Originally Posted by
mgiarc
A quick update on this. Thanks for all the advice. I signed up for the AA Platinum Challenge. Cost USD 180 (GBP 140). It was backdated to include my outbound flight a few days previously. I had three months to get 12,500 elite qualifying miles. Now have AA Platinum (OW Sapphire) until the end of January (which seems a bit stingy). Nonetheless, would be worth considering for someone who flies a lot shorthaul/domestic Y and occasionally longhaul J, but would struggle to hit 600 tier points for lounge access, especially if the tier point year cut off doesn't work for your travel pattern.
AA challenges with start date 1 January to 15 June - status valid for that year and need to earn the 50k to renew
If you had waited until 16 June to start the challenge, then on completion the status would have been valid for 2018 too
Originally Posted by
The smallest state
As an AA Plat, be very wary of the reward seats. They are often difficult to find and when they do come up in blocks a couple of FF bloggers immediately announce them, setting off a stampede to book the seats in J.
Intercontinental flights that one tries to redeem miles upon are usually on BA metal and result in enormous fees for J. (the fees are almost equal to an economy ticket)
Award availability is no different than for someone redeeming BA Avios
The surcharges are no worse than what BA would charge using BA Avios redemptions
The surcharges are only applicable when redeeming on BA - redeem on any other airline and no fees; using BA avios can enjoy carrier surcharges on many many more flights
Availability for redemption ( as desired ) on EY in 1st class is pretty decent and requires less miles with AA and BA would charge GBP155 in surcharges one way on top