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How to Book an Award Flight on American Airlines Using AAdvantage Miles

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

American Airlines AAdvantage miles can take you around the world, but redeeming them can be tricky. A flight you thought would cost 25,000 miles round-trip might turn out to cost 60,000 miles. Fees you thought would be around $5 are instead in the hundreds.

Simply put, redemptions can be hard.

That said, the sooner you learn how to redeem your American Airlines AAdvantage miles efficiently, the better equipped you’ll be to get the most value out of them. Here’s your guide to booking an award ticket with American Airlines.

How to find AAdvantage award tickets

Log in to your account.

If you’re reading this, you probably already have an American AAdvantage frequent flyer number and password. If not, you can become a member in minutes by signing up for free at AA.com.

If you have an account but can’t find your password, follow the prompts to have American Airlines reset it. Then, log in to your account and take note of your mileage balance.

Search for your award flight on the American Airlines website

On AA.com, select “Redeem Miles” and then enter your destination and dates. You’ll see results displayed as a grid, with different redemption types for different flights in different cabins. You can refine your search by the number of connections, the airline or other variables.

You can also choose a calendar view, which shows you available redemptions for a whole month. Look closely at each option you’re considering. Sometimes that nicely priced award seat may be for a not-so-nice itinerary, with multiple connections or overnight stays at connecting cities — or an itinerary that requires you to drive across town to another airport to make a connecting flight.

» Learn more: The complete guide to redeeming American Airlines miles

Check seating charts

For AA-operated flights, you can see exactly which seats are available before you book. In the search results, click “Seats” to call up a map showing you which ones are already taken and which ones you can reserve.

It’s the best way to make sure you don’t get stuck in a middle seat 15 rows away from your travel companion.

Use the cancellation policy on your award ticket to your advantage

American Airlines offers a 24-hour cancellation policy. So, if you see a redemption you like, book the award ticket knowing that you can cancel it and get a full refund of your miles as long as you cancel within 24 hours.

Things to know before booking American Airlines award tickets

There are a few points to keep in mind before booking your award so that you can get the best value from your miles.

American now uses dynamic award pricing

One of the last holdouts among domestic carriers, American finally did away with its award chart in Spring 2023. The number of miles you need to book an American Airlines flight now varies based on the travel date and demand. If you are booking a flight on a partner airline, you can use that airline's award chart to figure out how many miles you'll need.

NerdWallet values American AAdvantage miles at about 1.7 cents each . When considering redeeming your miles for award tickets, aim to extract a cent-per-mile valuation that meets or exceeds that valuation.

» Learn more: Your guide to the American Airlines and Oneworld partner award chart

You might have to pay hefty fees on international partner award flights

Your AAdvantage miles can be used to book flights on Oneworld airlines and American’s code-share partners; however, keep in mind that fees on these partner airlines, especially on British Airways, can be hefty.

For example, a flight from New York to London on American Airlines costs 30,000 AAdvantage miles + $5.60 in taxes.

But the same route flown on British Airways costs 30,000 AAdvantage miles + $229.20 in taxes.

Avoid these fees if you can help it by flying on AA partners that don't pass on taxes and fuel surcharges.

With some diligence and flexibility, you should be able to find enough good options to get you where you want to go on an award ticket.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

on Citibank's application

1x Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases.

70,000 Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $7,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.

on Chase's website

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

75,000 Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

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• AAdvantage ® program

Award travel

Travel to over 1,000 destinations

Awards on american, flight awards.

Choose flight awards for any seat on an American Airlines flight for as low as 7,500 miles each way plus any applicable taxes and carrier-imposed fees.

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One world® and partner awards.

Use your miles to travel the world. Combine awards for one-way, round-trip or travel to multiple cities with our one world ® and partner airlines.

one world ® and other airline partner award chart

Tips on booking award travel

Book award travel in the app.

We’ve made it even easier to redeem your miles for award travel on American and many partner airlines when booking through our app.

How to book:

• Download our free app
• Log in to your AAdvantage ® account
• Choose your flights
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Use the award map

Use the award map and find where you can go with the miles you have.

Explore the award map

Elevate your experience

• Upgrade with miles

Redeem your miles to move into the next cabin on American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia flights.

• Upgrade with miles on partner airlines

Main Cabin seats

Reserve the best seats in the Main Cabin using your miles.

• Reserve seats with miles

Find your trip

Manage your award travel

Booking flight awards.

You can book award travel to over 1,000 destinations on aa.com and the American app. Partner airline flights are included in award travel search results, and you can filter results for your preferred airlines on the 'Choose flights' screen.

Book flights

Reservations can also help you book award travel on American and partner airlines.

Contact Reservations

Requesting a mileage upgrade award

Contact Reservations or visit an American Airlines Travel Center to request a mileage upgrade award.

You may request an upgrade when you book your trip or at any time before check-in. If you have already booked a trip and would like to request a mileage upgrade award, please have your reservation details available when you call.

Upgrades are available in limited numbers on most flights. If an upgrade isn’t available when you call, we’ll add your request to the waitlist. Waitlisted upgrade requests will be confirmed in this order:

• AAdvantage ® status level
• Upgrade type
• 12-month Rolling Loyalty Points

If the upgrade type and 12-month Rolling Loyalty Point value are the same, we’ll look at the booking code then date and time of the request to determine prioritization.

If your upgrade hasn’t been confirmed by the time you check-in, we’ll automatically add you to the airport upgrade standby list if you have the required number of miles in your account 48 hours before departure.

Once your upgrade is confirmed, we’ll automatically update your mobile boarding pass in our app.

Changing flight awards

You can change an eligible trip online in just a few steps. While you may have to pay the difference, there are no change fees for award tickets.

Step 1: Find your trip

You’ll need your 6-character confirmation (also called a ‘Record locator’).

If you don’t know your Record locator, you can find it in the confirmation email you received when you booked your trip.

Step 2: Make a change

Choose ‘Change trip’ in the toolbar and follow the prompts.

• When changing your trip, we’ll reinstate the miles from your original trip.
• We deduct the miles from the original AAdvantage® account used (even if the amount is the same).
• You may still need to pay the difference for taxes. Any amount you're owed will be refunded to the credit card from your original booking.

Step 3: Check your email

When you’re done, we’ll send you an email with the information you need, including your new ticket number.

Changing mileage upgrade awards

If your travel plans change, you can contact Reservations to change a mileage upgrade award. There is no fee to change your mileage upgrade award. Keep in mind, you still need to redeem miles for any award price difference and pay any co-payment difference when making a change.

Tickets upgraded with mileage upgrade awards retain all the original fare rules and restrictions of the original purchased fare.

Canceling flight awards and reinstating miles

If your plans change and you no longer wish to travel, you can cancel your trip anytime on aa.com. We’ll reinstate your miles and refund eligible taxes and fees up to 1 year after the ticket issue date, but you have to cancel your trip before the first flight departs. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, your miles will be reinstated and your refund will be requested automatically in most cases. There is no fee to reinstate your miles.

Contact Reservations for help reinstating miles on a trip that:

• Has already started
• Involves travel on partner airlines
• Was booked outside the U.S. or on an international version of aa.com
• Has been changed due to an uncontrollable event since the ticket was originally issued

Refunds of taxes and fees will be issued in full amounts, less:

• Sale-imposed nonrefundable taxes
• Taxes we must pay whether or not you travel

Some countries have different rules about refunds, and if so, we will follow those rules.

Canceling upgrade awards and reinstating miles

If your plans change and you no longer wish to travel or upgrade your ticket, you can contact Reservations to cancel your mileage upgrade award and request reinstatement of your miles. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, you must contact Reservations to request the reinstatement of your miles.

We’ll reinstate your miles at no charge up to 1 year after the ticket issue date, but you have to cancel your ticket before the first flight departs.

Keep in mind, co-payments for mileage upgrade awards are non-refundable and tickets upgraded with mileage upgrade awards retain all the original fare rules and restrictions of the original purchased fare.

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• AAdvantage ® status

For the purposes of providing AAdvantage membership service ("AAdvantage"), American Airlines Inc. (the "Company"), whose principal office is located in the US, seeks consent from you to process certain personal information pertaining to you. Please review the following information and check the appropriate box to indicate whether you consent to the following items.

Collected Items

We may collect the following personal information in order to provide our services to you:

• First name, middle name, last name, suffix, title, date of birth, gender
• Country (home, business), address (home, business), city (home, business), state (home, business), postal code (home, business), business name
• Primary email address, primary phone type, primary phone number
• Username, password, personal information contained in answers to security questions
• Promo code, redress number, known traveler number
• Hometown city or airport, seating preference, Business Extra number
• Payment information, such as your credit card information
• A friend or a family member's name, primary email address, privacy phone number, additional phone number for text message service

Purposes of Collection and Use

Depending on what services you request from us, your personal information may be used for the following purposes:

• To provide the BeNotified service
• Search of flight reservation and purchase
• Purchase and issuance of ticket
• Notification related to reservation and purchase of ticket
• Mileage accumulation and use for ticket reservation
• ID verification
• To obtain feedback from customers and address any complaints or requests that customers may have
• For general communication with customers
• To verify whether you are already an AAdvantage member and whether you have applied multiple times
• To verify whether you are an American Airlines, Inc. employee or an immediate family member
• To notify you of important information about AAdvantage
• To provide you with mileage and other services pursuant to AAdvantage
• Ticketing and preorders of duty-free goods
• To provide benefits available with a Promo code
• To provide services related to a redress number or known traveler number
• To provide services pursuant to member preferences

Period of Retention and Use

Except where preservation of personal information is required by applicable laws and regulations, your personal information will be kept until the above-mentioned purposes of collection and use has been achieved.

Right to Refusal and Adverse Consequences

You have the right to refuse to consent to the collection and use of personal information as described above, but upon such refusal, you may be prevented from reserving or purchasing your ticket.

During the above retention and use period, your personal information collected upon your consent as above may be used to deliver promotional or advertising information, or for other sales and marketing purposes. You have the right to refuse the collection and use of personal information for marketing purpose, but in such case, you may not receive the above information on available promotions and services.

The Company will provide some or all of your personal information to delegatees to delegate certain tasks. Those delegatees are listed here .

The Company may provide your personal information to third parties as listed here , if you use their services.

For the purposes of providing customer service to you, American Airlines Inc. (the "Company"), whose principal office is located in the US, seeks consent from you to process certain personal information pertaining to you. Please review the following information and checkmark the appropriate box to indicate whether you consent to the following items.

• Gender, first name, last name, nationality, address, city, phone number, email address, any personal information which included in customer opinions section or attached files
• AAdvantage number, dividend miles number, postal code
• Flight reservation number, ticket number, flight number, date of flight, departure, destination, baggage tracking number.
• Passport number

Depending on what services you request from us, your personal information will be used for the following purposes:

Maximizing American Airlines’ Award Routing Rules

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

With the exception of adding new premium economy awards to its charts, the American Airlines AAdvantage mileage program has only made relatively minor changes recently. This means that there are many ways to maximize your award tickets in the program, but to do so, you must know the ins and outs of what is (and isn't) allowed when you go to redeem your miles.

With that in mind, this guide will walk you through how to maximize the AAdvantage program's award routing rules. Below, you'll find information on American's award charts for its own flights versus those on partner airlines, a rundown of the fees associated with award tickets, and some hard-and-fast rules on the types of awards you can (and cannot) book using AAdvantage miles.

Please note that some of what follows isn't made public by American and is thus pulled from various online sources and reports. We can vouch for the accuracy at the time of writing, but be sure to do your due diligence before trying to book your own AAdvantage award ticket.

People often talk about award tickets as "free." In reality, there are usually plenty of associated costs with booking, changing or canceling an award. You can visit this page for details on American's applicable fees, but here are the important ones to keep in mind:

Award ticketing service charge: If you call in to book an award that you could otherwise book online, you will be charged $30 for travel within the US and $40 for international travel. This fee is waived for Executive Platinum elites, and if you can't (for any reason) book the award ticket using AA.com, you should be able to get it waived as well.

Close-in booking fee: This is a $75 ticketing fee when you book an award fewer than 21 days prior to departure. Luckily, it is waived for all AAdvantage elite members using miles from their own account. This fee (and waiver) also applies to changes to your outbound travel date that result in a departure within 21 days. If you're just changing the dates of your trip and it doesn't fall within the 21-day window, you don't have to pay this fee.

Changes to origin or destination: If you want to make changes to your itinerary, it'll cost you $150. This one is only waived for Executive Platinum members using miles from their own account.

Reinstatement charge: This is another one from which only Executive Platinums are exempt. It's $150 to cancel a reservation and reinstate miles for the first ticket and $25 for additional awards reinstated to the same account at the same time.

Taxes, fees and surcharges: The final added cost of award travel is the set of government-imposed taxes as well as carrier-imposed surcharges to tickets. In many cases, this is a negligible amount (like the $5.60 per person tax for most one-way award tickets that originate in the US). However, many countries will impose departure or arrival taxes, and some airlines are notorious for the surcharges they add to award bookings . Most AAdvantage award tickets won't incur the latter of these items, but any taxes or fees that a government requires typically must be paid when you redeem your AA miles.

Airline Partners

American is a member of Oneworld , which includes the following partners:

• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Japan Airlines (JAL)
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 Airlines
• SriLankan Airlines

The airline also has the following individual non-alliance partners :

• Air Tahiti Nui
• Alaska Airlines
• Fiji Airways
• Hawaiian Airlines (not to/from the mainland US)
• Jet Airways
• Seaborne Airlines

To take this one step further, here are the partners on which you can currently book awards online using AA.com :

• American Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Royal Jordanian Airlines

You can also use the American app to book awards ; the tool will typically show the same inventory as you'll find on AA.com.

Award Charts

Here are links to American's award chart for its own flights and those of its Oneworld and other partner flights .

For the sake of having all the numbers in one place, here is the AAdvantage chart for flights on American Airlines itself traveling to/from the Contiguous 48 US States in economy (Main Cabin).

As you can see, there are several levels for each region depending on award availability and peak versus off-peak seasons. Here's the new premium-economy award chart for American-operated flights.

This is the chart for American's own flights in business and first class.

And finally, here is the chart for using American miles on its partners.

While these are relatively straight-forward, it's worth pointing out a few unique award options within the AAdvantage program's award charts.

7,500-Mile Awards

American Airlines instituted 7,500-mile awards in 2016 for one-way, nonstop award flights that are under 500 miles in distance. That saves flyers 5,000 miles over previous levels, which were 12,500 each way on short-hauls such as from Charlotte (CLT) to Asheville (AVL) or Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO). These prices will automatically appear online when you search for awards between applicable cities, though note that they are only valid on nonstop flights.

Off-Peak Awards

American also offers cheaper off-peak awards for economy travel to certain regions at certain times of year. Here are the regions to which they apply (dates are for 2019).

• Hawaii: 20,000 miles (to Hawaii: December 29 - March 12, August 11 - November 18, November 24 - December 10; from Hawaii: January 7 - March 19, August 18 - November 27, December 3 - December 25)
• Caribbean, Mexico and Central America: 12,500 miles (September 7 - November 14, April 27 - May 20)
• South America 1: 17,500 miles (January 16 - June 14, September 7 - November 14)
• Europe: 22,500 miles (January 10 - March 14, November 1 - December 14)
• Asia 1: 32,500 miles (to Japan/Korea: January 1 - April 30, July 1 - November 30; from Japan: January 16 - April 19, May 2 - 31, September 1 - December 31; from Korea: January 16 - May 31, September 1 - December 31)
• Asia 2: 32,500 miles (to China/Hong Kong: January 1 - April 30, July 1 - September 30, October 11 - November 30; from China/Hong Kong: February 1 - May 31, September 1 - 19, October 2 - December 31)

Though the dates can be hard to keep in mind, it's worth doing so, as you can save thousands of miles on an off-peak itinerary if your dates are flexible. Like the 7,500-mile awards, this pricing will automatically be reflected in the online search results.

Reduced-Price Awards

A final (and unique) feature of the AAdvantage program is the reduced-mileage awards it offers to holders of Citi and Barclaycard products like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® or the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®. These awards are discounted 1,000 - 7,500 miles round-trip under the usual requirements, though the cities to which they are applicable change every month. However, these awards must be booked over the phone, as you won't see them reflected online. For full details on the current cities and how to book, check out this article . The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Region Definitions

In order to know how many miles you'll need for each award, you've got to know which countries fall into which region, especially as several continents are split up into multiple regions. Here's the current breakdown.

This becomes especially important for two main reasons. First, the above award charts tend to price award tickets differently across regions, and in some cases, the differences can be quite large. For example, a partner award in first class from the contiguous US to Japan is 80,000 miles each way. Booking a flight from the US to China in first class would require 110,000 miles, a premium of nearly 30%!

Second, these region definitions play a large role in determining what you're allowed to do when redeeming your AAdvantage miles.

One-Ways, Open Jaws and Stopovers

One of the most popular ways to extend the value of your miles is by booking one-way itineraries, open jaw tickets and stopovers on redemptions. It's critical to understand how American treats these different types of awards, but first, let's define a few of these terms. An open jaw is when you fly from one city to another, then resume travel in a third city back to either your origin or another city in your origin region (like two one-ways). A simple example is flying from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow and then flying back from Paris (CDG) to New York-JFK. The so-called "open jaw" is created between London-Heathrow and Paris.

Meanwhile, a stopover is when you have an extended stop en route from your origin to your destination (or vice versa). This is different from a simple connection in that you're spending extra time in the connecting city rather than just going from your arrival gate to the departure gate of your connecting flight. Generally speaking, a layover becomes a stopover when it's longer than four hours in a domestic US city or over 24 hours internationally.

The bad news is, American Airlines typically does not allow stopovers or open jaws on award tickets. However, you can book one-way awards using AAdvantage miles, so essentially, you can have the equivalent of an open jaw.

In addition, American will sometimes allow you to book a longer connection within the US but charge the same number of miles, as TPG Editor Nick Ewen discovered when researching how the carrier continues to make it harder to redeem your miles . In certain cases, he found that the carrier was essentially forcing flyers into longer layovers, though the award prices remained the same.

These are likely more the exception than the rule, so I wouldn't count on them as you're planning your award travel.

Routing Rules

Like many other carriers, American Airlines does not publish a comprehensive list of award routing rules. Rather, we must rely on anecdotal data points compiled and shared by other flyers over the years as well as some announcements by the individual airlines to piece together the kinds of awards you can (and cannot) book using AAdvantage miles.

Some of the rules of thumb are fairly obvious, though. The AAdvantage search engine and rules are meant to encourage travelers to book the most direct and fastest routings between origins and destinations, though it will price out awards that prioritize consistency of booking class over directness. So, if you're looking for an award from Los Angeles (LAX) to London-Heathrow (LHR), you might find nonstops available in economy, but then AA.com may price out business class awards with a connection, like New York-JFK or Philadelphia (PHL). On the other hand, you can't book an award from London to New York via Los Angeles since that is so far out of the way. This is a sort of "common sense" rule.

However, there are several other more nuanced rules that you must follow when you redeem your AAdvantage miles.

Third-Region Transit

One complicating factor is American's so-called "third-region rule." The gist sounds simple enough: when booking an award from one region to another, you generally cannot transit through a third region. For example, if you wanted to fly from the US to Europe, you could not expect to do so via South America. If you tried to do that, American would charge you the mileage for two separate awards.

However, there are notable exceptions to this rule, most of which involve logical routings on which you can typically find published fares. Here's what we know about them.

That's a lot of regions to keep track of, so don't worry about having them all in mind. Rather, figure out where you're traveling to/from, and then keep this post on hand to understand whether awards you want to book are even possible. After all, you don't want to keep searching for an award from the US to Australia hoping that AAdvantage will let you route through Hong Kong, only to keep coming up empty-handed.

Here are several other rules worth noting:

• When traveling between two cities in the US, you cannot route through Canada or Mexico.
• When traveling between cities within either Canada or Mexico, you cannot route via the US.
• Travel from North America to Europe, Africa and the Middle East must route via the Atlantic. You could fly from Los Angeles to London-Heathrow to Johannesburg (JNB), but you couldn't fly from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Johannesburg instead.
• Travel from North America to Asia and the South Pacific must route via the Pacific. You couldn't fly from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow to Hong Kong on a single award.
• Travel to/from Tahiti and Fiji cannot route via Australia or New Zealand.

Maximum Permitted Mileage

One of the other most arcane aspects of the award routing rules is the concept of "maximum permitted mileage." The term refers to the distance airlines calculate between city pairs and is determined by the International Air Transit Association (IATA). What makes this strange is that the MPM is not the actual distance between city pairs, but a number that instead includes the possibility of connecting flights, which puts it at around 10% more miles than direct service in most cases. For award tickets, AAdvantage will let you book trips that are up to 25% longer than the MPM of your origin/destination combination. Yes, it's complicated, but for most flyers it makes sense.

The IATA does not publish MPM numbers for routes online, but you can look them up with a paid subscription to ExpertFlyer . To see the MPM for a route you're interested in, log into your ExpertFlyer account and go to the Travel Information tab on the left-hand side. Then select Maximum Permitted Mileage. Enter your city pairs and airline, and the search will generate the MPM for you.

In this example, I looked up MPM from New York-JFK to New Delhi (DEL). As you can see, it pulled up the MPM via both the Atlantic (AT) and Pacific (PA), which is great because American allows you to transit via Europe or Hong Kong now.

Via the Atlantic, the MPM plus 25% is 11,928 miles. So flying from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow to New Delhi would definitely work since that route would be just 7,641 miles.

Via the Pacific, the MPM plus 25% is 10,940 miles (lower than via the Atlantic). Getting there via Hong Kong would be no problem, though, at just 10,403 miles.

Now, you might want to transit via Tokyo (NRT) instead to fly Japan Airlines.

The mileage works, clocking in at just 10,423 miles. Remember, though, you can't transit from North America to India via Asia 1, which includes Japan. Even though the itinerary does satisfy the MPM rule, it violates American's third-region transit rule, so this is an illegal routing for a single award ticket through the AAdvantage program.

Another example of this would be transiting via Doha on Qatar Airways. Once again, you'd be violating the third-region rule, even though it falls within the route's MPM.

Not to end on a negative note, though...because of American's one-way award possibilities, you could maximize this trip in other ways, despite the limitations. For instance, you could fly from New York to New Delhi via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Then book a separate one-way as your return via London on British Airways, or Helsinki on Finnair, just to get to try a couple different carriers since both Hong Kong and Europe are permitted as third-region transit exceptions between the Continental US and India.

Published Fares

Now for another esoteric consideration: any award you hope to book must be on a route where the transoceanic carrier publishes a fare. Just because tickets between certain cities don't show up on search engines does not mean there is not a published fare on that route. Rather, airlines have lists of published fares between city pairs that should be available for purchase by anyone. But to make things easier, log back into ExpertFlyer . Then use the Fare Information option to search city pairs and airlines for the dates you're curious about.

As an example, let's say you wanted to use your miles to fly to Asia and visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I put in a search example of Omaha (OMA) to Siem Ream (REP), with Cathay Pacific as the carrier.

Funnily enough, Cathay Pacific publishes fares between those two cities. You can even see fares by booking class, the effective and expiration dates, minimum/maximum-stay requirements and more. Since there is a published fare, you could book this as an award...depending on availability, of course.

Bottom Line

Clearly there is a lot to keep in mind when it comes to booking awards using American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Depending on your elite status, there are fees to consider. The third-region rule and its exceptions can also either limit or maximize your routing possibilities, depending on how you leverage them.

Though you can get creative with routing and one-ways in order to stretch your miles further and try out interesting onboard products like Qatar Airways' QSuites , you must also remember the transit and maximum-permitted-mileage rules to avoid searching for impossible-to-book awards in vain. With a little planning and strategy, however, the sky is the limit.

Be sure to share any questions or tips on booking American Airlines awards in the comments below!

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• AAdvantage ® program

Award travel

Travel to over 1,000 destinations

Awards on american, flight awards.

Choose flight awards for any seat on an American Airlines flight for as low as 7,500 miles each way plus any applicable taxes and carrier-imposed fees.

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Use your miles to travel the world. Combine awards for one-way, round-trip or travel to multiple cities with our one world ® and partner airlines.

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Tips on booking award travel

Book award travel in the app.

We’ve made it even easier to redeem your miles for award travel on American and many partner airlines when booking through our app.

How to book:

• Download our free app
• Log in to your AAdvantage ® account
• Choose your flights
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Use the award map and find where you can go with the miles you have.

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Redeem your miles to move into the next cabin on American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia flights.

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Find your trip

Manage your award travel

Booking flight awards.

You can book award travel to over 1,000 destinations on aa.com and the American app. Partner airline flights are included in award travel search results, and you can filter results for your preferred airlines on the 'Choose flights' screen.

Book flights

Reservations can also help you book award travel on American and partner airlines.

Contact Reservations

Requesting a mileage upgrade award

Contact Reservations or visit an American Airlines Travel Center to request a mileage upgrade award.

You may request an upgrade when you book your trip or at any time before check-in. If you have already booked a trip and would like to request a mileage upgrade award, please have your reservation details available when you call.

Upgrades are available in limited numbers on most flights. If an upgrade isn’t available when you call, we’ll add your request to the waitlist. Waitlisted upgrade requests will be confirmed in this order:

• AAdvantage ® status level
• Upgrade type
• 12-month Rolling Loyalty Points

If the upgrade type and 12-month Rolling Loyalty Point value are the same, we’ll look at the booking code then date and time of the request to determine prioritization.

If your upgrade hasn’t been confirmed by the time you check-in, we’ll automatically add you to the airport upgrade standby list if you have the required number of miles in your account 48 hours before departure.

Once your upgrade is confirmed, we’ll automatically update your mobile boarding pass in our app.

Changing flight awards

You can change an eligible trip online in just a few steps. While you may have to pay the difference, there are no change fees for award tickets.

Step 1: Find your trip

You’ll need your 6-character confirmation (also called a ‘Record locator’).

If you don’t know your Record locator, you can find it in the confirmation email you received when you booked your trip.

Step 2: Make a change

Choose ‘Change trip’ in the toolbar and follow the prompts.

• When changing your trip, we’ll reinstate the miles from your original trip.
• We deduct the miles from the original AAdvantage® account used (even if the amount is the same).
• You may still need to pay the difference for taxes. Any amount you're owed will be refunded to the credit card from your original booking.

Step 3: Check your email

When you’re done, we’ll send you an email with the information you need, including your new ticket number.

Changing mileage upgrade awards

If your travel plans change, you can contact Reservations to change a mileage upgrade award. There is no fee to change your mileage upgrade award. Keep in mind, you still need to redeem miles for any award price difference and pay any co-payment difference when making a change.

Tickets upgraded with mileage upgrade awards retain all the original fare rules and restrictions of the original purchased fare.

Canceling flight awards and reinstating miles

If your plans change and you no longer wish to travel, you can cancel your trip anytime on aa.com. We’ll reinstate your miles and refund eligible taxes and fees up to 1 year after the ticket issue date, but you have to cancel your trip before the first flight departs. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, your miles will be reinstated and your refund will be requested automatically in most cases. There is no fee to reinstate your miles.

Contact Reservations for help reinstating miles on a trip that:

• Has already started
• Involves travel on partner airlines
• Was booked outside the U.S. or on an international version of aa.com
• Has been changed due to an uncontrollable event since the ticket was originally issued

Refunds of taxes and fees will be issued in full amounts, less:

• Sale-imposed nonrefundable taxes
• Taxes we must pay whether or not you travel

Some countries have different rules about refunds, and if so, we will follow those rules.

Canceling upgrade awards and reinstating miles

If your plans change and you no longer wish to travel or upgrade your ticket, you can contact Reservations to cancel your mileage upgrade award and request reinstatement of your miles. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, you must contact Reservations to request the reinstatement of your miles.

We’ll reinstate your miles at no charge up to 1 year after the ticket issue date, but you have to cancel your ticket before the first flight departs.

Keep in mind, co-payments for mileage upgrade awards are non-refundable and tickets upgraded with mileage upgrade awards retain all the original fare rules and restrictions of the original purchased fare.

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Full benefit details and terms and conditions can be found on aa.com/statusbenefits *To learn more about rewards, visit aa.com/loyaltypointrewards . American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage program, exclusive offers and its terms and conditions at any time without notice, and to end the AAdvantage program with six months notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use the awards, mileage credits, or benefits that you have accumulated. These reservation of rights apply to all aspects of the AAdvantage program, including without limitation, all status programs. For full AAdvantage program terms and conditions, visit aa.com/aadvantageterms . American Airlines, American Eagle, AAdvantage, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, Platinum Pro, AAdvantage Platinum and the Flight Symbol logo are marks of American Airlines, Inc. one world ® is a mark of the one world Alliance, LLC.

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A Complete Guide to American Airlines Award Travel Rules

Reviewed by Ryan Smith

AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers .

American Airlines AAdvantage ® is one of our favorite mileage programs. Thanks to dozens of partners, you can fly to over 1,000 destinations using AAdvantage miles. And American Airlines has (largely) kept its partner mileage redemption chart the same for over seven years now. In this post, we'll cover all the rules for American Airlines award travel to help you use miles for your next adventure.

One of the key ways to get more value from your rewards is to spend a little time learning the rules for booking awards with the points and miles you acquire. Each program has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Once you understand them clearly, you’ll be able to choose the program that best suits your goals for a particular trip.

Page Contents

Types of Rules

Award pricing, redemption partners, which airlines can i book using american aadvantage miles, can i use my miles to book for another person, how far in advance can i book my ticket, can i put an aa award travel reservation on hold, does american charge a close-in booking fee, does american charge a phone booking fee, how much does it cost to include a lap infant, how much does american airlines charge to change or cancel an award ticket, does american airlines allow free changes within 24 hours, how can i track award flight changes, can i book a stopover with american miles, can i book one-way travel with american miles, can i book an open jaw with american miles, can i fly with multiple partner airlines on the same trip, can i book an itinerary with multiple classes of service, can i book a round-the-world ticket with american miles, american third-region exceptions, published route requirement, maximum permitted mileage (mpm), american airlines award segment limits, married segment logic, final thoughts.

• Booking rules cover the details you need to know to get your trip confirmed. Can you use your miles to book a flight for your grandma? How much does it cost to add an infant who doesn’t need her own seat? How far in advance can you confirm your flights?
• Change and cancellation rules cover all the fine print to ensure you don’t pay unnecessary fees and know exactly what to expect if your plans change.
• Itinerary rules cover your options and limitations for the flights you add to your trip. For example, can you add a stopover in Europe on the way to Asia? Can you book a one-way flight at half the price of a round-trip? Will you save miles if part of a business-class trip is in economy?

American Airlines AAdvantage Award Travel Costs & Partner Airlines

Before we get started, two important factors aren’t covered in this post: award pricing and redemption partners.

The number of miles you need and the taxes and fees you’ll pay out of pocket are determined by the type of points you redeem. In many cases, the costs in miles and money can be more important than other rules. This post isn't about how much you'll spend for an AA award or a comparison of AA's booking prices against competitors.

You can use AAdvantage miles to book travel with more than 20 partner airlines . But it’s also true that you can use dozens of different types of points to book flights operated by American or its partner airlines. If you aren’t familiar with this, check out our beginner’s guide to award travel planning .

If you’ve done a good job of diversifying your points and miles, you should have the option to use rewards from other frequent-flyer programs to book a similar (or identical) itinerary. When using AAdvantage miles makes the most sense, here are the rules.

American Airlines Award Booking Rules and Fees

Yes, American Airlines will let you book a flight for anyone you wish. However, program terms and conditions prohibit selling miles, so you shouldn’t book for people you don’t know or receive payment to book on someone else's behalf.

When paying for the taxes and fees on award tickets, American Airlines requires that the name on the credit card match the name of the AAdvantage account holder. Thus, your brother can't use your credit card when booking a ticket using his miles.

Related: Rules on Booking Award Flights for Other People

You can redeem AA miles up to 331 days before departure. Some of AA's partner airlines — like British Airways and Cathay Pacific — make awards available almost one month earlier than this, but that requires booking with those programs.

Related: How Far in Advance Can You Book Airline Award Tickets?

American has one of the most generous hold policies of any frequent flyer program. Members can hold an award for five days if the award is booked more than 14 days before departure. Less than 14 days from departure, members can hold awards for 24 hours. Even within 24 hours of departure, you can get a hold until two hours before departure.

American Airlines no longer charges a close-in-booking fee. In February 2020, American Airlines eliminated its $75 close-in booking fee .

What is this? Some frequent flyer programs charge an extra fee when you book a ticket within 21 days of departure. American Airlines award travel no longer has this fee.

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to book reservations over the phone. Before November 2020 , AA charged a $25 fee to book travel within the U.S. by phone but waived this fee for tickets that couldn't be booked on AA.com. The fee jumped to $35 for international travel, but this is gone also. However, this fee remains in place for cash fares booked over the phone.

The cost to add a lap infant to an AAdvantage award depends on where you're flying:

• International awards: American charges 10% of the cash price of an adult ticket to add a lap infant to your reservation. If you’re flying on a business- or first-class award, 10% of the retail ticket cost can be a lot of money.
• Domestic awards:  Within the U.S. or to Canada, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is no additional cost.
• You can add your child to your ticket by calling AA reservations at 800-433-7300. If travel is within the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), you also can add a lap infant online when booking a trip or modifying an existing reservation.

But a caveat: AA will charge the full mileage price if you add an infant at the time of booking. A best practice is to book tickets without the infant on the reservation, and call AA after booking to add the infant. This way, you don't have to redeem more AAdvantage miles than is necessary.

Here’s American Airlines' resource on traveling with children and infants.

Related: These are the best award programs for traveling with a lap infant

American Airlines Award Travel Change and Cancellation Rules

The AAdvantage program really shines with its rules for travel changes and cancellation policy. The airline eliminated change and cancel fees in November 2020 and (re)added the ability to change certain awards in July 2023 .

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to change or cancel an award ticket. Before November 11, 2020, American Airlines charged up to $150 per passenger to change or cancel an award ticket — unless you had Executive Platinum elite status.

Now, you can cancel award tickets and have your miles reinstated free of charge up to one year after the ticket was issued. The latest you can cancel an award ticket is before the first flight in your itinerary departs.

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires airlines serving the U.S. to allow travelers to put itineraries on hold or to change or cancel a ticket for 24 hours after booking without a penalty. American meets the requirement with the (up to) five-day award hold, so it isn't legally required to allow cancellations in the 24-hour grace period.

With that said, American has historically honored requests for free cancellation within 24 hours of booking an award. Please let us know in the comments if your experience is different.

Related: 24-Hour Cancellation Policies for Major U.S. Airlines

AwardWallet tracks all your travel plans automatically (and alerts you to any changes) by importing reservations from your email or connected accounts. The best method for getting all your travel plans into AwardWallet is to link the email you use for reservations.

American Airlines Award Travel Itinerary Rules

American Airlines does not allow free stopovers on award travel. Any connection of 24 hours or more on an international award will result in paying for more than one award ticket.

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have a lot of redemption partners in common. Alaska MileagePlan allows free stopovers as long as you follow a few rules. That combines with the fact there are some awards we recommend booking with Alaska miles instead of American miles .

Yes, you can book one-way awards with American Airlines AAdvantage miles. American typically charges half the price of a round-trip award for one-way itineraries. However, some round-trip Web Special awards will price out cheaper than two one-way awards. And some AA routes will offer a cheaper per-price flight on round-trip bookings than the cost of two one-way awards.

Pro tip: For international tickets, be aware that many countries require proof of onward travel. Thanks to American's generous five-day hold policy, you can create a record locator for a return trip without actually confirming the ticket. If you prefer to have a confirmed reservation, consider booking a fully refundable ticket or using a ticket-rental service like OneWayFly .

American allows open-jaw tickets at both the origin and destination. An open jaw ticket that includes more than one region will be priced as two one-way awards.

If you don't know what we're talking about, check out our beginner’s guide to stopovers and open jaws .

Yes, American allows you to combine partners on an award ticket. Award prices are the same for all partner airlines, so there shouldn't be any extra cost if your flights are operated by more than one carrier.

However, any itineraries including partner-operated flights are ineligible for Web Special pricing. It might be cheaper to book an itinerary that only has AA-operated flights, depending on the route.

American prices its awards according to the highest class of service you book on your itinerary. This differs from some programs like Avianca LifeMiles , which charge a prorated number of miles based on the percentage of your trip in each class. With American, you won't save any miles by booking one flight in economy and other flights in business class.

However, American does not have any rules that prohibit you from booking a ticket with different classes of service (you may see this referred to as a “mixed-cabin award”). This can be a good thing. In some situations, you might not be able to find business- or first-class awards for the entire trip.

For example, if you're flying from Amsterdam (AMS) to Boston (BOS) via New York (JFK), you might find a business-class ticket across the Atlantic, but the short flight from New York to Boston might only be available in economy. You can lock in that award, and if the short flight becomes available in business class, you might be able to upgrade without paying any extra miles.

Most domestic “first-class” awards are treated as business class when you pair them with an international flight. In other words, you won't be charged the first-class price on an international business-class award when you add a domestic flight in AA's domestic first class.

Pro tip: American's mixed-cabin award rules generally work in your favor. But be aware that American will happily charge you the business-class price for itineraries with a 10-hour flight in economy and a 45-minute flight in business class.

Some frequent flyer programs — like All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — offer a 'round-the-world (RTW) ticket at a discount compared to booking each award flight separately. Trips with stops in more than one award region (as defined here ) are not a strength of the AAdvantage program.

American uses a zone-based award chart, which means that the price of travel between two regions (like Europe and the Continental U.S.) should be consistent, regardless of the specific origin and destination airports. Prague to Los Angeles should cost the same number of miles as Dublin to Boston — even though the former is twice the distance!

However, when your itinerary connects at an airport that is not in the same region as your origin or destination , American Airlines may charge you for each trip separately. For example, if you book a flight directly from Paris to New York, you’ll pay the Europe-to-U.S. price on the award chart. But if you fly from Paris to Doha (in the Middle East region) and then to New York, you’ve transited a “third region”.

As a general rule on award travel booked with American Airlines, you’ll pay more when you transit through a third region. But American has a list of exceptions that don’t require separate awards.

Unless otherwise noted, North America includes the regions of the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

You can find an in-depth discussion of the third region exceptions for AA award travel in this FlyerTalk forum . However, note that some of the content is outdated.

Itinerary Rules for Complex Award Bookings

The remaining routing rules aren't likely to be a factor for most award bookings. However, if you find yourself unable to book the flights you want online, one of these could be the problem. It's worth noting that American's reservations system is known to make mistakes. If you see a price in miles that is higher than what you expect based on the award chart, check these rules first.

It's also worth noting that few American reservations agents understand these rules (or even know they exist). If the computer says 110,000 miles, that's what the agent will try to charge you. Fortunately, the AAdvantage program does have a process for manually ticketing reservations when the system makes a mistake. If you've checked these advanced rules and the price doesn't look right, ask your agent to check with the rates desk or a supervisor.

American Airlines' general award travel rule is that awards must be booked on a published route. More specifically, the airline that flies you across the ocean (the overwater carrier) needs to sell a ticket between your origin and destination.

Let's take a trip to the Maldives for example. There's no better way to go than in Etihad's Apartments. However, in order to book an AAdvantage award, Etihad has to sell a ticket between your origin and Male (MLE). To confirm this, you'll want to check ExpertFlyer's Fare Information search . If you're unfamiliar with the tool, check out our guide to ExpertFlyer before proceeding further.

While it's not as exact, you also can search the route on Google Flights and see if there's an option to book on Etihad.

If you're departing from a major hub, such as New York City or Los Angeles, you aren't going to have any issues finding a ticket sold by Etihad:

However, there are no published fares on Etihad between Billings, Montana (BIL) and Male:

Thus, you wouldn't be able to book an AAdvantage award on Etihad flights on this route. If you run into this dilemma, it may still be possible to book the ticket depending on the agent who's ticketing the award. Otherwise, you might need to buy a separate “positioning” flight from the smaller airport to a major hub with a published fare to your final destination.

Related: Free Holds, Maximizing Award Regions, Other Tricks for Booking Awards Using AAdvantage Miles

“Maximum Permitted Mileage” is a lovely piece of jargon that means exactly what it says. For each origin and destination, there is a maximum number of miles you can travel. This American Airlines award travel rule relies primarily on the “published route” requirement explained above. However, in cases where your desired award ticket isn't a published route, you may still be able to book it if the itinerary is less than 125% of the MPM.

Unfortunately, the MPM isn't published online. ExpertFlyer members can check the MPM under the “Travel Information” section:

American allows up to two connections (three flight segments) on one-way domestic awards. You can add one more connection (four segments) on one-way international awards.

For round-trip travel, you must follow these same limits in each direction of travel. Your destination is the first stop that lasts more than 24 hours (international) or 4 hours (domestic). If your trip requires more than this limit, American Airlines will charge you for more than one award.

In the past, American Airlines released award availability flight by flight. Say you wanted to fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Frankfurt (FRA). If you found award availability on a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth and on a flight from Dallas–Fort Worth to Frankfurt, you could book the award. Likewise, someone just flying from Dallas to Frankfurt also could book an award on just that nonstop flight.

That all changed in late 2017. Instead of releasing award availability by flight, American Airlines now releases award availability by trip . Under these rules, you might only be allowed to book the Dallas to Frankfurt flight if you start in Los Angeles or some other city — but not in Dallas. If you want to start in Dallas, you might need book a connecting flight through Charlotte or Miami on the way to Frankfurt to book the cheapest award. Married segment logic might prohibit booking a nonstop flight from A to B on certain routes.

This irritating way of releasing award availability is referred to as “married segment logic.” That's because the award availability for each individual flight is “married” to the entire itinerary. Put simply, American uses these rules to make the cheapest awards less convenient with the hope of getting you to pay more miles for a nonstop award.

American Airlines AAdvantage miles can be extremely valuable if you know how and when to use them and are aware of the basic rules for award travel. While there is certainly a learning curve for more complex itineraries, there are plenty of awards you can book at a great price with limited experience.

American's policy for putting award tickets on hold is among the most generous of any frequent flyer program. When planning travel that will require more than one type of miles, it's a huge asset to be able to lock in your AAdvantage award for up to five days while you figure out the other parts of your trip.

The rules for changing tickets are another standout feature of this program. American Airlines eliminated award mileage redeposit fees, so you no longer have to pay a fee to cancel an award.

The AAdvantage booking rules are more complex than revenue-based programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue . However, a little extra effort to learn how this program works can pay huge dividends.

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If I use AA miles to book a flight on JAL, is there a fee if I cancel and are the miles redeposited to AA?

Hi Toan, the miles will be redeposited to AA, yes. AA doesn’t charge award cancelation fees on most awards. You can find details on change/cancel fees here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/airline-award-ticket-change-and-cancellation-policies/

If I book an award ticket with miles, use the outbound ticket and then cancel the rest will the return miles be put back into my advantage account?

That’s a good question. I generally book one-way awards (unless the round-trip is cheaper, which it can sometimes be) to avoid this issue. I’d reach out to AA with that question if you’re facing that situation on an already-booked award.

Hello! Please, do you know if Mxp/Mia no stop flight will resume this year? I have advantage miles and I’d like to use them.

Thanks for this very comprehensive breakdown of the AAdvantage program rules, a lot of which I didn’t know. The 5 day hold is very important, as is the ability to cancel more than 60 days out without penalty — might help in making longer term plans, which is what we are all doing now! Thanks again for this post!

HI! How can I use American Airlines miles when booking in Iberia for example?

AA.com does show some results for Iberia, and you should be able to ticket those awards on AA.com. I don’t think AA.com is very reliable for showing you all the Iberia options. You can use a site like ExpertFlyer (paid) for Iberia biz class, or you can use British Airways to find options that AA.com doesn’t show. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, just call AA to use your miles.

Thanks, however I would like to do the opposite. Use the miles I have in AA to but a ticket in Iberia, is it possible?

Yes, that is how I understood your question. You can book a flight on Iberia with AA miles. You need to call AA and they will book you on an Iberia flight if it is available.

Thank you Erik! I’ll try that!

Really very usefull information. Up to some years ago, American Airlines allowed makes a reservation using miles with a free stop. But now, it is not possible to make a reservation with a free stop in the route. Very clear all information. Thanks!!!!

This is a great and complete guide to the Aadvtange rules. Do you have any information on Aadvtange miles redeemed for Latam airlines flights are still honoured? American lost a good partner in South America to earn and redeem miles on short flights in the region. Any thoughts would be welcome!

I can’t find an option in the mileage program that takes into consideration unaccompanied minors.

Thank you Mr. Paquet for a very informative article. As a senior citizen I have had to put my travel plans on hold to vist my grandchildren due to the virus. AwardWallet had notified me that my American award miles would be expiring soon and in browsing through the many blog articles I found yours which was clear and easily understood.

Another reason to like award travel: Canceling award travel is better than canceling a paid ticket in some obvious ways, and one less-obvious way. Canceled award travel tix go back into your mileage account. Canceled regular tickets just sort of disappear, and if you lose the email with the e-ticket, you could easily forget you even are owed a flight.

Thank you Erik for this great article, very useful, great tips! I always have many doubts and feel frustrated when trying to use my miles on the AAdvantage website. This 2020 there were so many changes that it turns even more confusing. Your guide encourages me to redeem my miles once and for all. Well done!

This is VERY helpful, thank you so much for putting all this in one place it’s all I needed. What about LATAM miles now? are they still going to be able to continue adding to the other oneworld companies?

Yes, LATAM is still partnering with most other Oneworld airlines for earning and redeeming flights. It seems LATAM probably didn’t want to leave Oneworld, but needed to because of the joint venture with Delta.

By far one of the most complete and thorough guides to using my awards miles I’ve seen. I’m new to this blog but this sold me on it. Well done!

Thanks for all the information. This article has clarified many doubts I had about the AAdvantage program.

Impressive guide! The free 5-day hold on awards is magical, I used it once to coordinate awards from two different programs and get tickets on the same flight.

So useful as I have miles that will expire in a few weeks and now I can extend them for 18 month.s Thanks!!

I find the married segment logic to be the most frustrating thing about the AAdvantage program. While trying to piece together an itinerary to Spain and Portugal last year, I was blocked at every turn by married segments. Granted, I was trying to book with Iberia Avios, but AA’s married segments were the problem. In the end, the only way I could make it work was to book separate itineraries with STL-ORD through AA and ORD-BCN through IB.

Any news regarding the aliance between AA & Santander rio bank? the expiration miles will be the same?

Hey Nicolas, I’m not very knowledgeable about Santander specifically, but the general rule for any transfer partner is that the miles become subject to the AA rules as soon as they arrive in you account. So if your question is about transferring points to AA, yes they will have the normal AA expiration rules.

I have always found it frustrating that at least half of the agents want to charge you the phone fee when you call in an award that can’t be booked online. Usually it gets cleared up quickly, but once I had an agent that insisted the Terms & Conditions were “wrong” and said it had to be charged.

While I know the industry is moving to dynamic pricing, I find the above AA program to be much easier to wrap your head around. I also use Delta, and it takes me a lot of checking flight after flight to find wide variances. It can be good if you get lucky, or ridiculously high. With the current AA program, you know what you are getting.

Everything is very well explained in order to take “advantage” of my AAdvantage miles. Thank you for this very useful guide!

Guia muy completa sobre premios en AA, excelentemente explicada y muy útil. Muchas gracias.

Defenitely I will use this guide the next time that I book an Aadavantage award

Very interesting guide. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find a space for awards in AA flights. I wish there was more flexibility in AA rules, but it is better and simpler than other airlines anyway. As a tip, it is always possible to book one way tickets separately, so you can actually buy the inbound flight and redeem miles for the outbound flight.

Thank you for this really useful guide, I did not know how many airlines were in one world

Very useful guide about how to use American Advantage miles. Thank you!

This was a very helpful article. I didn’t know that there are so many airlines in the alliance. We need to keep that in mind next time we are booking flights.

Not previusly aware of three flight limit on domestic award travel. Very limiting for me – going from HVN to BUR, my frequent request, is a minimum of 3 segments. HVN-PHL-PHX-BUR. If I cannot get on the PHL-PHX segment, I can’t travel.

Great info! Nice to have them all compiled on one post. Thanks!

This is a great breakdown of their rules. Thank you.

So sad that there’s no more stopovers on AA awards!

AA removed stopovers back in 2014. Thankfully there are still plenty of programs that offer stopovers! We list them all here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/beginners-guide-stopover-open-jaw/

They removed them in 2014 🙁

Thanks so much for putting all this in one place!

Thanks you for this full report on booking AA using miles. This is very useful!

Great tips!!! They once tried to charge me the fee for booking by phone when it was a promo that couldnt be booked by the web AA.com. Next time i will insist with different agents.

Possibly the most comprehensive post ever on AA Awards. Excellent & very informative. I did not now there was a service for obtaining a PRN for ongoing one way tickets.

I have AAdvantage, and thanks to him I was able to travel to the Perito Moreno Glacier with all my family. It is a very advantageous program. It is always good to review the rules, because I learn something new. Thank you

Thank you for this great reference article. I find that AA miles are very important to my award travel. So this information is very important to me.

Thank you. I found this a great guide to using AA rewards. The pro tips are really helpful – particularly the 5 day hold to help waiving fees

Great guide, bookmarked! thanks!

The one thing that really upsets me is the lack of flexibility between Advantage and AVIOS when these airlines are supposed to operate under One World

No living in Spain, I continued to log all my Iberia flights onto AA to find that I lost a huge benefit

I asked AA to reverse the awards so I could post to Iberia (who were open to this) – no chance.

I have been Exec Platinum and member since 1990 – customer service on this was poor

I am so glad they got rid of the close on fee that never made sense. Good in depth review of all the rules.

Many airlines have been removing a lot of fees and surcharges lately. That’s wonderful.

I just found out that they are not charging the $75 for close in according to this article. Finally they are starting to get rid of fees instead of charging for every little thing. Maybe they will get rid of baggage fees to attract more people to fly with them.

Definitely some positives recently! Another fee AA is getting rid of: starting July 1, you can change/cancel an award ticket 60+ days to departure with no fees.

It is fantastic that most partner awards can be booked online now. Let’s hope that the pandemic will be over soon.

I wonder if they’ll make any third region exceptions now that Royal Air Maroc has joined OW. I’m thinking of N America to the Middle East via Africa. That might come in handy for some if any of the Middle Eastern partners doesn’t have space available or if the flight schedules are better using RAM.

They got around having to add more third-region exceptions like that by moving Morocco to Europe! https://awardwallet.com/blog/aa-aadvantage-moves-morocco-europe/

If AA has the power to to move Morocco to Europe, can we put in a request to move the Himalayas to somewhere in the American Midwest? Would like them to be a nice day trip.

Wouldn’t that be nice?! I’d love to fly Qatar biz to the Himalayas for the cost of a domestic flight!

so useful! I’d refer to this if I need to book AA awards

American AAdvantage is one of my favorite frequent flyer programs. Thank you very much for the information. Unfortunately, as of August, it will not add miles with Santander Argentina. We will have to find new ways to continue accumulating miles, especially in this time when you cannot travel.

Really nice bookmarkable post. Thanks.

Good and informative post! I have about 80k miles i need to use but this article has helped me with some tips on how to book! American Airlines has been bad in the past so hope with these changes they have recently made, they stick to it

Good post to know all the options in the Program AA Awards, and how to maximize the use of miles Thank you Team AW

Another super helpful, easy to follow guide. Thanks, AW team!

Good guide! to understand the AA Awards travel rules!! Thank you

Frequently Asked Questions

For american airlines, can i get upgraded on an american airlines award ticket.

Can I upgrade everyone in my party when flying American Airlines?

If you have AAdvantage Status, you can only request a complimentary upgrade for yourself and one companion. You will have to request to split the itinerary. Note that passengers on the split itinerary may lose additional benefits such as bags.

For System Wide Upgrades (SWU) or Miles & Copay Upgrades (MPG), contact reservations to request an upgrade.

See also: How can my companion inherit my status for upgrades?

Can I upgrade to Premium Economy on American Airlines?

At this time, American does not offer any type of upgrade to Premium Economy (P). The only type of upgrades that can be requested are:

• Economy -> Business (international)
• Economy -> First (domestic)
• Premium Economy -> Business (international)
• Business -> First (domestic & international)

Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members can request premium economy seats at the gate if they had requested an SWU or MPG upgrade and did not clear.

How are upgrades on American Airlines cleared?

If there is upgrade inventory available , upgrades will generally 1 be processed automatically as follows:

FIRST by Elite Status

• Concierge Key
• Executive Platinum
• Platinum Pro

THEN by Upgrade Type

• MPG (Miles & co-pay) & SWU (System Wide Upgrade) (both are equal priority)
• Complimentary domestic upgrades on purchased tickets
• Complimentary domestic upgrades on eligible awards

THEN by Earned Loyalty Points (rolling 12-month period) 2 THEN by Booking Class THEN by Time of Request

If the upgrade does not clear 24 hours before departure, the list will then go to airport control — meaning that only agents at the departure airport can process/clear upgrades.

Example Flight

Upgrade list.

Based on the example list above, the upgrade list at the airport would look be:

This list only uses the first three categories for upgrade priority as it’s extremely rare to break ties further.

1 There are situations where other passengers will appear higher on the list. For example, a passenger that had purchased first but was involuntarily rebooked will be higher.

2 As of March 1, 2022, rolling 12 month total of Loyalty Points is used. Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) have been converted to Loyalty Points.

See “What order are upgrades confirmed?” section on https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/redeem/award-travel/complimentary-upgrades.jsp

How can my party inherit my AAdvantage status for upgrades or benefits on American Airlines?

To extend the primary traveler’s status benefits to others, they must either be on the same record locator, or if on a different record locator, linked by calling reservations. Note that linking is just a comment on the record locator.

Complimentary upgrades are for the primary traveler and one companion. For itineraries with more than two travelers, the reservation will have to be split by a reservations agent. When using other types of upgrades, the party does not need to be split.

If upgrades are not cleared 24 hours before departure, you can indicate at the airport whether you want to split or not split (in situations that there may only be one seat left). This note can also be added ahead of time by calling reservations.

Effective June 9, 2023, companions traveling with a companion that has AAdvantage status no longer has to remove their status to correctly inherit upgrade priority. In addition, they will prioritized at the same level as a revenue ticket (status, then rolling 12 month LP).

If the upgrade is not cleared within 24 hours and traveling with a companion that has AAdvantage status, it is advised to remove their AAdvantage number from the record locator to inherit the member’s status and priority on the upgrade list. This also applies if you have a higher status than your companion. This is due to a technical issue with AA’s upgrade systems. To receive credit for the flight, the companion can request missing mile credit.

How do I search for upgrades on American Airlines?

The only accurate way for the public to view inventory used for upgrades is through ExpertFlyer.com . This applies to using instruments such as MPG (Miles & Co-pay) or SWU (System Wide Upgrades). This method does not work for codeshares or on partners.

When contacting AA reservations to request the upgrade, ask the agent to only waitlist the international segments to avoid burning an upgrade on a domestic segment. Once the international segment clears, you can contact AA reservations again to extend the upgrade to the domestic segment.

After logging in to Expert Flyer, navigate to Awards & Upgrades .

Award & Upgrade Availability Search

Enter the specific segment that you would like to check availability on. For example, if you are flying STL-LHR through ORD, you will need to check inventory between STL-ORD and ORD-LHR separately .

Enter the Depart Date . Optionally, change Exact Date to +/- 3 days .

Select American Airlines – AA for Airline .

Except for flights with more than one premium cabin, you are looking for Business – Upgrade (Including 2-Cabin Domestic First) (C) .

Select Direct/Non-Stop Only for Connection Preference .

Check the Exclude Codeshares field.

Optionally toggle the Results Page to Show tabbed results by date if you wish to see +/- 3 days in a week view.

Award & Upgrade Availability Results

On the result page, the available space will be displayed.

If browsing with multiple days, toggle the Filter Search Results and uncheck Show Flights with No Availability .

Lastly, even if there is space available, upgrades are cleared based on status. See How are upgrades cleared?

Learn more about the available upgrades here .

How likely is it I’ll get upgraded?

Reviewing the available inventory on your flight will provide an indicator of how likely you are to be upgraded. For example, if the flight departs in one week and has J5 , consider how many people will purchase a last-minute ticket or be offered an upsell in the app.

What is inventory?

• How do I search for upgrade inventory?
• How are upgrades cleared?

Is there a difference in priority for clearing a System Wide Upgrade or Miles & Copay Upgrade on American Airlines?

No. Read how are upgrades cleared .

American Airlines has various inventory buckets. These “buckets”, or fare codes, dictate what is available to be purchased or how many upgrades are available on a particular flight. Every flight is different.

A fare class chart from 2019 can be found here . This chart explains different buckets, their tiers, and what they’re used for.

For upgrades, the main inventory bucket used for economy to business is C . Note that AA has begun to also use C for revenue tickets. Read more on how to find availability here .

For revenue, each flight has a certain amount of each inventory bucket. As cheaper inventory buckets are sold, only more expensive (“full fare”) buckets are left.

What kind of upgrades are available on American Airlines?

There are various upgrades that are available.

Complimentary Upgrades (formerly known as 500-mile upgrades)

Mileage upgrades, mileage upgrades for partners, award travel upgrades, system wide upgrades (swu), operational upgrade (op-up), upgrades are not guaranteed.

You will be placed on an upgrade list and it will clear once inventory becomes available. Learn more here .

Also known as “stickers,” these upgrades are used for upgrading on domestic routes. This includes companions traveling with the AAdvantage member.

Important: if you are traveling with a companion that has status on AA, you must remove their AAdvantage number from the reservation for the companion to inherit the higher upgrade status. They can request mileage credit after the flight.

See more: How can my companion inherit my status for upgrades?

Follow the upgrade chart at aa.com .

When requesting the upgrade, an agent will request a credit card number. Once your upgrade clears, your mileage will be deducted from your AAdvantage account. If applicable, the copay and any taxes will be charged to your card at the time of departure.

You can use AAdvantage miles to upgrade certain flights on British Airways and Iberia flights. Follow the upgrade charts on AA.com .

Effective June 9, 2023, all AAdvantage members (plus companion) are eligible for upgrades on domestic award tickets.

Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members can use complimentary 500-mile upgrades on AA award flights for travel within North America for themselves and a companion.

See the “Upgrades on award tickets” section at aa.com .

Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum, Concierge Key, and Million Milers can earn System Wide Upgrades to be used on revenue tickets on travel with American Airlines. These can be applied to any person traveling on AA flights. You must call reservations to apply a SWU.

Learn more about System Wide Upgrades at aa.com .

In extremely rare circumstances, such as economy being oversold, AA may provide an operational upgrade. These are complimentary and typically occur within a day of departure or at the gate. A common op-up occurs on transcon flights from business to first.

AAdvantage members with OneWorld Emerald status traveling on a OneWorld partner have also seen operational upgrades.

Where can I find the American Airlines upgrade list?

The upgrade list will be visible in the app 12 hours before departure time.

Where can I see the upgrade list for my American Airlines flight?

The upgrade list is available in the app at T-12 hours. You can always contact reservations to ask about your position on the list.

Why didn’t I get upgraded when there are seats available?

Upgrades are based off available upgrade inventory , not seat maps. A seat map should never be used for guidance on upgrade chances. For example, the airline may block space due to other system issues, or there are passengers that have not chosen a seat.

Upgrades are never guaranteed, regardless of the type of instrument being used (SWU, MPG, etc.)

Why wasn’t I upgraded on American Airlines when the upgrade list shows seats are available?

The upgrade list displayed on gate monitors and in the app is a snapshot of available seats when the upgrade list becomes available (at T-12 hours). The number does not get updated as upgrade inventory changes or upgrades are cleared.

How can I see how many segments I’ve flown?

From aa.com,

• Log in and navigate to your account summary
• Click on the Promotions tab

From the app,

• Log in and click on your account summary

How do I check my rolling 12-month LP?

Rolling 12-month Loyalty Point total is one of the pieces used for purposes of upgrade priority.

Besides manually tracking the rolling 12-month total, you can contact AAdvantage Customer Service and request your total.

How do I extend Award Miles expiration?

American Airlines AAdvantage award miles expire 24 months after the last qualifying activity. You can view the activity under the Account Summary at aa.com . Per the AAdvantage FAQs , AAdvantage credit card members are not subject to the 24-month qualifying activity period as long as their card account is open.

Ways to Extend

• Paid Surveys Online – Provide your feedback on a survey and earn AAdvantage Miles
• AAdvantage eShopping – Earn miles by making a small purchase
• AAdvantage Dining – Earn miles by dining through certain restaurants, bars and clubs
• AA Vacations – Earn miles by booking a flight, hotel or car through AA Vacations
• Use an American co-branded credit card
• Donate your miles
• Add your AAdvantage number to a car rental
• Transfer Marriott points to AA
• Purchase AAdvantage Miles
• Fly on AA or a partner airline

Should your miles expire, you can reactive miles for a fee.

How do I request Original Routing Credit (ORC)?

A request for Original Routing Credit is submitted to AAdvantage Customer Service when a trip disruption (involuntary) results in less desirable earnings. For example, a flight is canceled and the passenger is rebooked on another airline. The passenger can call AAdvantage Customer Service to request ORC.

How Do I Use a Seat Coupon?

If you have a seat coupon in your wallet, you can use it towards Preferred seats (green) on a single flight.

First, navigate to the flight’s seat map and choose the desired green seat:

Click Pay with cash .

Next, you will be presented with your seat coupon:

Click Choose coupons .

On the choose coupons screen, increment the quantity to 1:

Click Next .

Confirm the details of the coupon:

Click Apply .

Review the cost summary to ensure the total is $0.00:

Click Confirm .

Finally, you will be brought back to your itinerary with a confirmation message of the change:

How do I find available lounge options and reviews

You can find OneWorld lounge options and entry requirements at oneworld.com/airport-lounges .

For reviews on lounges, use loungebuddy.com .

How do I transport a bridesmaid or wedding dress?

See these posts on Facebook:

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/aadvm/posts/1363856130999781/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/aadvm/posts/1334799557238772/

Is my connection time too short?

Consider the following:

• Most flights begin boarding at least 30 minutes before departure. Do you plan on needing overhead bin space?
• A typical flight takes 15-20 minutes to deplane. Unless you’re sitting in the front, you need to factor in time to deplane.
• Will you be clearing customs? Do you have Global Entry?
• Doors close 10 minutes before departure.

Is the connection time legal?

Published MCT (minimum connection times) are available on ExpertFlyer.com under Travel Information > Min Connect Times . For example, a domestic-to-domestic connection when traveling on AA through DCA is 30 minutes.

See also: What are my options for schedule changes?

What are my options for schedule changes on American Airlines?

Schedule changes happen frequently and it’s important to carefully follow changes. Depending on the type of change, you may have different options available. The most comprehensive guide can be found on Saleslink .

In summary,

• Refunds are not permitted for a schedule change less than 4 hours
• You may be eligible for co-terminal options
• You could change from a connection to a non-stop
• You could take another flight on the same day or within 1 day before or after the original departure time

See also: Is my connection time too short?

Contact American

How can i recognize great service.

When frontline employees provide exceptional customer service, there are various ways to reward them.

For American Airlines, top-tier frequent flyers under the AAdvantage program receive 6 certificates per year to award to employees. More commonly known as Above & Beyond Many Thanks, these certificates can be handed to employees which can then be redeemed through American Airlines’ Jetnet system. You can always request more certificates by calling ACS.

The certificates can be given to any type of employee, whether that be a Flight Attendant, a gate agent, a reservations agent via phone, an Admirals Club agent, or the AAdvantage desk. Employees are then entered into a quarterly raffle to win various prizes, and of course, get recognized by receiving a certificate. Those certificates are also converted into points (each is worth 100 points) and the points can be redeemed for gift cards and other cool rewards.

Since some flights are operated by other carriers, there are some limitations on who can redeem them. Certificates can be redeemed by employees on flights operated by:

Employees on the following regional carriers are not eligible to redeem certificates:

While employees on the above carriers are not eligible for recognition certificates, there are other ways to recognize these employees. For example, you can use the customer relations form on aa.com to send in your compliments. Although not as effective, you can tweet @AmericanAir with the flight number, employee name, and compliment.

By writing in, the compliment is forwarded to the recognized individual’s management. Their management can then award higher point values based on the compliment. This is known as a “Spot On” and can be worth substantially more than a regular A&B certificate.

Lastly, there are other ways to recognize all employees regardless if they’re eligible for certificates such as bringing gift cards to Starbucks or Amazon. And of course, you can always write a letter to customer relations.

How do I contact American Airlines?

For urgent issues, the primary communication method should be via phone. The first time you call you can opt for a call back if the wait time is too high. Then, call back the second time and remain on hold.

When calling, the estimated wait time does not factor in any status with American Airlines. If you stay on hold, you will be connected in a shorter time. For example, if you have Gold status, your wait time will be shorter than general callers. Or if you’re Executive Platinum, you will be at the top of the queue. Ensure that your phone number is updated in your AAdvantage profile . If you opt for a call back, you will be put into the general population queue.

If you have a Twitter account, you can send a direct message to the American Airlines account .

The American Airlines app also has a chat feature .

The best strategy involves utilizing as many channels as possible. For full information on available contact information, visit Saleslink .

Reservation Needs

In the United States, dial +1 800 433 7300 . Other language options are available at aa.com , with generally shorter wait times and bilingual agents (speaking English) in US/Canada.

Is bulkhead or exit row better on domestic mainline flights?

(for narrowbody mainline flights)

Reservations

Credit cards, when do points post from my aa branded card.

Points earned through American Airlines co-branded credit cards post after the statement closes each month. Ensure that you’re AAdvantage # is added to your account