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Changing or Canceling an American Airlines Award

by Mike
Last updated August 28, 2018

A friend asked me: “I need to cancel an American MileSaaver Award as plans have changed, is there a fee to get the miles back?”

American has fees associated with changes to an award and redepositing the miles for most members.  The explanation of the fees is explained in a fairly dense description on the aa.com website. I’ve highlighted the basic facts here to (hopefully) make it easier to read. The main exception is that the fees are waived for Executive Platinum (EXP) members using miles from their own account. See the table below for a breakdown by status level:

Award Change Executive
Platinum
Members
Platinum
Members and
Gold Members
All Other
AAdvantage
Members
Ticketing award less than 21 days from departure No Charge No Charge $75
Change the origin or destination of a MileSaaver award ticket No Charge $150 $150
Change the origin or destination of an AAnytime award No Charge No Charge No Charge
Change to a different type of award. This requires reinstatement of miles and booking a new award. Reinstatement fee: No Charge $150 $150
Close in change: A confirmed change to your outbound departure date (for both AAdvantage MileSAAver and AAnytime award tickets) where the new outbound date is within 21 days of the original booking date No Charge No Charge $75

The most confusing fee above is probably the last one. The strange wording of “original booking date” has some people confused. This was simply to stop people booking awards outside the 21 day window and then calling back the next day to move the departure to within 21 days avoiding the $75 fee shown in the first row above. Otherwise, if the departure date is after 21 days from the original booking date, then date changes are provided at no charge.

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About Mike

On my first flights on Allegheny and Piedmont so many years ago, I immediately got the flying bug. After years of traveling I started the blogs and podcasts at UPGRD.com. And, like many of you, I've done a lot of flying for miles and status. I once flew from New York City to Honolulu and back again just for elite status (and a quick Mai Tai).

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