a group of people sitting in a plane

If what I experienced last night is now a systemwide change (or soon to be one), using American Airlines AAdvantage miles has just become so much easier. The ability to redeposit AA miles from canceled award trips without a phone call represents a huge step forward.

Finally! American Airlines Automatically Redeposits AAdvantage Miles When Bookings Are Cancelled Online

One thing I love about United Airlines is how easy it is to book, modify, and cancel flights…whether using cash or miles…on united.com or the United mobile app. If you book an award and cancel it, the miles are instantly deposited into your account.

For years, it has been a very different story with American Airlines and its AAdvtange program. With AA, you could cancel the award online, but would need to call in to have the miles redeposited into your account. If you did not do so within a year, the miles were forfeited.

That was a painfully arduous process and purely a technological limitation. Why couldn’t the miles be redeposited automatically if you cancel the flight? Why annoy customers and also tie up your call center staff with such a routine matter?

Well, I’m happy to report that it appears AA has finally figured out a way to automate this process. I just canceled an award yesterday and was pleased (and admittedly shocked) that the miles were redeposited immediately in the account:

a screenshot of a travel account
AA flight canceled…and the miles reinstated automatically

Indeed, the pertinent language on the AAdvantage website has been updated to reflect this change:

You can cancel your award ticket anytime on aa.com. We will reinstate your AAdvantage miles up to 1 year after the ticket issue date as long as you cancel your ticket before the first flight departs. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, your miles will be reinstated automatically in many cases.

Note that while AA does not promise the reinstatement of points will necessarily be automatic, the system is now set up to automatically redeposit miles for trips canceled on aa.com.

That’s excellent news!

CONCLUSION

One reason I tend to shy away from using Avianca LifeMiles–even though pricing is often better than other programs–is because the website is so clunky and calling is not much better. AA has also been annoying in requiring a telephone call to redeposit miles. But now the process is automatic for most bookings on AA.com and that is a small but meaningful step toward creating a more consumer-friendly program.

How much time will you save now that American Airlines automatically redeposits miles?


image: American Airlines

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