bshawn

I called AA today (01/27/2010) to start a Gold challenge.
The representative was very helpful. However, getting to the representative through their voice response system was not easy.

The following is some information most of which is confirmation of what I had researched plus some other information which I didn’t necessarily clearly understand before calling – especially around upgrading a Challenge and Membership Period. Below is my understanding.

Please let me know if I probably misunderstood something or if I could have utilized different strategy.

Prices: Gold Challenge $80, Platinum Challenge $150, Upgrade Gold Challenge in Progress to a Platinum Challenge $100

Effective Date: I had a choice of 01/16 or 02/01. I asked about starting 01/16 because I already have had 2 flights/segments since 01/16. The agent said those 2 flights/segments would count toward my challenge and at the end of the call she confirmed how many points I already earned toward my challenge.

Payment: She took my credit card number and I believe I was charged immediately.

Membership Period: My challenge ends 04/15 (3 months). If I am successful in my challenge, I earn Gold status through 02/28/2011. If I achieve enough miles, points, or segments to earn Gold without the challenge, regardless of when this achievement occurs (could achieved all in January 2010), then my Gold status would run through 02/29/2012.

Upgrade Gold Challenge in Progress to a Platinum Challenge. If during my Gold challenge period, I achieve enough Elite Qualifying Points (10,000) to have met the Platinum Challenge, I can call *during the challenge period* and upgrade to a Platinum Challenge for an additional $100. The challenge time period remains unchanged.
So the cost of Gold Challenge $80 plus the upgrade of $100 totals $180 compared to the cost of a Platinum Challenge of $150.

If I have a successful Gold Challenge (5,000 points) and then in the second half of 2010, I want to do a Platinum Challenge – I need 10,000 points during the Platinum challenge period – my 5,000 points earned for Gold do not help. The Platinum Challenge points start from scratch.

My strategy – I decided to do Gold first because I could start getting the additional mileage and benefits of Gold once reaching the 5,000 Elite Qualifying Points rather than waiting for 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points to get Platinum benefits. If I get to 10,000 during the period, I will decide at that point whether to call and upgrade to a Platinum Challenge. That decision will be will be dependent upon whether I believe I will be traveling enough to be successful at a Platinum Challenge later in the year – which would be best because of membership period being extended to 02/29/2012. If I don’t think I could be successful at a subsequent Platinum Challenge, I would upgrade Gold Challenge to Platinum Challenge during my Gold Challenge period - that way I would at least get some time as Platinum.

If at some point I “lose my status” Platinum status goes down to Gold or Gold status goes down to no status. So getting to Platinum ensures an additional year of status at the Gold level if Platinum isn’t maintained.

My understanding (but I didn’t talk to the agent about this) is you can do a Platinum Challenge and if you don’t reach 10,000 points but you did reach 5,000 points you can call (probably needs to be within the challenge period) and still get Gold status. The downside to this is that you would have paid a Platinum Challenge price which is more expensive than the Gold Challenge price.

This site was incredibly helpful to me. Hopefully, this info is beneficial to others.

Again, please provide feedback if you believe any of this information in incorrect or if there was different strategy I could have considered (or potentially still can).