As part of its status extension announcement earlier this week, American Airlines also announced changes to its fee structure for AAdvantage awards. There are definite winners and losers in the new arrangement, depending upon your travel patterns.
AAdvantage Award Fee Structure Changes On June 1, 2020
I’ll contrast the current fee structure with the new fee structure below, but keep in mind that American is currently suspending any change or re-deposit fees on AAdvantage awards booked through May 31, 2020 (for travel through September 30, 2020) due to COVID-19.
American AAdvantage Old Change Fees
Currently, you do not pay a change fee if you are only changing dates, time, or connecting cities on your award. You will pay a change fee ($150 for the first person, $25 for each additional person the same itinerary).
So if you were flying on British Airways from Los Angeles to Berlin via London and change to Finnair from Los Angeles to Berlin via Helsinki, you’d pay no change fee, even if you change your dates or carrier at the last minute (and also get your fuel surcharge back).
If you want to change origin, destination, downgrade cabin (i.e. move from business class to economy class), or change from an all-American Airlines award to a partner award, you would pay the change fee noted above.
Executive Platinum members are exempt, but other elites still incur these fees.
American AAdvantage New Change Fees
Effective June 01, 2020, American will introduce a new tiered fee structure that will be priced based upon status and date of travel. Here’s the new chart:
There are no fees for changes made 60 days or more before travel. For changes between 7-60 days before travel, fees are introduced which vary based upon status and run as high as $125 for general members. Finally, within seven days of travel fees are even higher, though cap out at $150.
A couple notes. First, these are now per-person fees. Before, a party of four traveling on the same reservation would pay $150 for the first ticket and $25 for each additional person to cancel or change. Now, the same thing will cost up to $150 per-person. Furthermore, routing and date changes will no longer be free within 60 days of travelers.
Winners and Losers With New AAdvantage Award Fee Structure
As with most program changes, there will be winners and losers.
Winners
- AA mid-tier elites – who will pay less than before to cancel or change awards.
- Solo travelers – change and cancellation fee are cheaper across the board.
- Advance planners – the lack of change or cancellation fees for changes made 60 days out will benefit those who are able to book early and cancel early.
Losers
- Families + groups – who will pay significantly more to change or cancel tickets if travel is occurring within 60 days since the new fees will be per-person.
- Those who book partner awards – partner awards often open at the last-minute. Before, you could change routings at no cost; now it will cost you to make changes to dates or routings even if your starting point and ending point remain the same.
- Business Travelers – business travelers tend to book last-minute and also make changes. Under the old program, it was easy to change awards at no cost, even without status. Now it will be expensive.
My Thoughts – Negative, But Fair Changes
I don’t like these changes, since I am the type of traveler who makes many close-in modifications in order to improve routing and airline. Once I lose my Executive Platinum status, this will no longer be a complimentary option. Furthermore, if I am traveling with my family a change or cancellation fee that used to be $200 ($150 for the first ticket, $25 for the second, $25 for the third) will now cost $150 per-person if cancellations are made within seven days of departure. That’s a huge devaluation and if you cancel a trip, chances are you are not going to cancel it two months in advance, you are going to cancel it at the last-minute.
Still, I won’t call these changes unfair, because I think the better recognize the costs actually incurred by American Airlines. The cost to cancel a ticket more than 60 days out (and re-sell that seat) is virtually zero. The new fee structure accurately captures that.
CONCLUSION
There are winners and losers to the latest AAdvantage changes from American Airlines. I tend to think there are more losers than winners, but there are several attractive new features of the new scheme.
Do these changes help or hurt you?
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