Originally Posted by
crimson12
Can you explain this? I'm at 58k, and my GM status is good till 2/28/2013. But I thought I only had until 12/31/2012 to hit 75k for PM? If I have an additional two months my calculus might change.
If you are at 58K for the year, that means you've earned GM through 2/28/2014 (for Medallion Year 2013). If you hit 75K before 12/31/2012, you'll be Platinum for MY2013.
If you stop today, you will rollover 8,000 MQMs, and will have to fly 67K in 2013 to hit PM for MY2014. In your case, I'd probably just go for PM this year.
My case is a bit difference since I haven't re-upped on GM yet. That means I can keep my MY2012 GM until 2/28/2013 and rollover 24K to start off on 1/1/2013. If I stay with that, I'll drop to FO on 3/1/2013. However, if I fly 26K by 2/28/2013, I'll requalify for GM for MY2014 (keeping it for almost 2 years, until 2/28/2015).
This is a really good point. My wife and I have over 500k DL miles between us and have just not found the kinds of redemptions we want. So hitting PM now (which would be good through 2/28/2014) might be a good way to get flexibility in canceling award tickets while I transition to another program.
Only awards booked with your miles could be cancelled for free (unless your wife has PM/DM status as well).
With regard to AA, how do the 500 mile upgrades work? As I see on the website, you can buy one for $30. Let's assume it's 3000 miles transcon. Does this mean I can upgrade r/t transcon for $180 each way? If so that seems like a pretty good deal.
I have some experience with this since my folks are AA PLT. As a GLD or PLT, you earn 4 500-mile upgrade stickers in your account for each 10K qualifying miles you fly (there are more complexities on when the counter resets but I'm not sure on that, the AA board knows all).
You can also purchase them for $30 each. You can apply them for travel to any domestic flights (including Hawaii) and they'll clear at 72 hours for PLT and 24 hours for GLD.
Transcons are actually closer to 2500, so you only need 5 for JFK-LAX and JFK-, but 6 for JFK-SFO. There's a 51 mile grace, so 2551 mile would be 5 stickers while 2552 miles would be 6 stickers.
Keep in mind that EXPs clear at 96-100 hours out.