AA: AAdvantage Changes to One Way Awards As of Today!

[HUGE AL]

Just got off the phone with AA. They've been upgrading their computers a ton over the past 48 hours (a la BD) -- creating lots of call center time for me -- and the agent this morning told me it was because of the changes to the FFP. They now will book award tickets at one ways -- no RTs anymore.

So far, the only thing that appears to have been taken away is the stopover in the gateway entrance city -- which sucks.

Fees remain the same.

KeithMEL, where were you on this?

[KeithMEL]

A welcome change!

I was waiting for official T&Cs to be posted on AA.com before posting anything, amidst the rampant speculation on TOF.

Anyway I can certainly confirm this change as I have booked a one way All Partners aaward a few mins ago. 80k for TXL BA J LHR QF F MEL. Previously this would've cost 160k under All Partners RT or 120k using a oneworld award. The AAgent was bemused that I was so excited about the changes.

However, it seems the inclusion of one way aawards isn't all there is to it. Details are sketchy atm but the aagent mentioned something about stopovers being eliminated under the new system as from herein everything will be counted as oneways. She further conceded that "not everyone will be happy" but that "the benefits outweigh the negatives."

Will be interesting to see the entire 'package deal' when details are released.

edited to add: elimination of "stopover at international gateway" confirmed here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/11720810-post248.html

[N_Architect]

AA's FFP changes

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...d=djempersonal

American Airlines Adds Features To Mileage Program

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--In a bid to strengthen loyalty to its AAdvantage Plus mileage program, American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. (AMR), is giving customers more choices when they redeem their frequent-flyer miles.

The new One Way Flex awards will allow customers to use miles one way, requiring half as many miles to qualify. Also, customers can combine different types of mileage awards on a single ticket, said Rob Friedman, president of the mileage program.

The flex awards program was developed in response to customers' requests, Friedman said. The new features will appear shortly on the airline's Web site.

AAdvantage remains the industry's largest frequent-flyer program, Friedman said, even though Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) last year overtook American as the world's largest airline by passenger traffic.

Airline mileage programs have expanded over the years to include other partners, such as hotels, car rental firms and retailers. While airlines don't say how much income they get from frequent-flyer miles, the programs are worth millions of dollars.

At American, "last year, 4.8 million awards were redeemed," Friedman said. Of those, 3.1 million were used for airline tickets. The American Airlines program has more than 60 million members, and adds about five new members every day, Friedman said.

On the AA.com Web site, customers now will be able to cash in their frequent-flyer miles in either Spanish or English.

[KeithMEL]

Details:
http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...tle=flexawards