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Changing an AA pre-devaluation business class award
In case you’d missed what happened earlier this year, American devalued their chart for travel booked on/after March 22, 2016. At the time you could book a ticket to Europe for 50k miles and $5.60 on American metal. It worked perfectly for me as I had a trip planned to London in the fall and needed a ride there. I’d booked a 777-300ER mini cabin business class flight on American metal. I’d actually never flown that product. But then I did.
And it was SICK!
Then my plans changed
Kinda. I still needed to get to London in the fall, but I also needed to get to London at the end of the month for a wedding. What I found was that I could buy a r/t from Dublin to Dublin in business for about the same price as coach from lax-lhr-lax. That’s cray cray. So that would fly me back from the wedding and then back to Europe in the fall. So at this point, I had two tickets to Europe in the fall and a flight back from the wedding but not a flight to the wedding. I ended up finding avail on Air Berlin. Here’s the problem
The complexion of my ticket changed
I was solely on American metal on my original itinerary in the fall. Now, I actually needed to route to SFO on American and then through Dusseldorf on Air Berlin and then to London on BA. I called just to see what the damage would be. The original thought was that the complexion/routing had to stay the same for the pre-devaluation rates to be honored:
- All American metal
- Mix of American and Partner
- Only Partner
I’m Platinum so I can’t redeposit fee-free like Executive Platinums can so I wanted to see what the phone rep would say when I gave him the new itinerary I wanted to change my ticket to.
The agent told me the price would go up by 7500 AA
Wait…that’s not so bad. The agent said that I don’t have to pay a ticket change fee because I’m actually paying a higher amount of miles. I knew that this policy was applied to revenue fares: i.e. upgrading coach to first on the same itinerary. But, I was changing the complexion completely which SHOULD incur a redeposit fee.
Originally, if the underlying complexion changed I thought the rules meant I’d have to pay the prevailing redemption rate and a redeposit fee, but the agent is saying the only additional fees I’d owe are the taxes. In fact, if I’d stopped at Dusseldorf I would be off the phone for 57,500 +$5.60. It was the BA leg that added on another $80. All in all I’m very happy with the swap.
I thought I’d have to push this award ticket out to next year and then once I achieved Executive Platinum redeposit it fee free. But this way, I can get a ride to Europe on a new product and book a great r/t revenue fare where I’ll be able to fly 2 more new products: AA 777-200 Biz and BA Club World.
Here’s the 3 products I’ll now be able review for you guys:
AA 777-200
Air Berlin A330 Business
British Airways Club World
Wrap up
- You may be able to change a ticket regardless of complexion without incurring a change fee
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.