ASTA is pleased that American Airlines has extended the deadline for travel agencies to reach preferred status with the airline.

American had said nonpreferred agencies’ bookings would no longer be awarded AAdvantage points starting May 1, but the airline has extended that deadline to July 11.

American also extended its deadline for agencies to achieve a 30% threshold of New Distribution Capability (NDC) bookings from April 21 to June 5. Hitting the threshold is a condition of becoming a preferred agency.

“While the fundamentals of American’s preferred travel agency program appear not to have changed, its postponement of the program is welcome news for the travel industry,” ASTA president and CEO Zane Kerby said in a statement. “Agencies and advisors most affected by this oncoming change have a couple more months to prepare.”

ASTA has been in a public fight with American since the airline launched its new distribution strategy last April, removing fares from systems using legacy technology in a push for agencies to use NDC connections. ASTA has maintained that American’s NDC bookings have servicing shortcomings, and has asked the Department of Transportation to step in and force fares to be reinstated in legacy systems.

“It seems that American may now admit to what we’ve expressed for months: Its NDC technology was underdeveloped and its implementation deadlines were both arbitrary and unrealistic,” Kerby said.

American on Tuesday issued a statement highlighting a “great response” from agencies, noting “many have already achieved preferred retailer status.” Still more are “on the cusp” of becoming preferred agencies, American said.