American Airlines Network Chief Reportedly Out; Airline Cancels Ultra-Cheap Business Class Awards

October 15, 2026 — American Airlines’ top network planner has reportedly left the company. Separately, the airline is under fire for cancelling business class award tickets that its own system had priced far too low.

Network planning shake-up

Brian Znotins, American’s Senior Vice President of Network Planning, has reportedly left the airline. The departure was first reported on X on October 14, and American has not publicly confirmed it. According to One Mile at a Time, Nick Andersen, currently Vice President of Commercial Planning & Performance, will replace him. Andersen has been with American, and before that US Airways, since 2007.

Znotins joined American in early 2020 and previously worked at WestJet, United, Continental and Canadian Airlines. Under his leadership, American’s network focused heavily on domestic flying. One Mile at a Time suggests this could open the door to more long-haul growth, and notes that American reportedly has a widebody aircraft order coming soon. Any new long-haul flying would still be years away because of delivery timelines.

Cheap business class awards cancelled

Starting around September 19, a booking error on American’s website and app priced some multi-city award trips using only the first segment’s mileage. Reported examples include Delhi in business class for as little as 7,000 miles, Europe for 12,500 miles each way, and Japan for 13,500 miles outbound. American largely shut off the booking method on September 20–21. Cancellation notices then went out starting October 5, and some came less than five days before departure.

American told passengers the tickets were “ticketed for fewer miles than required.” It said it will return the miles and refund taxes and fees. Travel writer Gary Leff, who had 18 tickets cancelled, argues that American’s Conditions of Carriage require mistaken fares to be voided within 72 hours of the airline learning of the error. He has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Leff estimates 1,000 to 2,000 tickets were issued, but that is his estimate, not an American figure. No regulatory finding has been made.

What it means for non-revs

Network direction may shift. If the new planning leadership pushes more long-haul international flying, that would eventually mean more widebody seats out of DFW, CLT, MIA, PHL and JFK. Don’t expect visible changes before the 2027–2028 schedules.
Award cancellations can free up seats. Premium cabins on the affected long-haul flights could have a few more open seats than expected where cancelled award passengers did not rebook. The effect will be small and flight-specific, so check loads as usual.
A reminder for anyone booking positive-space award tickets: if a price looks far too good, expect the airline to try to cancel it.