dstan

Don't thank us, thank the FT members who participate in this forum

bbison

Just to clarify one thing--I signed up for my challenge on 10/13, thinking I would start on 10/16. At the AA reps suggestion, they made it retroactive to 10/1, to cover flights on 10/1 and 10/4 that had already posted. But that was the limit of choices--the previous allowable start date or the next one. No way to retro back 2 months.

aiseri

JDiver wrote: "I wonder if these are correct as they stand. There are several lower fare class inventories these could book in, but Search will revael there are ways to upfare without cost."

I don't understand what "Search" is. Almost all of my tickets are purchased with the help of Credit Card Programs and a get a lot of "Q" booking codes. I would like to change these to codes that give 1:1 points for each mile, not the .5 that they receive now. What is a "Search" for an upcode at no cost? Thanks to all of you who are helping me.

dstan

JDiver means to use the "Search" function that's built into FlyerTalk to search for answers.

In this case, you can put an itinerary on hold at your 0.5 pt/mi fare, then call AA Reservations or Web Services to have it 'upfared' to the lowest priced 1.0pt/mi fare, then complete your purchase online, without additional booking fees:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-purchase.html

You can also find out how much the upfare price difference will be by pricing out the itinerary with that specific fare class on ITA:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...-code-ita.html

negs

Hi folks,

Here's my situation:

(1) I've never been an elite AA member, since I historically only fly a few times a year.

(2) I have (for me) an unusually heavy flying schedule for the first quarter of 2010, starting in just three days from now.

(3) I've booked and ticketed six trips (representing 21 flight segments) that will total over 10,000 actual miles in this first quarter. (Correct me if I'm wrong here...but even at the deep discount fares I've purchased, this should give me over 5000 EQPs, no?)

(4) There is *zero* chance that I would fly enough *miles* to qualify for Gold in 2010, but......

(5) with a few modest mileage runs (or, more properly, segment runs) I could achieve 30 segments during the rest of the year.

So....is it appropriate that I call AA and set up a Gold Challenge starting from 01-01-10? Or, to phrase the question another way, is it o.k./appropriate to get my initial Gold status via a challenge, and then finish the full-year qualifying by flying for segments, not miles?

I hope I've made myself clear in what I'm asking.

THANKS for any help you can provide!

negs

pandaperth

Welcome to FT negs

Your logic seems fine to me:

• Get Gold status quickly via the challenge - and so start reaping the benefits (25% bonus redeemable miles, 500-mile upgrade stickers etc)
  Since you're doing the challenge early in the calendar year, the status you attain will last until Feb 2011
• Then during 2010 fly enough segments to retain your status - meaning it will last for another year - through to Feb 2012

Questions you should ask yourself are:

• are the benefits of early Gold status worth the cost of the challenge
• are the benefits of retaining Gold status for another year worth the cost of the 'segment runs' to get to 30 segments in the year
• is there any way to get those flights in the first quarter into booking classes that would give you 10,000EQP and so, by doing the Platinum challenge, get Platinum status - the big benefit of which is 100% bounus redeemable miles

steve32

Negs, I have to agree with PandaPerth.

The benefits of Platinum are so much better that it is worth pushing a little harder and scoring that level.

All of my flying is on my dime and my time, and the vast majority are quicky MRs, but it's worth it when I take those miles and award myself in international business class.

It won't help in qualifying for flying status, but also take a look at Dining Rewards for more miles (and even hotels with discounts the same as Entertainment.com but also score hundreds of miles).

Welcome to FT, and Good Luck,

Steve32

aktchi

negs: Do a gold challenge (5K points) now, and a platinum challenge (10K points) on or after 6/16. That will keep you in elite status till 2013.

chrisphx

I just called in and everything in this thread and the updated wiki still holds true. I was trying for a status match from US Air Chairman's (100K), but no luck. I figured it was worth a shot.

mccabedoug

OK, I've three questions after reviewing the wealth of useful information on AA Challenges:

1) I was PLT in 2009 but due to a drastic reduction in 2009 travel, I will lose my PLT status at the end of Feb (still PLT now). Thus, can I do a PLT challenge NOW or must I wait until March (when I will be Gold)?

2) In order to get back to PLT, is it worth doing a PLT challenge when I have the following trip planned for later this month (18-Jan):

AA 1281 BOS-DFW 1562 miles, 1st class, P
AA 1665 DFW-SAN 1171 miles, 1st class, P
AA 3096 SAN-LAX 109 miles, Economy, Y
AA 7957 LAX-TPE 6799 miles, Business, J
CX 531 TPE-HKG 484 miles, Business, J
CX 101 TPE-SYD 4571 miles, Business, J
AA 7363 SYD-LAX 7509 miles, Business, D
AA 254 LAX-BOS 2611 miles, 1st class, A

3) Or, based upon this trip, will I keep my PLT status that is in jeopardy beginning March 1?

Thanks!!

--Doug

miamigrad

Welcome to FT, Doug.

You cannot do a challenge to maintain status (i.e., you can't initiate a challenge now to maintain the status you already have). Therefore, you'd have to wait until you status lapses before doing a challenge at some point in the future.

This trip will not assist you with maintaining your PLT, as far as I can tell.

EDITED TO ADD:
Given the fare codes that you're booked in for this trip, I'm not sure I'd pay for the challenge anyway, if it were me. Based on EQP, you'd be within striking distance of PLT requalification (assuming you have more travel over the next year ... either in volume or in 1.0 and/or 1.5 EQP fare buckets. Otherwise, why challenge for a status that you won't benefit from if you don't intend to fly anymore this year? Just my $0.02)

mccabedoug

Thanks miamigrad, like a lot of people, I've been a lurker for a while. Now, I knew that one cannot use a challenge to maintain a status, but I was curious/unsure about the first two months of the calendar year AFTER you lose your status.

Also, perhaps you can direct me to a place where one can easily calculate EQM/EQP based upon simply entering the following:

Present Status at Time of Flight:
Airline:
Miles:
Cabin Class:
Booking Code:

I know that a lot of frequent travelers on this forum can almost do this in their heads, but I am not one of them.

Thanks again!

miamigrad

You don't lose your status until end of February. Qualification year is January 1 - December 31, while status/membership year goes until end of February.

In your case, if you were to do the challenge, you would not be able to initiate one until March 1 or later when you drop back down to Gold.

Regarding your other questions, the Wiki is a great tool for many questions.
For AA flights, check out the Inventory Classes and Mileage Eligibility section.

For EQM and EQP from partner flights, you should go to the pertinent page on AA.com. Using your example, the CX page on AA.com shows that business class earns 1.5 EQP/mile. And, since CX is a oneworld airline, all miles earned are elite qualifying miles ... so you're covered on the EQM front, too (should you re-qualify for PLT on that basis vs. via EQP)

I hope this helps. Keep reading. It does get easier - I promise!

aktchi

However, it would make all the sense to wait till June 16.

alonna

Hey everyone. I'm interested in signing up me & my husband for Platinum Challenge. We are starting a LONE5 RTW trip Feb 14, 2010 earning AA miles with the following flights:

Segment, (Airline)
GYE-EZE, (LA)
EZE-JFK (AA)
JFK-AMM (AA codeshare)
AMM-IST (RJ)
IST-AMM (RJ)
AMM-CAI (RJ)
CAI-LHR (BA)
LHR-JNB (BA)
JNB-SYD (QF)
SYD-CHC (QF)
ZQN-SYD (QF)
SYD-HNL (AA codeshare)
HNL-LAX (AA)
LAX-MIA (AA)
MIA-UIO (AA)

Questions:

1. In L class, we should meet a Platinum Challenge with the EZE-JFK and JFK-AMM flights, EQP=5308+5731=11,039. Agreed?

2. According to Mileage Monkey, we should be flying 44,483 miles on the entire trip. Add in the double EQM after reaching Platinum, and that reaches 65,642 EQM. Does that mean that we'll earn a "regular" Platinum status outside of the challenge, therefore extending our membership from Feb 2011 to Feb 2012?

3. We won't be home anytime after starting this trip to get our Elite status packages in the mail. Do you think we can get by on the rest of the trip w/o the package, or do we need someone to mail the package to a location we'll be at? (which will be difficult, since we're doing the backpacking "figure it out as we go" thing). I've read here about BA being a stickler for the card, but is there anything else in the package we would need/want? (fyi, we've never had elite status before)

4. I understand it takes 2-3 days for the elite status to post. That means that any of our flights after that time (2-3 days after arriving in AMM), we should have a Platinum (or OW Sapphire) status printed on our boarding passes, be able to use the lounges, priority seating, etc - correct? (with the BA lounge exception noted)

Another note, when I call I'm definitely going to try and get Gold status immediately. If they say no, maybe I'll hang up and call back! Also let's hope for the $150 fee! I'll report back what I find out.