pandaperth

Hi misjinks

Your questions take me back to mid-2008, when I was a total newbie and had similar questions. Ah the nostalgia

I try to answer some of your questions for you.

In order for the EQP earned to count towards the challenge, the flight must have an AA flight number. How you bought the ticket is irrelevant. So your American Eagle and Cathay Pacific flights must have the AA codeshare flight numbers. IIRC the aa.com website will show the actual flight numbers of the flights you are buying and so you can be sure of this.

No comment from me, other than to suggest you check out itsasoftware,com.

gcmap.com gives slightly different mileages from the figures you have quoted, but however - assuming you are earning 1 EQP per butt-in-seat mile then you cross the 10,000EQP line during your JFK-HKG flight. This means you will get the PLT bounus for that flight and all subsequent eligible flights for as long as you have PLT status

You will have PLT status after your JFK-HKG flight. You will of course want to keep flying Oneworld or AA-Partner airlines so you will accrue AA miles and get the bonus miles too. If travelling economy on other airlines you don't always get 100% miles - depends on the booking class (see the AA web site for details)

It takes a day or two for the system to realise you have PLT staus, so when you check in at KUL your boarding pass should show your status and you can then get into the lounge (I'm assuming here that you'll be flying CX to HKG)
There is no rule that says during a challenge you cannot have award flights - so yes you can book them as award flights - if you have the miles and if there is availability

Yes and Yes
Well to be honest - not the second you hit 10k EQP - but a day or two thereafter
And yes AA miles can be used to redeem awards on any OW flights and also some addional AA-Partener airlines - see the aa web site

Edited to add: Dang Microwave beat me to it!

cochino_BA

Do you need to be a U.S. Citizen, or have a U.S. Address, to enroll in the challenge?

SpaceFlier

Hey guys, new to the boards here. I just signed up for the Platinum Challenge with American Airlines and was hoping for any advance on how to achieve the 10,000 points they require to meet the challenge. Does 1 EQM equal 1 point for the challenges like this? And if so, are there any double EQM out of SFO or LAX that will allow me to rack up the 10,000 points needed to meet the Platinum Challenge within 2 or 3 roundtrips?

Trying to do it for the cheapest possible and don't really care where I fly. I live in San Francisco but can get to LAX pretty cheaply so flying out of either SFO or LAX is fine. Just want to hop on the flights and earn the 10,000 points needed as quick and cheaply as possible.

Know of any good deals out there on those routes to rack the points up fast?

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

If you buy the cheap fares, 1 EQM usually comes with only 0.5 EQP for the challenge. Also, double EQM promos don't affect EQP, so they won't be of any help there.

Purchasing full-fare Y or F will give you 1.5 EQP per mile flown, so that could also be worth it to you.

britenbsas

No, not at all. I completed my challenge back in 2007 when I was living in Argentina and several friends from the UK have completed it also

JDiver

Welcome! Be sure to check out the tools here too - the FAQ and the Wiki.

Your cheapest fares earn 1/2 EQ point per EQM; Y, B and above, including "instant upgrade" fares, earn 1.5 EQP per EQM. Some intermediate (coach, some restrictions,) fares earn 1:1. You get to choose - fly as many as 20,000 miles or as few as 6,667 to make the Challenge.

The Wiki lists more information about fare class inventory:
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...lenge_%28AA%29

Tools include http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html

This will be merged into the active Challenge Help Desk thread, where it belongs.

misjinks

Wow, thanks so much to both Microwave and pandaperth for your almost simultaneous and excellent & thorough answers. As both of you have independently recommended itasoftware.com, I'd better get cracking on that

@pandaperth: I was using webflyer.com rather than gcmap.com to calculate mileage -- is gcmap more reliable? How do folks here generally estimate their mileage?

@Microwave: Thanks so much for the tip about V fares -- do you know if, in the booking process, there is any way to search for those directly? And yes, I am in London & happy to take mocha with a guru! I'll PM you about that

Microwave

The AA website doesn't allow you to see all published fares, just some specific ones they pick (and put into categories like "super saver" or "economy flexible"). I use ExpertFlyer to look at all published fares on specific dates between a city pair. If you need a V fare, you can put a cheaper ticket on hold on aa.com, then call and "upfare" the held reservation to V. Check out the Challenge page on the FlyerGuide wiki, specifically the section Booking Flights for a Challenge. However, if H really is the cheapest you can find, you don't have to worry as H earns 1 EQP/EQM.

JDiver

N.B. Putting a fare on hold and calling to upfare it to a class inventory awarding higher EQM does not result in cost, if one uses AA or Web Services to make the change and then continue through with the booking online.

U.S. or Canada
1-800-222-2377
6:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. CT daily

United Kingdom
0844 4997300 (0.05 GBP/min, network charges may apply)
Monday - Friday
7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. GMT
Saturday - Sunday
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

All Other Locations
1-918-832-1384
6:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. CT (U S Central Time, not China "Time",) daily


There are some tools we use:

KVS, though I am not a user and therefore leave it up to you to explore its capabilities. There are threads about KVS - Advanced Search for threads using "KVS" in quotation marks searching in thread titles will reveal some, and opening the search to all Fora will reveal more.

ExpertFlyer, which I do subscribe to because it allows me to see all fares on AA and some others, award and upgrade availability, detailed fare rules and fees, etc. before I buy.

FareCompare as optimised for FlyerTalkers.

ITA Software as you have discovered.

Microwave

Two minor clarifications: all AA flight numbers will earn 1 EQM/BIS flown--the difference in earn rates is in EQP/EQM; also, calling to upfare doesn't incur additional ticketing cost if you do as JDiver suggests (which is wise and sound advice), but of course it will result in additional cost inasmuch as a fare that earns 1 EQP/EQM is more expensive than a fare that earns 0.5 (offered as an axiom--I'm sure there are exceptions of course.

SpaceFlier

The problem with full-fare Y or F is that they are always like 3 or 4x the cost of the cheapest deep discount fare. Are there any routes from SFO or LAX to anywhere in the country where I can buy cheap Y or F fares and earn the 1.5 EQP per mile flown? I don't want to spend $2,000 for a roundtrip from SFO to ORD for instance!

Here's my travel plans through the end of July:

#1 [ALREADY BOOKED] SJC to ORD to TPA (This flight is already booked and the leg from SJC to ORD is a 1EQP fare and the ORD to TPA is a 0.5EQP fare so this itinerary gets me 2,325EQP)
#2 [NOT BOOKED YET] TPA to SJC (Fly on American, this will layover in DFW so this flight would get me 2,357EQP if booked in a 1EQP per mile flown fare or 3,535 if booked in 1.5EQP per mile flown)
#3 [NOT BOOKED YET] SJC to TPA to HSV (or BNA or BHM or MEM) to SJC (4,873EQP if booked in a 1.0 fare or 7,309EQP if booked in a 1.5 fare)

So either #2 or #3 would have to be booked in a 1.5 fare in order to get 10,000EQP needed for Platinum Challenge. Any ideas for how to do that the cheapest way possible?

Alternatively, I also need to go from LAX to TLV in July. My brother is a pilot for Delta and I was planning to just use one of the super discounted tickets he has access to (for about $500 as opposed to the lowest fare available on Orbitz for $2,000) but if I took AA's partner, El Al Airlines to Tel Aviv and booked a 1.5EQP per mile flown fare, I'd get 11,340EQP for just that one flight alone giving me all I need for Platinum. If I could pay $2,000 and get a 1.5EQP per mile flown fare for LAX to TLV, I'd do it, but is that even possible since the lowest deep discount fares showing up on Orbitz are $2,000 right now?

cochino_BA

britenbsas thanks for the info. I am actually doing the plat challenge for my girlfriend and I, EZE-JFK R/T.

Have you only challenged the one time? or did you re-challenge during eligible yr?

miamigrad

One very important thing to remember about challenges - the flights have to be on AA or AA codeshare. Any portion coded with El Al's code (LY) will NOT count toward your challenge points.

BrewerSEA

You definitely cannot earn points toward a challenge on ANY El Al operated flight, as AA is no longer allowed to place its code on said flights due to a regulatory change by the FAA. Gulf Air is also affected.

SpaceFlier

Okay, appreciate the info! What's the best way then to get 1.5EQP per mile flown on the other two trips I have planned in the next couple of weeks -- #2 and #3 in my post above -- without spending four figures? Your help would be HUGELY appreciated!