There was flash of optimism in mid-August when five new partners — Cathay Pacific, Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Qatar, LATAM — were suddenly available for booking online. These options were quickly removed and an AA spokesperson explained the next day:
"Late yesterday, we incorrectly displayed award bookings for several of our partners on aa.com and they have since been removed. Making more award partners bookable on aa.com is something that our customers continually ask for, so please rest assured that we are working towards this."
Now, AA is making good on that pledge. Overnight on Monday night, American Airlines announced that it has added two new partners to online AA.com bookings: Malaysia Airlines and Fiji Airways.
Sure enough, I was able to successfully search and find Malaysia Airlines award availability on AA.com:
After reading our review of Malaysia Airlines A330 business class, that option looks pretty sweet, so I went ahead and completed the booking on that flight. It went through without a hitch. (Plus, as an AA Executive Platinum, I can always cancel this award for free later)
I received an email less than an hour and a half later with my confirmed ticket.
What's next for partner award bookings? In sharing these changes, an AA spokesperson -- unprompted -- said that the airline is "working on adding more partners" for online award booking. Based on the ability to successfully book awards for one evening in mid-August, we can assume that AA is working on also adding Cathay Pacific, Sri Lankan, Qatar and LATAM — but there's something holding back their release. Hopefully, those roadblocks are resolved soon.
