American Caps Award Routing Rules

New rules prohibit multiple stops on tickets booked with points.

American Airlines flyers traveling on AAdvantage award tickets will now face new regulations on their air line tickets. In airline-partner-award-chart.jsp” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener”>newly published rules on the American website, travelers will now be limited as to how many layovers their tickets allow.

According to the new rules, travelers on domestic tickets will only be allowed three segments per one-way itinerary, while those traveling internationally can only have four segments per one-way itinerary. A previous version of the website did not publish rules limiting the number of segments for award tickets.

A search of Delta Air Lines terms and conditions does not reveal an immediate limitation of segments for award tickets. In 2016, United Airlines changed the terms of their international travel awards to limit the number of segments that can be booked on one ticket.

The changes are the latest for an award program that has progressively moved in line with its competitors. In 2016, American dropped “Lock-and-Hold” reservations, followed by sweeping changes to award redemption options for oneworld partners and other friendly carriers. At AAdvantage, the program announced they would move to a revenue-based program last year, while adding a mid-level loyalty tier to their program.

However, not all changes to the program have been negative towards frequent flyers. In February 2017, American announced an upgrade to their system which allowed AAdvantage elites to upgrade their seats online. The current change is effective immediately and affects all award tickets booked on AAdvantage miles moving forward.