American's New Award Change Fees Have Been Pushed Off Until July 1 - View from the Wing

Update: American's new award change and reinstatement fees have been pushed off from June 1 to July 1>. (HT: Andrew B.)

When I say I love you, you scream "You better!"

This week American extended elite status for a year after United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines had done the same. They did get creative to encourage credit card spending by counting spend on statements posting May through December towards lifetime elite status.

But there was also something buried in the details that hits AAdvantage members with new change fees on awards they didn't pay before, too. When it comes to loyalty and American Airlines, it seems there's always a catch.

New Fees For Award Changes That Used To Be Free

American AAdvantage change and redeposit fees are $150 (for the first passenger, $25 each additional passenger changed at the same time). These fees are waived for American's Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members. But there are also a bunch of changes that can be made by everyone, for free. That's going away June 1 July 1.

Starting with tickets issued June 1, 2020 July 1, 2020 onward members will receive free changes if made at least 60 days in advance. For awards changed or redeposited less than 60 days prior to departure, fees will be based on elite status.

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• General member: $125 seven to 60 days in advance ($150 within 7 days)
  
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• Gold: $100 seven to 60 days in advance ($125 within 7 days)
  
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• Platinum: $75 seven to 60 days in advance ($100 within 7 days)
  
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• Platinum Pro: $50 seven to 60 days in advance ($75 within 7 days)

Everyone gets free changes made two months or more in advance, but American will now charge for many things that used to be free - changes that often need to be made to improve an itinerary because a member has 'settled' for 'what was available' at the time they booked.

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• Change to date and time If you wanted to extend your trip, or get the dates you originally wanted that weren't available.. or avoid having to leave at 6 a.m... or perhaps all American was offering you was an 18 hour connection but something opened up that was more reasonable, you could change at no charge.
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• Dropping a segment as long as origin and destination remain in the same region. American would let you drop connecting flights, so the common belief about not changing origin or destination wasn't actually true - you had to keep your starting and ending regions the same but if you had:
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  • Washington National - Chicago - Hong Kong - Manila, you could change it to
    
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  • Washington National - Chicago - Hong Kong, Chicago - Hong Kong - Manila, or just Chicago - Hong Kong at no charge.
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• Change routing It was no fee to change where you're connecting, including reducing the number of stops you make. If connecting award space was all that was available, and non-stop opened up later, American wouldn't charge you to grab it.
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• Change airline You could switch from one oneworld airline to another such as between Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, or Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines.

Award tickets were viewed as rewards for your loyalty when AAdvantage change fee policies were written, and American wouldn't penalize you because the airline didn't have availability for the trip you were trying to book. If you took all that was offered, and worked to improve it later, you wouldn't be charged.

That no longer holds. Every change is charged and fees will be charged per person without a discount. Currently a mileage redeposit for a family of five traveling together would be $250 ($150 + ($25 x 4)). Going forward it can be as much as $750, if made within a week of travel.

Moreover, it's often close to departure that award space opens up. If you wanted to get a trip booked, and eliminate that 12 hour connection when space finally becomes available four days to departure, again it would cost that family of five $750 - instead of $0.

If you make changes more than 60 days out you come out ahead. If you are just one person traveling solo you might come out ahead - it depends on whether the change you make would have been charged for before. However in most cases it seems like this is a big new cost imposition on members, making miles less flexible than before.

American Takes Away Benefits And Expects Us To Love Them

American said that the new change fees for award travel were part of "recognizing the loyalty of AAdvantage members." When we show them loyalty, tell them we love them, they tell us, "you better, you bet."

We may not love them the way we once did, and American is ok with that. Here's Daltrey,

I don't really mind how much you love me
A little is alright

While Daltrey sang "You Better You Bet" it's actually Pete Townsend who wrote it. American will soon need their miles to entice travelers back on board, I'd actually expect the airline to be singing Townsend's "Let My Love Open The Door."

Release yourself from misery
There's only one thing gonna set you free
That's my love

It was easy for airlines to cut, cut, cut their loyalty programs when times were good for them. They didn't need to spend money filling empty seats because there were very few empty seats. And with industry consolidation and low fuel prices airlines were in a much stronger bargaining position with their credit card partners, so that credit card revenue growth dwarfed losses from chasing away passengers (which American's own data shows they did).

But between the new Oasis domestic product they continue to roll out ( removing seat back video screens) and new AAdvantage change fees, they're acting more like a teenage wasteland, and members keep saying they won't get fooled again.