American Airlines’ AAdvantage program recently introduced fully dynamic award pricing for travel on American (though not for travel on partner airlines). While that sounds scary, in reality American’s previous award pricing for its own flights was already all over the place, so it didn’t initially represent a huge change.
As flagged by JT Genter, American seems to have fundamentally made a change to how it prices awards. I don’t like the implications of this, even if there’s still good value to be had as of now.
In this post:
American adjusts one-way vs. roundtrip award pricing
For years, American AAdvantage has had one-way award pricing. That’s to say that a one-way award cost half as many miles as a roundtrip, regardless of which market you were traveling in. That’s in contrast to most revenue fares, especially internationally, where one-way fares often aren’t half the cost of roundtrip fares.
Well, American seems to have now changed course regarding this. At least for many international markets, American now charges fewer miles if booking roundtrip vs. one-way.
Let’s use a New York to London roundtrip award on American as an example. Below are the prices in all four cabins if you’re booking the flights as two one-ways. As you can see, in each direction you’d pay 25,000 miles in economy, 49,000 miles in premium economy, 67,000 miles in business class, or 79,000 miles in first class.
Meanwhile if you instead booked these as a roundtrip, you’d find the pricing to be more attractive. It would cost:
- 42,000 miles roundtrip in economy (vs. 50,000 miles as two one-ways)
- 82,000 miles roundtrip in premium economy (vs. 98,000 miles as two one-ways)
- 112,000 miles roundtrip in business class (vs. 134,000 miles as two one-ways)
- 132,000 miles roundtrip in first class (vs. 158,000 miles as two one-ways)
One important thing to keep in mind is that AAdvantage allows no changes to awards on American once they’re booked. You can redeposit them, but you can’t change them. This means that if you book a roundtrip, you’re committing to the exact flights you booked in both directions.
Is this change good or bad news?
On the surface this change might seem like a positive. After all, the one-way award pricing above is attractive, and the roundtrip award pricing is even more attractive. Admittedly I picked some dates with low award pricing, just to keep the example simple.
Let me also emphasize that it’s hard to know if the roundtrip award has actually been discounted, or if the cost of the one-ways has simply been increased. Since American has dynamic award pricing, we don’t really know what these awards would otherwise cost, since the prices are constantly changing.
What concerns me is that AAdvantage is clearly following the lead of Delta SkyMiles with these changes. Delta has been working hard to make its SkyMiles loyalty program a revenue-based currency, and tries to tie the cost of an award to the cost of a ticket in cash. As a result, on international flights, Delta typically has very different award pricing for roundtrips vs. one-ways.
I can’t help but think that this change represents a fundamental shift in the approach that AAdvantage leadership is taking. It suggests that revenue management, rather than marketing and loyalty, is clearly gaining more control over the program. If the goal wasn’t to make AAdvantage miles more like a currency worth a certain dollar amount toward a ticket, this change wouldn’t have been made.
Of course let me emphasize that as of now, AAdvantage still offers excellent value for many awards on American flights. Both the one-way and roundtrip pricing between New York and London are very reasonable, so that’s great.
It’s more the long-term implications that I’m concerned about. Furthermore, I appreciate that unlike Delta SkyMiles, American AAdvantage isn’t punitive with partner awards, and continues to offer exceptional value with them… for now.
Bottom line
The AAdvantage program recently introduced dynamic award pricing for travel on American flights. The implications were initially pretty limited, since the previous AAdvantage award chart for travel on American didn’t actually reflect award pricing.
American now seems to be charging a different number of miles depending on whether you’re traveling one-way or roundtrip, with one-ways no longer costing half as much as a roundtrip. This reflects how revenue fares often price, and I can’t help but feel like this is American’s attempt to follow Delta’s lead… which isn’t good when it comes to the value of miles.
What do you make of these AAdvantage award pricing changes?
@Lucky,
RE: Committing to R/T
You mention being committed to a R/T award booking since AA does not allow changes. I would need to double-check what I am sharing there, but perhaps you can also advise. On a recent Austrailia award that I booked for a friend, I booked one of these discounted r/t awards in economy.
A decent deal on a premium economy seat later became available for his return. Rather than...
@Lucky,
RE: Committing to R/T
You mention being committed to a R/T award booking since AA does not allow changes. I would need to double-check what I am sharing there, but perhaps you can also advise. On a recent Austrailia award that I booked for a friend, I booked one of these discounted r/t awards in economy.
A decent deal on a premium economy seat later became available for his return. Rather than rebook his outbound one way (award pricing had gone way up) I had him fly out on the R/T ticket then I caneed his return portion after the outbound was used. The refunded was processed as though the "discount" was entirely applied to the return portion. I believe this is still an option should one want to still use the outbound portion of a R/T award ticket.
Just looked at a RT between MIA and LHR. The difference in main cabin is $679 plus 52.5K miles if I book using miles, or $849 if booked all cash. Either way you look at it, it's poor value for those miles.
@Lucky...
Vast majority of dates...
MIA to Asia/ME... 300,000 miles in business ONE WAY!
Vast majority of dates...
USA to SE Asia... to end of schedule... NOT A SINGLE BIZ SEAT AVAILABLE
How is that value?!!?
Their rewards program has completely tanked, I was a loyal credit card user and mileage redeemer. After this last experience of how I could get barely anything for my miles, hence just a one way ticket, I have now canceled my credit card associated with their loyalty program.
Me too.
I'm glad that they've changed the stance on one-way vs round-trip tickets. It's frustrating when you got to figure out which is best price for your points.
But what doesn't happen anymore is the upgrade of class or same-day flights are no longer included in point redemption.
The concern makes sense but the reality is that AA one way metal rates are already terrible.
I'm flying from TYO to SFO. On AA for the date I'm looking it's 475k points and a transfer through DFW. I mean. Rev management already won, it seems.
When they start muddling with partner rates the party will be truly over.
I have seen this as far back as 2020 for “web specials”. Nothing has changed.
I disagree “AAdvantage still offers excellent value for many awards on American flights“. I used my Citi AA card A LOT and was unable to purchase much at all with miles. It was so underwhelming I stopped using the card altogether. AA is probably the most customer-unfriendly company I have ever done business with. I refuse to do business with them because they have zero regard for their customers. Period
I disagree. I flew on Qatar on a Business class ticket using Advantage miles. Qatar changed the aircraft and screwed up my ticket on a PNR for 2. After 13 months I am still trying to get Qatar to pay back my cash ticket I had to buy to get back to Seattle with my wife before our COVID tests ran out (48 hrs).
The most useless and customer unfriendly airline I have ever encountered is Qatar.
@Azamaraal - "on American flights" was the operator that matters. Web saver rates on AA are easily double partner rates.
Hello,
This is not the case from Miami to any point in Europe that requires a connection either with AA or with an AA's partner ? For example MIA-MUC, MIA-PRG, etc ? (or even MIA-LON)
It is impossible to find something at a reasonable price: Prices start at 250K miles and go up to 400K miles for one way in BUS, unless you want to fly BA and pay 700+ USD in "carrier...
Hello,
This is not the case from Miami to any point in Europe that requires a connection either with AA or with an AA's partner ? For example MIA-MUC, MIA-PRG, etc ? (or even MIA-LON)
It is impossible to find something at a reasonable price: Prices start at 250K miles and go up to 400K miles for one way in BUS, unless you want to fly BA and pay 700+ USD in "carrier imposed fees" each way on top of the 57.5K miles...
Example: MIA-LON, RT for SEP 9 to 17 in Bus, cheapest with AA flights = 424.5 K miles + 335 USD. If you use BA flights, it comes to 115K + 1,785 USD. It is impossible to find anything in BUS for 57.5K + only taxes.
Google aa award map. Try a different route. I was able to book lax to lhr in flagship business for 65,000k.
For when tomorrow? I can see NEAR term awards at low rates, but nothing a month out - limited a few months out
I really don’t see what difference this makes. I have no intention of hoarding AA miles or any other miles or points currency. Use ‘em or lose ‘em. American first class is being phased out anyways and why wouldn’t you want a roundtrip mileage award when the new business product rolls out ?
Most of the time you have to book the outbound first at end of schedule then book the return when it opens up.
Not a good sign. AA awards are why too high to start with. Having the Partner rewards is the only thing that makes the program viable. Kill these, then you might as well cancel your AA cards and just use cash back cards.
Frequently, I book now on I've airline and return on a different one especially if I don't have enough points in any particular program for a RT. And sometimes it makes more sense to buy a ow route that happens to be cheap in one direction.
Unfortunately for consumers and loyal customers to American airlines, they have degrading the value of award miles for some time. Way too often they only have a single seat at their lowest award level, even 331 days out, which really complicates things when you're traveling with two or more people. I have over 3 million miles on American and I only fly them when it's a clear benefit. For the life of me, I always...
Unfortunately for consumers and loyal customers to American airlines, they have degrading the value of award miles for some time. Way too often they only have a single seat at their lowest award level, even 331 days out, which really complicates things when you're traveling with two or more people. I have over 3 million miles on American and I only fly them when it's a clear benefit. For the life of me, I always thought, and my experience has proven that there's been an upcharge for one way bookings. If I'm flying domestic, it's southwest for me. Personally, I think they have been kicking loyalty to the back burner.
I agree. Using frequent flyer miles on American is a nightmare especially if you are flying to an overseas destination. Worse, AA keeps raising the amount of frequent flyer miles required. My AA credit card no longer accumulates miles like it used to. I am seriously contemplating switching over to Delta both for myself and my business.
Utterly nuts - the two one ways is how you get to change flights when you need a little bit of flex, now unless you have EXTENSIVE extra miles you're hard pressed to make any changes.
I recently saw LAX-LHR (w/connections) 2x almost on some itins as One way x2 vs a Round Trip - for the SAME flights on the itin
I've had great success booking far in advance on AA and getting rock bottom award prices on expensive routes, domestic mostly but sometimes international. One trip to BZE next year was booked for 10k each way, over $0.028 per mile value on cash fare when you strip out all the tax you have to pay either way. Now the miles have more than doubled for the same itinerary. But, it is showing the same amount...
I've had great success booking far in advance on AA and getting rock bottom award prices on expensive routes, domestic mostly but sometimes international. One trip to BZE next year was booked for 10k each way, over $0.028 per mile value on cash fare when you strip out all the tax you have to pay either way. Now the miles have more than doubled for the same itinerary. But, it is showing the same amount regardless of booking as one way or RT. To say the award pricing is volatile is an understatement. One domestic award from a tiny airport booked at 15 k one way a month ago priced out at 6k this week. AA has been very accommodating with schedule changes even when I pick off the wall double connections well in advance, I usually get what I need eventually. I'm not in a hub city either. AA has many flaws but I tolerate them because of the great value the miles provide.
For those of us heavily invested in the AAdvantage ecosystem, it's becoming increasingly important to hedge against mileage value theft by "collecting booked trips, not saved miles" and then leverage the inevitable schedule changes to tie up AA phone agents with rerouting requests.
Great advice!
Not a good change. My primary use of miles has been for those one ways where the cash price has been ridiculously expensive.
Not good because of timing. I typically book AA or DL 331 days out which is the earliest you can. Now let's say you are taking a long international trip like a month. Then you have to wait a month to book a round trip ticket. A month later, your outbound fare will have been available for a month. All it takes is a few bookings to shot the price skyward. Seen it too many...
Not good because of timing. I typically book AA or DL 331 days out which is the earliest you can. Now let's say you are taking a long international trip like a month. Then you have to wait a month to book a round trip ticket. A month later, your outbound fare will have been available for a month. All it takes is a few bookings to shot the price skyward. Seen it too many times. Basis Lucky's examples, I'd pay the price for two singles, even though more, rather than chance waiting for a round trip fare.
I wonder how this will affect the web special redemption rates AA often offers in select markets. A few years ago I needed a last minute FRA-ORD ticket and AA offered a web special of 40,000 for business class. I quickly snagged that one. Will these specials still be offered on one way tickets, or will a round trip be required to get the special rate?
Web specials were discontinued once AA, officially, went fully dynamic.
And web specials had no changes once ticketed - now all awards are that way!
This is very disappointing pricing on miles as we frequently travel multiple destinations internationally and fly back from a different location. In general the miles needed now for many destinations are outrageous and there are very few web specials, if any. We will likely have to look for other airline options to fly business class in the future and won't be able to be loyal American Airlines customers anymore, especially for the cost of purchasing...
This is very disappointing pricing on miles as we frequently travel multiple destinations internationally and fly back from a different location. In general the miles needed now for many destinations are outrageous and there are very few web specials, if any. We will likely have to look for other airline options to fly business class in the future and won't be able to be loyal American Airlines customers anymore, especially for the cost of purchasing miles and trying to redeem them for flights anymore.
I do not know why JT thought this is new, but this is not actually new. It has become more widespread.
In fact, it was even the case back in 2019 https://viewfromthewing.com/americans-new-award-pricing-can-make-roundtrips-more-expensive-than-two-one-ways/
Oh man...not a fan of this change.
I understand that you still get the discount for multi-city booking but one way booking still offers much more flexibility.
I haven't book a round trip tickets in ages.
I'm still not putting together the full implications. If you booked a round-trip, is it not still two one-way awards even though it's all on one itinerary, along with no-fee mile redeposit? Are you not able to cancel just one leg in that case, and get your miles returned? Or would it just be at a disadvantageous rate?
@ Chris -- No, you can't just cancel one direction without redepositing the award. American doesn't allow changes with its new award pricing, but rather you have to redeposit miles and start over. So there's no way to "game" this.
What about if you've already flown the outbound and then cancel the return?
@ hp12c -- Then you forfeit your award. Perhaps that's part of the reason that we're seeing a discount on roundtrip awards.
Wow, that is super punitive. Thanks for pointing that out!
Southwest has a very tight correlation between the cost of a cash ticket and its equivalent in points. It just simplifies the process of booking by making the cash equivalent price in points transparent and makes devaluations more noticeable.
AA could use more consitency in how it prices reward seats.
@ Brian -- Right, Southwest has revenue based award pricing, so the cost of an award is directly tied to the cash cost of a ticket. Southwest has a simple business model, no partners, and just one class of service. The reason many of us are into miles & points is because of the great value we can get when redeeming for premium cabins, which would cost a lot more when paying with cash.
It's always been like this for International flights, i tried booking flights to Europe a couple years ago and they were pricing higher for One Way vs Roundtrip, i think Domestic flights are still the same
Cash booking, yes. But for AA miles booking, there was no discount for RT...until now.
Gary Leff just pointed in the comments that this was the case even back in 2019
Most AA customers use miles to take spouses and loved ones on annual vacations. I think RT's are also how most travel, maybe not here in the blogs comment section, but regular member of AAdvantage.
I don't think this is new? I've definitely seen round-trip discounts on some Web Special awards for at least the past year.
What happens if you have to cancel the return after having consumed the outbound flight? Do you get any miles redeposited or is cancelling the return leg going to result in forfeiting the extra miles that you spent by booking a full round trip above what the outbound one-way points fare would have been?
@ Ernesto -- You forfeit the miles for the return.
Does this mean that a single award is being used for the round trip? If you book multiple awards on a single reservation and only fly some of them, you can definitely get the unused award(s) redeposited.
If AA is discounting round trip awards: good.
If AA is increasing one way awards: bad.
Remains to be known what it is actually happening.
You mean increasing the one ways beyond 450k that they are already?
Just booked a domestic RT award last night it was still 8.5k each way and 17k RT