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As part of its switch to dynamic award pricing, American Airlines sunsetted a flyer-friendly policy: Free AAdvantage award changes. Going forward, all AAdvantage awards would be treated like the now-retired Web Special awards. This policy wasn't all bad though. AAdvantage members could still cancel awards and redeposit miles for free. But, travelers would have to book new awards each time they wanted to change or reprice an award.
Today, American Airlines is reversing course. On certain eligible AAdvantage awards, you'll now be able to change your award flights without having to cancel, refund, and rebook your flights. Here are the details of this policy change.
Who's Eligible To Make Free AAdvantage Award Changes
Not all AAdvantage awards are now eligible for changes. Instead, awards must meet all of the following criteria:
- All flight segments must be on American Airlines.
- Limited to domestic award flights only.
- Only one passenger can be in the booking.
- Awards must have been booked with a U.S. point of sale.
- Only the AAdvantage account owner that originally booked the flight can make the change.
That's… a lot of restrictions. But, this is still better than before when no awards could be changed.
To be fair, American Airlines originally introduced similar restrictions when it originally added the ability for flyers to cancel and refund AAdvantage awards online. Then it expanded this ability over time. So, we can hope that American Airlines will similarly expand the ability to change AAdvantage awards online.
How To Change an AAdvantage Award
Assuming your award is eligible (see above section), here's how you can change your AAdvantage award. First, log into your AAdvantage account. Then, head to your My Trips page. Click “Select” for the award you want to change. Then, click the large blue “Change trip” button to start your change.
Next, check the box for “Yes, I want to change this flight” and confirm or change the route and departure date. Then click “Continue”.
For reference, American Airlines will show how many AAdvantage miles and how much you paid in taxes and fees for the original booking. Review the award search results and select the flight you'd rather take.
On the next page, American Airlines will confirm your flight selection and show the price difference for the flight. In this case, American Airlines confirms it will refund 30,500 AAdvantage miles to my account after confirming this award change. Scroll down and click “Continue” to move to the next step.
The next page is pretty similar to the previous one — confirming your new flight details and the price difference. Presumably, this is where American Airlines would request payment if the taxes and fees increased on your new itinerary. Enter your email address for the receipt; agree to the terms and conditions, refund policy, and conditions of carriage; and then click “Submit change” to confirm your change.
If everything worked, you should receive a confirmation that your change is confirmed. For reference, American Airlines kept the same record locator but ticketed my new flight with a new ticket number.
Bottom Line
American Airlines just (re)added free award ticket changes for certain eligible awards. If your ticket is eligible, you'll be able to change and/or reprice awards online without having to go through the hassle of canceling and rebooking an award. That's a nice win for travelers as you won't have to check your credit card statement to make sure American Airlines refunds the taxes and fees on your canceled award.
The downside: Only certain awards are eligible for online changes. You'll need to be a solo passenger on a fully-domestic American Airlines award, purchased within the U.S., and have used your AAdvantage miles to book the award. Hopefully, American Airlines will quickly expand the ability to change more types of AAdvantage awards soon.
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