A Complete Guide to American Airlines Award Travel Rules

American Airlines AAdvantage^® is one of our favorite mileage programs. Thanks to dozens of partners, you can fly to over 1,000 destinations using AAdvantage miles. And American Airlines has (largely) kept its partner mileage redemption chart the same for over seven years now. In this post, we'll cover all the rules for American Airlines award travel to help you use miles for your next adventure.

One of the key ways to get more value from your rewards is to spend a little time learning the rules for booking awards with the points and miles you acquire. Each program has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Once you understand them clearly, you’ll be able to choose the program that best suits your goals for a particular trip.

Types of Rules

• Booking rules cover the details you need to know to get your trip confirmed. Can you use your miles to book a flight for your grandma? How much does it cost to add an infant who doesn’t need her own seat? How far in advance can you confirm your flights?
• Change and cancellation rules cover all the fine print to ensure you don’t pay unnecessary fees and know exactly what to expect if your plans change.
• Itinerary rules cover your options and limitations for the flights you add to your trip. For example, can you add a stopover in Europe on the way to Asia? Can you book a one-way flight at half the price of a round-trip? Will you save miles if part of a business-class trip is in economy?

Credit: Joshua Hanson/Unsplash

American Airlines AAdvantage Award Travel Costs & Partner Airlines

Before we get started, two important factors aren’t covered in this post: award pricing and redemption partners.

Award pricing

The number of miles you need and the taxes and fees you’ll pay out of pocket are determined by the type of points you redeem. In many cases, the costs in miles and money can be more important than other rules. This post isn't about how much you'll spend for an AA award or a comparison of AA's booking prices against competitors.

Redemption partners

You can use AAdvantage miles to book travel with more than 20 partner airlines. But it’s also true that you can use dozens of different types of points to book flights operated by American or its partner airlines. If you aren’t familiar with this, check out our beginner’s guide to award travel planning.

If you’ve done a good job of diversifying your points and miles, you should have the option to use rewards from other frequent-flyer programs to book a similar (or identical) itinerary. When using AAdvantage miles makes the most sense, here are the rules.

American Airlines Award Booking Rules and Fees

Which airlines can I book using American AAdvantage miles?

Can I use my miles to book for another person?

Yes, American Airlines will let you book a flight for anyone you wish. However, program terms and conditions prohibit selling miles, so you shouldn’t book for people you don’t know or receive payment to book on someone else's behalf.

When paying for the taxes and fees on award tickets, American Airlines requires that the name on the credit card match the name of the AAdvantage account holder. Thus, your brother can't use your credit card when booking a ticket using his miles.

Related: Rules on Booking Award Flights for Other People

How far in advance can I book my ticket?

You can redeem AA miles up to 331 days before departure. Some of AA's partner airlines — like British Airways and Cathay Pacific — make awards available almost one month earlier than this, but that requires booking with those programs.

Related: How Far in Advance Can You Book Airline Award Tickets?

Can I put an AA award travel reservation on hold?

American has one of the most generous hold policies of any frequent flyer program. Members can hold an award for five days if the award is booked more than 14 days before departure. Less than 14 days from departure, members can hold awards for 24 hours. Even within 24 hours of departure, you can get a hold until two hours before departure.

Does American charge a close-in booking fee?

American Airlines no longer charges a close-in-booking fee. In February 2020, American Airlines eliminated its $75 close-in booking fee.

What is this? Some frequent flyer programs charge an extra fee when you book a ticket within 21 days of departure. American Airlines award travel no longer has this fee.

Credit: Hassan Ouajibir/Unsplash

Does American charge a phone booking fee?

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to book reservations over the phone. Before November 2020, AA charged a $25 fee to book travel within the U.S. by phone but waived this fee for tickets that couldn't be booked on AA.com. The fee jumped to $35 for international travel, but this is gone also. However, this fee remains in place for cash fares booked over the phone.

How much does it cost to include a lap infant?

The cost to add a lap infant to an AAdvantage award depends on where you're flying:

• International awards: American charges 10% of the cash price of an adult ticket to add a lap infant to your reservation. If you’re flying on a business- or first-class award, 10% of the retail ticket cost can be a lot of money.
• Domestic awards: Within the U.S. or to Canada, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is no additional cost.
• You can add your child to your ticket by calling AA reservations at 800-433-7300. If travel is within the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), you also can add a lap infant online when booking a trip or modifying an existing reservation.

But a caveat: AA will charge the full mileage price if you add an infant at the time of booking. A best practice is to book tickets without the infant on the reservation, and call AA after booking to add the infant. This way, you don't have to redeem more AAdvantage miles than is necessary.

Here’s American Airlines' resource on traveling with children and infants.

Related: These are the best award programs for traveling with a lap infant

American Airlines Award Travel Change and Cancellation Rules

The AAdvantage program really shines with its rules for travel changes and cancellation policy. The airline eliminated change and cancel fees in November 2020 and (re)added the ability to change certain awards in July 2023.

How much does American Airlines charge to change or cancel an award ticket?

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to change or cancel an award ticket. Before November 11, 2020, American Airlines charged up to $150 per passenger to change or cancel an award ticket — unless you had Executive Platinum elite status.

American Airlines first class on a Boeing 787 aircraft. Credit: J.T. Genter/AwardWallet

Now, you can cancel award tickets and have your miles reinstated free of charge up to one year after the ticket was issued. The latest you can cancel an award ticket is before the first flight in your itinerary departs.

Does American Airlines allow free changes within 24 hours?

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires airlines serving the U.S. to allow travelers to put itineraries on hold or to change or cancel a ticket for 24 hours after booking without a penalty. American meets the requirement with the (up to) five-day award hold, so it isn't legally required to allow cancellations in the 24-hour grace period.

With that said, American has historically honored requests for free cancellation within 24 hours of booking an award. Please let us know in the comments if your experience is different.

Related: 24-Hour Cancellation Policies for Major U.S. Airlines

How can I track award flight changes?

AwardWallet tracks all your travel plans automatically (and alerts you to any changes) by importing reservations from your email or connected accounts. The best method for getting all your travel plans into AwardWallet is to link the email you use for reservations.

American Airlines Award Travel Itinerary Rules

Can I book a stopover with American miles?

American Airlines does not allow free stopovers on award travel. Any connection of 24 hours or more on an international award will result in paying for more than one award ticket.

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have a lot of redemption partners in common. Alaska MileagePlan allows free stopovers as long as you follow a few rules. That combines with the fact there are some awards we recommend booking with Alaska miles instead of American miles.

Can I book one-way travel with American miles?

Yes, you can book one-way awards with American Airlines AAdvantage miles. American typically charges half the price of a round-trip award for one-way itineraries. However, some round-trip Web Special awards will price out cheaper than two one-way awards. And some AA routes will offer a cheaper per-price flight on round-trip bookings than the cost of two one-way awards.

Pro tip: For international tickets, be aware that many countries require proof of onward travel. Thanks to American's generous five-day hold policy, you can create a record locator for a return trip without actually confirming the ticket. If you prefer to have a confirmed reservation, consider booking a fully refundable ticket or using a ticket-rental service like OneWayFly.

American Airlines first class seat on Boeing 777-300ER. Credit: J.T. Genter/AwardWallet

Can I book an open jaw with American miles?

American allows open-jaw tickets at both the origin and destination. An open jaw ticket that includes more than one region will be priced as two one-way awards.

If you don't know what we're talking about, check out our beginner’s guide to stopovers and open jaws.

Can I fly with multiple partner airlines on the same trip?

Yes, American allows you to combine partners on an award ticket. Award prices are the same for all partner airlines, so there shouldn't be any extra cost if your flights are operated by more than one carrier.

However, any itineraries including partner-operated flights are ineligible for Web Special pricing. It might be cheaper to book an itinerary that only has AA-operated flights, depending on the route.

Can I book an itinerary with multiple classes of service?

American prices its awards according to the highest class of service you book on your itinerary. This differs from some programs like Avianca LifeMiles, which charge a prorated number of miles based on the percentage of your trip in each class. With American, you won't save any miles by booking one flight in economy and other flights in business class.

However, American does not have any rules that prohibit you from booking a ticket with different classes of service (you may see this referred to as a “mixed-cabin award”). This can be a good thing. In some situations, you might not be able to find business- or first-class awards for the entire trip.

For example, if you're flying from Amsterdam (AMS) to Boston (BOS) via New York (JFK), you might find a business-class ticket across the Atlantic, but the short flight from New York to Boston might only be available in economy. You can lock in that award, and if the short flight becomes available in business class, you might be able to upgrade without paying any extra miles.

Main Cabin on an American Airlines Boeing 787. Credit: American Airlines

Most domestic “first-class” awards are treated as business class when you pair them with an international flight. In other words, you won't be charged the first-class price on an international business-class award when you add a domestic flight in AA's domestic first class.

Pro tip: American's mixed-cabin award rules generally work in your favor. But be aware that American will happily charge you the business-class price for itineraries with a 10-hour flight in economy and a 45-minute flight in business class.

Can I book a round-the-world ticket with American miles?

Some frequent flyer programs — like All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — offer a 'round-the-world (RTW) ticket at a discount compared to booking each award flight separately. Trips with stops in more than one award region (as defined here) are not a strength of the AAdvantage program.

American uses a zone-based award chart, which means that the price of travel between two regions (like Europe and the Continental U.S.) should be consistent, regardless of the specific origin and destination airports. Prague to Los Angeles should cost the same number of miles as Dublin to Boston — even though the former is twice the distance!

However, when your itinerary connects at an airport that is not in the same region as your origin or destination, American Airlines may charge you for each trip separately. For example, if you book a flight directly from Paris to New York, you’ll pay the Europe-to-U.S. price on the award chart. But if you fly from Paris to Doha (in the Middle East region) and then to New York, you’ve transited a “third region”.

As a general rule on award travel booked with American Airlines, you’ll pay more when you transit through a third region. But American has a list of exceptions that don’t require separate awards.

American third-region exceptions

Unless otherwise noted, North America includes the regions of the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

You can find an in-depth discussion of the third region exceptions for AA award travel in this FlyerTalk forum. However, note that some of the content is outdated.

Itinerary Rules for Complex Award Bookings

The remaining routing rules aren't likely to be a factor for most award bookings. However, if you find yourself unable to book the flights you want online, one of these could be the problem. It's worth noting that American's reservations system is known to make mistakes. If you see a price in miles that is higher than what you expect based on the award chart, check these rules first.

It's also worth noting that few American reservations agents understand these rules (or even know they exist). If the computer says 110,000 miles, that's what the agent will try to charge you. Fortunately, the AAdvantage program does have a process for manually ticketing reservations when the system makes a mistake. If you've checked these advanced rules and the price doesn't look right, ask your agent to check with the rates desk or a supervisor.

Published route requirement

American Airlines' general award travel rule is that awards must be booked on a published route. More specifically, the airline that flies you across the ocean (the overwater carrier) needs to sell a ticket between your origin and destination.

Let's take a trip to the Maldives for example. There's no better way to go than in Etihad's Apartments. However, in order to book an AAdvantage award, Etihad has to sell a ticket between your origin and Male (MLE). To confirm this, you'll want to check ExpertFlyer's Fare Information search. If you're unfamiliar with the tool, check out our guide to ExpertFlyer before proceeding further.

While it's not as exact, you also can search the route on Google Flights and see if there's an option to book on Etihad.

If you're departing from a major hub, such as New York City or Los Angeles, you aren't going to have any issues finding a ticket sold by Etihad:

However, there are no published fares on Etihad between Billings, Montana (BIL) and Male:

Thus, you wouldn't be able to book an AAdvantage award on Etihad flights on this route. If you run into this dilemma, it may still be possible to book the ticket depending on the agent who's ticketing the award. Otherwise, you might need to buy a separate “positioning” flight from the smaller airport to a major hub with a published fare to your final destination.

Related: Free Holds, Maximizing Award Regions, Other Tricks for Booking Awards Using AAdvantage Miles

Maximum Permitted Mileage (MPM)

“Maximum Permitted Mileage” is a lovely piece of jargon that means exactly what it says. For each origin and destination, there is a maximum number of miles you can travel. This American Airlines award travel rule relies primarily on the “published route” requirement explained above. However, in cases where your desired award ticket isn't a published route, you may still be able to book it if the itinerary is less than 125% of the MPM.

Unfortunately, the MPM isn't published online. ExpertFlyer members can check the MPM under the “Travel Information” section:

American Airlines award segment limits

American allows up to two connections (three flight segments) on one-way domestic awards. You can add one more connection (four segments) on one-way international awards.

For round-trip travel, you must follow these same limits in each direction of travel. Your destination is the first stop that lasts more than 24 hours (international) or 4 hours (domestic). If your trip requires more than this limit, American Airlines will charge you for more than one award.

Married segment logic

In the past, American Airlines released award availability flight by flight. Say you wanted to fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Frankfurt (FRA). If you found award availability on a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth and on a flight from Dallas–Fort Worth to Frankfurt, you could book the award. Likewise, someone just flying from Dallas to Frankfurt also could book an award on just that nonstop flight.

That all changed in late 2017. Instead of releasing award availability by flight, American Airlines now releases award availability by trip. Under these rules, you might only be allowed to book the Dallas to Frankfurt flight if you start in Los Angeles or some other city — but not in Dallas. If you want to start in Dallas, you might need book a connecting flight through Charlotte or Miami on the way to Frankfurt to book the cheapest award. Married segment logic might prohibit booking a nonstop flight from A to B on certain routes.

This irritating way of releasing award availability is referred to as “married segment logic.” That's because the award availability for each individual flight is “married” to the entire itinerary. Put simply, American uses these rules to make the cheapest awards less convenient with the hope of getting you to pay more miles for a nonstop award.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines AAdvantage miles can be extremely valuable if you know how and when to use them and are aware of the basic rules for award travel. While there is certainly a learning curve for more complex itineraries, there are plenty of awards you can book at a great price with limited experience.

American's policy for putting award tickets on hold is among the most generous of any frequent flyer program. When planning travel that will require more than one type of miles, it's a huge asset to be able to lock in your AAdvantage award for up to five days while you figure out the other parts of your trip.

The rules for changing tickets are another standout feature of this program. American Airlines eliminated award mileage redeposit fees, so you no longer have to pay a fee to cancel an award.

The AAdvantage booking rules are more complex than revenue-based programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue. However, a little extra effort to learn how this program works can pay huge dividends.

AwardWallet Tip of The Day

Did you know that you have a personal referral link in your AwardWallet profile? If you invite people to AwardWallet using your referral link, you will receive an AwardWallet upgrade coupon for every five members you invite. Also, if these users upgrade to AwardWallet Plus, we will credit your AwardWallet account with AwardWallet Bonus points, which can be redeemed for points and miles in your program of choice. We spend roughly 50% of the revenue we receive from those referrals to purchase those miles for you. All of this can be tracked via the Invite to AwardWallet widget in the left navigation bar on your Accounts page.
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