Readers who follow this blog probably already know that AA will start using its new award chart on March 22, with a big increase in the miles required for premium-cabin awards between the U.S. and China. So many people sitting on large AA mileage balances want to burn those miles before the devaluation, for example by redeeming Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines first class for a trip back home. But Cathay and JAL premium-cabin award space during summer and winter breaks is extremely competitive, so the odds of grabbing your ideal ticket before the devaluation are not very high. So how can you maximize the value of your AA miles and still book the award you want?
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AA’s generous change policy
One great feature of AA awards is this: after you book an award ticket, if you want to make a change and your origin and destination both stay the same, and your cabin stays the same, then you do not have to pay any additional fee (though you still need to pay any difference in taxes and fees). By comparison, changing a UA award costs $100, changing a Delta award costs $150, and changing an Air Canada award also costs $90. In this respect, AA is quite generous. And as OneMoreDay also mentioned in my earlier post How to book award tickets to go back home during peak season? (Oneworld edition), Cathay often releases a lot of business- and first-class award space at the last minute, so a better strategy is to wait until close to departure, when Cathay opens up seats, and then issue the ticket.
Change policy before and after the devaluation
But AA devalues on March 22. If you book a ticket before the devaluation and then change it after the devaluation, how many miles will be charged if the origin and destination remain the same? For example, if you booked business class before the devaluation for 55,000 miles, and after the devaluation you want to change it to first class (110,000), then you would need to make up the extra 55,000 miles. That is obviously not a good deal, so OneMoreDay does not recommend changing the cabin after the devaluation.
So what if the origin and destination stay the same, and the cabin also stays the same? AA’s official rule for that situation is as follows:
If the origin and destination stay the same, the cabin stays the same, and the operating carriers also stay the same, then after the change you do not need to pay the difference between the old and new award rates.
For example, if you are flying from Dallas to Hong Kong and you ticketed a DFW-LAX-HKG business-class award before the devaluation, where DFW-LAX is operated by AA and LAX-HKG is operated by Cathay Pacific CX, then after the devaluation you could change it to DFW-SFO-HKG, also in business class and still operated by AA + Cathay Pacific. Even though the connecting airport changed, the operating carriers did not, so you would not need to pay any mileage difference.
Strategy
If you want to enjoy Cathay Pacific first class during summer or winter break, you can try this approach, provided your schedule is flexible enough (with a two- or three-day window). First, decide on your departure and arrival airports, then settle on a routing. Next, book a ticket for early next year. Cathay Pacific still has quite a bit of first-class space on transpacific segments next year (one first-class award seat per flight):
Even if you really want to fly A-New York-Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific first class, you could first book an A-Los Angeles-Hong Kong first-class ticket, then shortly before departure wait for first-class space to open up on the New York-Hong Kong route and call AA customer service to change the ticket.
If two people are traveling together, you can also book two tickets on different flights as long as the starting point and endpoint are still the same, and then change both into your preferred itinerary before departure.
Things to keep in mind
- AA allows free changes, but does that mean you can keep pushing the ticket out indefinitely? Not really. Tickets are valid for one year, and that validity period starts from the moment the ticket is issued. So if you issue a ticket this March, at most you can change it to a flight in next March, but not to a flight during next summer break.
- If you booked a first-class ticket and before departure want to downgrade it to business class, many online DPs suggest that you have to pay a $150 change fee, because this is treated as a reissue (though YMMV, and sometimes the fee is not charged). But changing from business class to first class does not require a change fee; you only need to pay the mileage difference.