American Airlines Adds $5 Fee for Booking AAdvantage Awards Online
By Suzanne Marta, The Dallas Morning News
May 29–American Airlines has announced several changes to its AAdvantage frequent-flier program.
Starting June 21, members booking an award ticket online will now have to pay a $5 processing fee.
American announced several other changes on Thursday.
For bookings made on or after Oct. 1, certain kinds of tickets –mostly seats in the premium cabin or “anytime” tickets — will require more miles, and you can no longer pay to make up for being short on miles to use for award tickets. (You’ll have to buy additional miles from the carrier instead.)
And flyers will need more miles to book award tickets to Hawaii during the most popular times.
Here’s a list of the changes.
– A scan of the frequently-asked-questions the airline published suggests the new fee will help American offset the technology investments the airline has been making to its site.
– The $5 will be your cheapest option, since calling the carrier will cost you $20.
– The new booking fee doesn’t apply to the program’s executive platinum flyers, or for award tickets that already require a fee.
On its Web site, American says it’s increasing the number miles required for some types of award tickets to “ensure equal value for American Airlines and for our customers.”
It cites more ways for customers to earn miles, which American says off-sets those increased mileage requirements.
Award tickets to Hawaii booked for flights during the popular spring, summer and Christmas and New Year’s seasons, will now cost 45,000 miles.
American also separated China into its own award region — citing additional network options since the Dragonair joined the Oneworld alliance.
Mileage levels required by other members in the Oneworld alliance have not changed.
The carrier will also implement a co-pay of $150 for using miles for upgrades to Colombia,Ecuador,Peru, or Venezuela. The co-pay isn’t requied if you buy a full-fare economy class ticket or a full-fare business class ticket.
The carrier had previously implemented similar fees for upgrading with miles from other discounted tickets for travel to and from Hawaii and between North America and Europe, India, Japan/Northern China, and South America.
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