forevrred

I have been an American flyer for 17 years and platinum for the past 8 years. I missed qualifying for platinum status by just 1,350 miles... I only had 48,650 miles. They refused to give me a complimentary platinum upgrate for 2006.

Do I have any recourse? options? talked to a supervisor with no satisfaction. I'm doing the platinum challege in March and will qualify then but I have to take an international trip as gold so I'll not get "usual" miles.
any thoughts?
thanks!

nako

Welcome to FT!

The 1350 miles is outside of the traditional window for AA to round up. Historically, AA has allowed people within 500 to 1000 miles to renew, so that's why they're not giving it to you, I don't think. (You can try calling back and asking again, but I'm not sure they'd say yes.)

That said, you can either wait until March and do the PLT challenge (as you've indicated) or pay the $499 to renew via this link. If you have the trips planned to get the 10k Q-points for the challenge, I'm not sure the bonus miles are necessarily worth the $500.

Mike

gemac

At some point last year, it became clear to you that you would be short of achieving Platinum. Had you posted your problem then, it would have been easier to suggest possible solutions. Now, when the damage is done, there isn't much that can be done to get you 1,350 2005 EQMs.

olimaspecto

Exactly....that's part of what MRs are for.

skofarrell

Pay the $499. Another R/T or a cheap 1400 mile mileage run would likely have cost a couple of hundred, so you're in the ballpark anyway...

oklAAhoma

The OP needs to be aware the if s/he buys back status this year then (most likely) AA will not allow that option again in 2007. If the OP is concerned that s/he might fall short of requalification again this year, doing the challenge in March might be the better option.

olimaspecto

I agree the challenge is a better idea especially since the OP will be at least earning miles while paying for tickets opposed to just paying the $499 and not earning any miles.

ricktoronto

Think of the PLT level as at least 50,000 points/miles and not nearly but less than. I would imagine AA hopes that the aerage PLT is somewhere in the 70's not the lower 48's annually. Lucky you can pay a bit less than others with less mileage.

andrzej

Every time I look at the status qualification page (https://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantag...irements.jhtml) I see the following:

2006 Elite Status Qualification
Elite Status Miles/Points
Required Segments
Required
Executive Platinum 100,000 100^
Platinum 50,000 60
Gold 25,000 30



2005 Elite Status Qualification
Elite Status Miles/Points
Required Segments
Required
Executive Platinum 100,000 N/A^
Platinum 50,000 60
Gold 25,000 30

It doesn't say 48.5K, it doesn't say "if you were Plat for 5 years, then you get a break", but it does say 50K miles/points will give you Platinum status. Amazing how that works.....


Welcome to FT!

rpmkwpw

Good.

You know the rules. You either lost track of where you were at (not AA's fault) or you decided to take a chance with the number of miles you'd flown. Either way, you lose.
Would you take your coffee card to your local cafe and ask that they give you a free coffee after just five cups instead of six?
No one owes you anything. You're lucky the Platinum challenge exists, for it will be a quick way for you to regain status. Hopefully, you will fly the number of points required to make it within the three months (what is that, 10k?). If you don't, you won't get any pity from me when you are stuck in Gold-land for the next year or so.

Anyway, bottom line is that you didn't meet the requirements of the level. You could have flown with AAdvantage since before Platinum existed, it doesn't count for $^!#... they're generous enough offering people the wiggle room they do, but there's a limit. You missed it.

Sorry... thanks for playing.

Ltgfrk

Get a Citibank CC and charge enough to get you to 2MM.

Flailey

Odd that there's such hostility to this guy. Everyone here's looking for tricks and ways to game the system. This guy is legit PLT for 8 years in a row, obviously he's a very valuable person to AA, and he's off by what, 1-2% or so of miles?

I think AA should consider 8 years of PLT status in a decision like this, and I don't think it's "good" that they denied him. He has no right to complain or be mad, the rules are the rules. But the OP didn't seem to have any sense of entitlement, he was just asking if there was any way he could get a break. And I don't see why he shouldn't. If he and I were in the airport next to each other I'd be PLT and he wouldn't, and I guarantee I'm a less valuable customer to AA than he is.

Odd that he'd get such a reaction.

Dave Noble

He obviously did have a sense of entitlement with the question "Do I have any recourse? " when informed that they wouldn't do it. Also, they do provide status via challenge so assuming travel in a 1.0 qpoint fare basis, his loss will be, at most, 7500 miles earning and a lower priority for domestic upgrades. Why should AA make an exception to him if they wouldn't make an exception to someone else?

Dave

Flailey

They make exceptions all the time. Comping status is hardly some complicated thing, nearly all affinity programs do it. I guarantee AA has made dozens of exceptions this year, to corporate travel agents, CEOs, vendors, partners, whoever.

I interpret his post to be asking if there's a way he could be an exception or another strategy to employ. I don't think it's an unreasonable think to think about or ask about, any more than I'm embarrassed about the fact that I got my change fees waived a few times at the AC because they felt like it.

Hemloxz3

Gotta love how people will flame someone with major sarcasm rather than be responding back with a real answer.