routes and cabin, I can leave those unused AA miles in the pool (which are associated with ticketing number in their system) and call back to book it again if I have found a new travel date with the award seat being available. I must complete the travel within 1 year of original booking date.
2) Like your case, reinstate those AA miles back to the account with $150 fee and extra $25 for other passengers who share the same reservation# and AAdvantage Account.
The agent reminded me that if I need to downgrade the cabin after ticketing which AA needs to returns me the miles, it will trigger $150 reinstate fee. If I didn’t book F Class now but want a cabin upgrade on or after 3/22/2016, the mile difference goes by the new chart. For North America to Asia Region 2, the First Class Award One-Way ticket is going to cost 110,000 miles instead of 67,500 miles. 60% depreciation. Yikes!
In my case, they do offer temporary 5-day hold on those reservations which is nice. I’ve searched the entire year’s First Class seat availability for hours back and forth on BritishAirways.com and early April is the only day that I can secure a seat. That’s how I ended up getting a $75 Close-In booking fee. Anyhow I am still glad that being able to lock a First Class seat with the old rate!
Correction: who share the same reservation# and AAdvantage Account.
I meant: who share the same reservation# (booked under one AAdvantage Account)
Thank you for sharing the details of your booking process. I hope you are able to find other award space for that route before your flight departs. Safe travels!
I sent you an email question but thought I’d ask here even if the post is over a year old. It’s still very helpful – thank you!
In May I booked a flight for this coming September using AA rewards miles. I’ve changed the dates twice without being charged a fee because the origin and destination remained the same. Now, I may need to postpone the trip.
Do you know if there is an expiration period? Would I have to reschedule travel within a year of the May date when I first made the reservation? Or do they not look at this? I got a year stuck in my head because I know some airlines issue a 1-year expiration with vouchers.
Thanks!
I believe you can reschedule as far out as the AA schedule allows.