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One of my favorite perks of the American Airlines AAdvantage® program has always been the ability to hold award tickets for free. It’s an underrated feature that gives you time to jump on a “unicorn” award when you see one, piece together travel plans, or top off your mileage balance before confirming a booking.

Compared to most airlines, American’s award hold policy has been especially generous. But that's changing. While free award holds aren’t going away, the amount of time you can hold an award is getting shorter. Here’s what to know and why it matters.

American Airlines Trims Award Ticket Hold Times

American Airlines is reining in the amount of time you can hold an AAdvantage award ticket. As of April 30, 2025, the hold window has been reduced from five days to just 24 hours.

For anyone who’s relied on this feature in the past, it’s a frustrating change. Five days offered plenty of breathing room to lock in award space while earning more miles or sorting out other travel plans — such as getting positioning flights in order.

The updated policy also complicates things if you need to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to top off your AAdvantage balance. Those transfers typically take a few days, and with just a 24-hour hold, that strategy becomes far less practical. The quick alternative is to buy AA miles, but American rarely offers sensible deals on mileage purchases.

View of an American Airlines regional jet during boarding.
Credit: Blocks Fletcher/Unsplash

Compared to United (which offers paid holds) and Delta (which doesn’t offer holds at all), American’s updated policy is still relatively consumer-friendly — but it’s a clear downgrade from what it was a short time ago.

And yes, you can still cancel an award and have your miles redeposited without a fee, but if you just need a little more time to gather the miles for a redemption, this change adds plenty of friction.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines is cutting the free award ticket hold time from five days to just 24 hours. According to the airline, this change brings award holds “in line with our other hold times for purchased tickets,” but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. That is, if this is a feature you routinely take advantage of.

If you’re short on miles for a coveted premium cabin award — like one operated by Qatar Airways or Cathay Pacific — your quickest solution is to buy the miles outright. But that’s rarely a good deal, and it’s an expensive way to secure your ticket if you can’t gather the miles within 24 hours.

Tip of The Day
Did you know that you can easily find out when any account was last updated? Click the + sign next to the account and review the "Last successful update" date.
Screenshot showing account details in the AwardWallet dashboard with the "last successful update" field highlighted

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Comments

  • Keith says:
    April 30, 2025 at 4:40 pm

    Do airlines just go out of their way to make things difficult for loyal customers? They should, at least, add that back as a perk of status.

    Reply