Originally Posted by
BrewerSEA
AA does not automatically upgrade you to Gold after hitting 5k points. In fact, this is a rare exception.
It is true that you do not
automatically get Gold during a Plat challenge - you have to call and ask for it, but they usually do give it to you.
However, it seems to be even better than that. I posted about this earlier in the thread, but it was a while ago. Two of us in my office have signed up for the Plat challenge and he was given Gold immediately upon calling and paying. I called back to ask why I didn't qualify for the same and was told that it should have been done and before I was off the phone I had the Gold bar on my account.
I'm not sure that this really is "policy" but the agent acted like it was. I suggest to everyone who starts a PLAT Challenge to ask for Gold status, and see what happens. 25% extra adds up quickly, especially on long flights.