American Airlines Restores 24-Hour Ticket Holds

The only major US airline that allows complimentary ticket holds is American Airlines. The airline eliminated that option in a trial in September. All customers should be able to access this feature again after the trial has ended. All the details need to be recapmed.

American trialed eliminating 24-hour ticket holds

Most American Airlines customers no longer have the option to hold revenue tickets for free for a day or two. This option has historically been available to all customers when booking at least seven days in advance, but during this trial many customers didn't see it.

The results of the test will be analyzed by American Airlines to see if the hold feature can be eliminated permanently. This didn't apply to award tickets where American continued to have the most generous policy in the industry.

The airline restored the option for customers to hold all the way back in 2016 after initially stopping it.

All airlines have to offer a 24 hour reservation guarantee where you can lock in a reservation and change your mind at any time. All tickets booked seven or more days in advance are subject to this rule.

You can hold a ticket for 24 hours, and then you can cancel it at any time, as long as you book at least two days before departure.

American has brought back the ticket hold feature

The trial of eliminating the 24 hour ticket hold has ended and all customers should see that option again. While the trial is over, American hasn't said if the trial could be made permanent or not.

It is possible that American is analyzing the results of the trial and that the airline is running a new type of trial where all customers have access to this option. I wouldn't assume that restoring 24 hour holds means they're here to stay forever.

Will American eliminate ticket holds permanently?

In the US, airlines generally offer as little as they can. American Airlines is an example of that. Even though the airline stopped promising holds over six years ago, this feature is still going strong.

The only conclusion I can come up with is that American has some data that proves this is a smart business decision.

• On the one hand, I imagine many people will hold a ticket with American because of this feature, and then end up ticketing it, when they might have otherwise considered another airline
• On the other hand, it ties up some inventory and it allows people to potentially lock in a lower price for 24 hours

This feature seems to have been decided by American, at least up until now. Change fees have been eliminated on most ticket types, so I wonder if American is rethinking this.

Booking an airline ticket is no longer as big of a commitment as in the past, and maybe that also takes away some of the value of ticket holds, you can always speculatively lock in a ticket, and then apply that credit toward another ticket if your plans change.

As part of a trial, American Airlines has stopped holding tickets for more than 24 hours. The trial has ended and American has restored ticket holds. It's not clear if American is committed to keeping this around or if the airline is just analyzing the results.

It would be a shame to eliminate this feature, but it isn't as big of a deal as it used to be.

Is it a good idea for American to possibly eliminate holds on revenue tickets?