I’m extremely surprised.
Yesterday, I wrote this piece: American Airlines Makes Huge Changes to Award Change Fees – Ends Free Date/Time Changes.
In it, I expressed my disappointment that AAdvantage members are losing the ability to make unlimited date and time changes to AAdvantage awards – long a hallmark and differentiator of the program.
There were some improvements, though. Non-status members can now redeposit awards for free if it’s more than 60 days in advance of the date of travel, where those members would have previously had to pay $150 for the first ticket and $25 per additional ticket on the same reservation to redeposit and get their miles back.
I then addressed the lack of AAdvantage language in their update page around Web Specials, the fairly recent dynAAmically priced awards that cannot be changed under even the old rules.
In this article
Here’s what I wrote yesterday regarding the AAdvantage changes and Web Specials:
The “unclear”: The above rules apply, for sure, to Saver and Standard AA awards and partner awards. However, they make no reference at all to the new and highly restrictive Web Specials, which are increasingly what they want you to book if the flight is on AA metal. They can be great deals, but you can’t change them. You can only redeposit for the current fee of $150. If the above guidelines DO apply to Web Specials, then this is a win overall. If this does not apply to Web Specials, then it’s more of a mixed bag.
I was going back and forth via DM with Kyle Potter, editor of Thrifty Traveler, around our confusion on the topic and doubts that this might apply to Web Specials. He has a contact at American and we were waiting for a response.
It came today and to both of our surprise, AA confirmed to him that “Yes, it applies to all awards.”
What does this mean for AAdvantage Web Specials?
It means that Web Specials will now be changeable under the terms of this chart and, therefore, means that AA has aligned change and cancelation policies between “traditional” AAward tickets and the newer Web Specials.
| Elite status | Change made 60 days or more before travel | At least 7 days, but fewer than 60 days before travel | Fewer than 7 days before travel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Platinum | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Platinum Pro | $0 | $50 | $75 |
| Platinum | $0 | $75 | $100 |
| Gold | $0 | $100 | $125 |
| Regular member | $0 | $125 | $150 |
It does make me wonder if at some point, AA will remove award charts and make all awards dynAAmic – which nobody wants to see happen – but for now this should be good news.
Thoughts?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
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My interpretation is that the Web Specials can be cancelled/redeposited for free, BUT still not changeable. The new policy is that the change fee is $0 but Web Specials cannot be changed.
That was what both myself and Kyle interpreted as well. He asked the AA press contact the exact question and they replied as I indicated. Not saying it’s not possible AA gave incorrect info, but it did come from the source as an answer to the very specific question.
Reading your reply a second time – OK – in that case the agent could easily refund it while you book the new one. So, essentially it becomes changeable.