American Airlines finally eliminates pesky close-in award ticketing fee

American Airlines has long imposed a $75 award close-in ticketing fee for non-elite members booking an award flight within 21 days of departure.  United Airlines was the only other carrier that imposed such a fee, but United eliminated it last November when they went to dynamic award pricing.  Delta never charged the fee, which left AA as the only airline to charge such a fee.  Finally and effective immediately, AA has eliminated the fee for all award bookings.  So you can now book "last minute" awards without the pesky $75 fee.


Quick thoughts

To AA's credit, they are the only U.S. legacy carrier to still have an award chart.  Fingers crossed on how long that will stand as they haven't underwent any recent devaluations and are likely primed for one in the not-too-distant future.  Whereas the elimination of the $75 close-in award ticketing fee would come as good news for non-elite members, elite members may not be as happy since they were always exempt, and this positive change could increase the demand for last-minute awards.


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