American 2, 2, 2 for one

You have to be a lawyer to figure out how to actually cash in on American Airlines’ buy 2 get 1 free offer. The deal is: fly twice to California or Florida from New York or Boston before April 15, and get one ticket anywhere AA flies. There are plenty of catches, though: you have to be an AA member, register before making the flights on their website, make sure the flight is a non-stop flight, fly on a published fare, and that the flight returns to the same airport that the flight originated (well, it says “same co-terminal”; I don’t know what that means). The award ticket has blackout dates, is in class “T”, which is bottom basement Economy, is non-upgradable, has a $100 penalty for changes, and must be used by April 15, 2005. That being said, it’s not a bad deal. I’m going to try to do it with P–.