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Success! Rebook pre-deval AA awards with original pricing!!
I tweeted out this morning that I had successfully rebooked a first class AA pre-deval award ticket and kept the original pricing. AA had confirmed that this would be the case, but there were some caveats that had to be satisfied. Those caveats created a little bit of speculation as to how much a ticket could be changed and still honored. Well, I’m writing to confirm that I changed a ticket that was blended partner and AA from Hanoi to Indianapolis. My original itinerary blended Japan Airlines and AA and now I’m booked on Cathay and AA and maintained the original pricing. Here’s a step by step guide to how you can rebook pre-deval AA awards with original pricing.
Caveat 1: Origin and Destination must remain same
Initially, I originated out of the Hanoi and routed through Tokyo to Chicago to Indianapolis. My new ticket maintained Hanoi and Indianapolis as anchors, but the middle legs have been redone to look like this: Hanoi to Hong Kong to NYC to IND. Because I kept my Origin and Destination the same, I met the first caveat for honoring the original award pricing.
My first routing:
And my 2nd routing:
Caveat 2: Complexion of Itinerary must remain the same
There are 3 complexions an itinerary can have:
- All American Metal ( All flights are operated by American Airlines)
- All Partner Metal ( Not a single leg is operated by AA)
- A Mix of American and Partner.
- This is where there was speculation back in March.
- Did the mix have to be the same?
- ex: Japan and AA had to be changed to Japan and AA
- Could you change routing as long as you satisfied the complexion caveat?
- ex: HAN-NRT-ORD-IND could be changed to HAN-NRT-LAX-IND
- Could you change routing and partner mix and still satisfy the caveat
- ex: Japan and AA mix to Cathay and Aa mix or Japan, Cathay, AA mix, etc etc.
- Did the mix have to be the same?
- This is where there was speculation back in March.
I’m happy to say that I was able to change the mix of airlines and the routing and get my original pricing honored.
Caveat 3: Class of service charged must remain the same
I booked my original itinerary with JAL and AA as such:
- HAN-NRT – Japan Business Class
- NRT-ORD- Japan First Class
- ORD-IND- AA economy
The pricing of this ticket relies on the highest class of service: NRT-ORD in First class. Therefore it booked at the then rate of 67,500AA + taxes and fees.
In order to change the ticket and get original pricing honored you must find a new ticket that would price into your original class of service rate
My new Itinerary:
- HAN-HKG – Dragonair economy
- HKG-JFK – Cathay First
- LGA-IND – AA First
It was honored because the long leg from HKG-JFK prices at the highest class of service. If I couldn’t find space from Asia to the states in First class, I could have still made this work by finding ONE LEG in first class within Asia…or the states.
Possible Itinerary that could have worked:
- HAN-HKG – dragonair econ or biz
- HKG-NRT – Cathay FIRST
- NRT-ORD – Japan Business
- ORD- IND – AA econ
Because there is one leg ( HKG – NRT ) that would force the whole itinerary to highest class of service it would still work even though my longest leg is a category down. It also maintains a blend of AA and partner.
Another possible itinerary that could have worked
- HAN-HKG – dragonair econ
- HKG-LAX – Cathay Business
- LAX-JFK – AA First Class on A321 T 3 cabin plane
- JFK-IND – AA econ
This works because the caveats are all satisfied and the LAX-JFK flight books into the highest category of service, 1st class. The reason behind this is because this is a 3 cabin plane and not a 2 cabin plane and there is a legitimate business class sold…the agent can book it for you. Some of you may look at this and say, Miles you’re backtracking how can you do that? As long as you don’t exceed the maximum mileage permitted for the flight, AA will allow backtracking.
Caveat 4: You must rebook within a year of your original booking
This is true of all AA award tickets, but it’s something to keep in mind here. It’s not the date that you were scheduled to travel that starts the year clock, it’s the date that you booked the ticket. I booked mine on March 10th. So I had to find a flight back from Hanoi before that date a year later, or I would have to redeposit the ticket and pay whatever the prevailing rates are for the flight that I wanted.
Many AA agents will not be informed that they can honor the original pricing
This is what happened with me. I had found all of my flights, written down all the information, and my phone agent confirmed all of the availability. She then told me that it was going to price out at 110k miles plus the difference in taxes and fees.
I very politely pushed back ” I’m pretty sure that even though my routing is changing, I’m still blending my flights as per the rules, and I booked my ticket before the devaluation went into effect. Shouldn’t I just owe any difference in taxes?”
She thought for moment, clicked a few things on her end, and said “yes sir you’re absolutely right. Let me forward this on to the rate desk and have them over-ride and book the ticket for you.
Your ticket will go to the “Rate desk” as the phone agent does not have the power to over-ride and book the ticket at original pricing. Some agents may get confused and say that they are unable to rebook.
If your agent is giving you a fuss either Hang up and Call Again or ask to speak to someone on the rate desk
Obviously this is if you’ve met the caveats above and also booked your ticket at pre-deval prices.
Ultimately I was able to change my pre-deval AA award from ‘Japan Airlines and AA’ to ‘Cathay and AA’ and only paid a difference in taxes of roughly $30.
I’m going to keep an eye on Japan Airlines availability as I’d really like to try out their 1st class product and the times of their flights are preferred to the Cathay flights, but I haven’t experienced Cathay 1st yet either…It’s a win/win situation however I look at it. Whether it be Japan First or Cathay First it’ll be a $10k flight in value for 67,500 points ( less 10% that I got refunded because of my Barclay Aviator). Unreal value.
Here’s a peek at both products:
Japan Airlines 1st Class
Cathay Pacific 1st Class
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
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