The main challenge with rebooking award flights on partner airlines with AA miles is that there needs to be existing award availability on the partner airline. AA cannot force BA, or any partner airline to open up space. On the other hand AA can rebook on AA flights without requiring existing award availability, but it needs to be on AA metal, and not be a codeshare. So, look for alternatives on partner airlines that have existing availability, or look for routings that use AA only (or routes that can be piggy backed onto existing partner segments).

If there is current availability on the BA flight to SEA then that is a viable option, if not it is unlikely to be allowed, and that is probably why he was switched to the AA flights via PHX. But, why not look at the direct AA JFK to TLV and see what connections AA has to and from Seattle. You would have a better shot at getting that approved because it is all on AA metal,

 

(Hope this is the correct thread for this post.) Oh yeah .

Me too. Took a Valium, a Quaalude*, shot of whiskey … (Yes, kidding about the drugs & alcohol but not about the mental prep .)

American award JFK-LHR-JFK Biz class for a cruise next month. Booked initially for 65,000 + 85,000 miles last October, cancelled and rebooked for 60,000 + 60,000 in January. Booked the outbound flight a few hours earlier than desired to save ~35,000 miles, booked return flight for 5:15pm based on cruise line Stonehenge excursion/LHR transfer information of “This tour is available to passengers disembarking in Southampton with flights departing Heathrow after 4pm.” (AA award reservation can be cancelled at any time until departure with full miles redeposit without penalty or fees.)

2-3 months ago learned of small 10 minute schedule change for outbound flight and small 15 minute schedule change (to 5:00pm) for return flight, didn’t address it at the time. Recently saw that the cruise line changed their information to “with flights departing Heathrow after 5pm”. (2 of the many reviews of the excursion on the cruise line website state drop-off at LHR at 2:15pm and 3:00pm.)

I got a little concerned, figured I’d make the return flight but wanted to book a later flight to be certain. Unsure if 15 minutes was enough for AA to change me to the 7:55pm flight which currently shows Biz availability for 134,500 miles. Called AA, human picked up immediately, 3-5 minutes, mission accomplished , no extra charge, happy camper . (If I do get to LHR way earlier I can always try to fly standby or change (back) to the 5:00pm flight or if that doesn’t work, lounge hop among the 5 or 6 lounges available in LHR T3 for AA Biz Class Elites and/or AmEx Plat cardmembers although last time I was there in the spring the AA lounge had discontinued serving ice cream .)

And, since the agent was so pleasant and efficient I asked about changing my outbound flight to a more desirable flight 3 hours later currently available for 78,000 miles which I would not have booked had it required additional miles. Another 4-5 minutes, mission accomplished again, no extra charge again, extraordinarily happy camper . Email confirmation received immediately.

Datapoint: My (typically verbose) point is that based on (relatively) miniscule flight schedule changes, AA allowed me to change to significantly more expensive international flights. A great example of a small, almost inevitable, schedule change to a reservation made far in advance allowing for improved and less concerning travel.

The words of our esteemed RNE (auto signature) ring very true once again, particularly the “any” and “no matter how small”. Oh yeah !

(* Quaalude (methaqualone) is a synthetic, barbiturate-like, central nervous system depressant and a popular recreational drug in the U.S. from the 1960s until the 1980s, when its use was made illegal by the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA. The drug name "Quaalude" is a portmanteau, combining the words "quiet interlude" and shared a stylistic reference to another drug marketed by the firm, Maalox.)

 

Wolf of Wall Street student here.

 

So for a a fun one, got an email saying "There's been a change on your itinerary and our computer doesn't know what to do with it, so please call us." I'm now on my third agent plus the help desk trying to figure out what the heck happened to my reservation.

 

AA moved my flight up by 98 minutes (from 07:55 to 06:17-ugh), and took my connection in PHX from an hour to thirty-nine minutes. No online changes allowed yet-I'm still getting the dreaded "Your flight changed. Check back later." This is also a corporate itin booked through AA, which may force a call regardless. IME, AA has been singularly unhelpful with routing changes. The last one ultimately cost me $1300 from a 15-minute schedule change last year which put me onto a flight with an all-too predictable misconnect (1 hr I->D in MIA.) It was "my fault" since I wasn't willing to accept a downgrade and pennies in return to get home the next day.

 

I mostly fly DL and haven't run into a schedule change issue on AA before. I have LIR-MIA-DTW booked on November 4. Originally scheduled with more than three hour layover in MIA. Schedule change pushed the LIR-MIA back by 97 minutes, leaving 1:42 in MIA for I-D which I'm not very comfortable with.

I called in and the agent wouldn't change anything, just kept telling me to call back in October and they would know what gates the flights go in/out of and maybe I could change then. Which didn't make much sense?

What I'm reading in this thread is it should be easy to change this for free since it's more than a 60 minute change on the departure time, so is this a simple hang up call again situation? Or should I expect more pushback?

 

What do you mean "pushed back"? Did your final arrival time change? If not, and your flight is leaving 97 minutes later, meaning a shorter total travel time and the same arrival time, you may have trouble changing.

Immigration in MIA can be horrendous, but 1:42 minutes isn't too bad. I think 1:35 is the MCT? I wouldn't worry to much about it, unless getting to DTW late would be disastrous.

 

Right, the LIR-MIA flight is 97 minutes later, but the MIA-DTW flight didn't change, so my arrival into DTW will be the same. It appears to be slightly above MCT as they're selling this on their website with a warning to check the connection time. I'm only concerned since it's the last flight of the night to DTW and I'd rather not be stuck overnight.

I've done changes like this on DL if either the departure or arrival times change significantly. Does AA focus more on the arrival time?

 

First off the agent's response about calling back in October is complete nonsense, they were just being unhelpful and trying to get you off the phone.

That said, what new flights did you ask for? Is there an earlier LIR-MIA that will connect with your original MIA-DTW that works better?

Given the change it should be no problem to switch to something better, but in typical AA fashion you might have to HUCA 2 or 3 times before you get a helpful agent.

And make sure to research what new option you want before you call and ask specifically for that. Calling AA and saying there was a change and asking the agent what options there are is never a good idea.

 

I'd just try Twitter with something along these lines - "I had a schedule change on PNR xxxxxx, can you please move me to flights AAyyy and AAzzz? Thank you!"

Usually no need to get into specifics and they are pretty responsive.

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Yes, it SHOULD be easy. (Unfortunately little with airlines is easy.) Yes, IMO you are well within your �rights� to expect a change to your satisfaction. Makes no difference which gate, average time in MIA for customs and/or baggage (or phase of the moon). An hour and a half schedule change, in either direction, demands AA accommodate your request for a change.

Yes, you should call back. Yes, you should expect pushback because � we should always expect pushback. Yes, you should HUCA until you are happy (because AA isn�t happy until you�re not happy ). (My final parenthetical comment here is an attempt at humor, all else is serious and honest.)

 

IAA's rules allow changes when the "overall schedule change is over XX minutes". It's been a few years, but then "overall shedule change was not defined". Usually a change over the cutoff time of either the departure or arrival is enough, but there are agents and "supervisors", who itereperated differently and claimed that as in your case, if your new shedule was still within your original scheduled departure and arrival times there was no "overall shedule" change.

I would just try again. There is a good chance that the next agent you talk to will give you what you want

I understand being annoyed at a connection shorter than you like, but asking for a change because of a connection that is shorter than you like, but above the MCT, is an uphill battle on all airlines. I would focus on the change in departure time.

 

Problem solved. Wife decided to join me, so our dates changed. I canceled and rebooked, using the flight credit plus the fare difference.

 

Guys, I made small typo in my surname and whilst agent on the line was able to fix it, my ticket status is pending ever since. I've called in many times having the agent said it is going to be fixed, you are going to get ticket to your email soon but nothing has ever happened. I am loosing my cool since the flight is tomorrow. Any idea how to actually make them proceed?

 

You probably got it resolved but I had a similar message this week. Had a J DFW-LHR flight booked on BA metal through AA on the A380 and BA swapped equipment to the 777. Got this message and called AA and they put me on an AA flight 2 hours later. Overall, no big deal and actually worked well because I had a tight connection in DFW.