Mar 21, 2013, 3:13 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
HELP DESK: AAdvantage Elite Status Challenge (Gold and Platinum)
Challenges may no longer be enrolled in as of 6 Oct; hard end date 23 Dec 2015 -
but some reporting success 6 Oct backdating to 23 Sep by supervisors
This is the archived thread about the now defunct AAdvantage elite Gold and Platinum status challenge. The current thread can be read here.
Challenges may no longer be enrolled in as of 6 Oct; hard end date 23 Dec 2015 -
but some reporting success 6 Oct backdating to 23 Sep by supervisors
This is the archived thread about the now defunct AAdvantage elite Gold and Platinum status challenge. The current thread can be read here.
NOTE: Challenges were closed off September 23 2015, at least for the remainder of 2015 - some have succeeded in enrolling and backdating to 23 Sep.
It is possible a new, remodeled challenge will be announced in or for 2016. That discussion is here: Original Gold / Platinum Challenge Ended 23 Sep '15. New program to come?
This thread is now dedicated to requests for assistance and responses to clarify challenge requirements for those members currently engaged in challenges and related issues. To discuss the potential and form of any future challenge, please use the link provided above.
NOTE: The rules for the Challenge at the time of closure are preserved below. The date by which the last person would have completed this challenge would be 23 December 2015.
It is possible a new, remodeled challenge will be announced in or for 2016. That discussion is here: Original Gold / Platinum Challenge Ended 23 Sep '15. New program to come?
This thread is now dedicated to requests for assistance and responses to clarify challenge requirements for those members currently engaged in challenges and related issues. To discuss the potential and form of any future challenge, please use the link provided above.
NOTE: The rules for the Challenge at the time of closure are preserved below. The date by which the last person would have completed this challenge would be 23 December 2015.
Note: The four AA segment minimum required for regular status qualification does not apply to completing the challenge.
Class of service, status or other bonus miles are redeemable miles and thus do not count for the challenge. Class of service is the reigning factor in calculating the points earned per mile flown: the base points per mile charts for the various fare buckets on qualifying airlines are here.
Note: The "Reach elite status faster" promotion awarding 2 or even 3 EQ Points per mile for flying premium fares through 2015 does not apply to the challenge; challenge flyers will only have a maximum of 1.5 base EQP per base EQ Mile considered for challenge-earned status. The extra points are considered bonus points and are only applicable for earning "normal", non-challenge status.
Though one earned status bonus miles on the qualifying flight at one time, that is no longer possible. Status bonus miles will accrue on the next eligible flight after your status qualifying flight.
Also see (FT) Help Understanding Status, Points / Miles & Segments: EQM vs EQP (merged thread) for further assistance with the miles-EQMiles-points issue.
For miles calculations, many use the Great Circle Mapper tool
*for Platinum, Jan-Jun $200, Jul - Dec $240 - presumably for the max nine months of status vs. the max of 20 months $240 of status. Occasionally, there are "sales" reductions; they seem to be about 10%.
Challenges begun before June 16 of a given year earn status for the remainder of that year and the first two months of the following year (8-14 months total); challenges begun on or after June 16 grant status for the remainder of that year, the following year, and the first two months of the year after (14-20 months total). Challenges can begin anytime (not previously the case) and can even be backdated up to two weeks as far as we know (as of Nov 2013).
To sign up for a challenge, call AAdvantage Customer Service at +1-800-882-8880.
Link to cyclingpilot post about being granted a back-dated challenge (2 weeks)
You cannot use a challenge to requalify for status. There is no longer a "soft landing" to the next lower level of status. The flight on which the challenge is completed no longer earns the redeemable miles bonus for the new status level.
Some have been granted Gold status whilst flying a Platinum challenge, particularly those with current elite status (any level) on an airline of a competing alliance, but this is not a given.
Based on multiple reports from FT members, as of mid-2015 AA is only allowing one status challenge over a five year period.
August 2014 e-mail received by a Challenger, shared by ashill:
Thank you for registering for an AAdvantage® challenge.
To enjoy AAdvantage PLATINUM status through February 2016, please earn 10,000 elite qualifying points between now and [redacted]. Qualifying flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection®, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, US Airways and their eligible codeshare flights count toward your challenge.
Since the number of elite qualifying points you earn is based on the fare you purchase and the miles you earn, you can view these details for each airline:We wish you every success in attaining the elite status level you desire.
Sincerely,
Janet L F[redacted]
Director
AAdvantage Customer Service
Thank you for registering for an AAdvantage® challenge.
To enjoy AAdvantage PLATINUM status through February 2016, please earn 10,000 elite qualifying points between now and [redacted]. Qualifying flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection®, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, US Airways and their eligible codeshare flights count toward your challenge.
Since the number of elite qualifying points you earn is based on the fare you purchase and the miles you earn, you can view these details for each airline:We wish you every success in attaining the elite status level you desire.
Sincerely,
Janet L F[redacted]
Director
AAdvantage Customer Service
ARCHIVE: HELP DESK: AA Elite Status Challenge (CLOSED: "hard end" 23 Dec 2015)
Jun 22, 2009, 10:05 am
#1
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
ARCHIVE: HELP DESK: AA Elite Status Challenge (CLOSED: "hard end" 23 Dec 2015)
Help Desk: AAdvantage Elite Status Challenges (Gold and Platinum)
NOTE: CHALLENGE HARD END 23 DECEMBER 2015
.....
NOTE: CHALLENGE HARD END 23 DECEMBER 2015
.....
Elite Status Challenges are unpublished offers from American Airlines AAdvantage designed for those who want a shortcut to AAdvantage Gold or Platinum status because they will be flying American Airlines frequently and wish to enjoy elite benefits more quickly. These three month Challenges are subject to enrollment fees, have defined start and end dates that can affect how long your status lasts, and are based on elite-qualifying points, not miles. Status is conferred upon successful completion of a Challenge. Officially, there is no corresponding EXP Challenge, although a very small number of targeted frequent fliers with the highest status on another airline and/or influential travel-related work position may be invited to participate in an analogous offer. Direct elite status matches are offered only by invitation for a very small number of top fliers.
Please see the following resources for full details on Elite Status Challenges:
This page's wikipost.
AA.com: Page leading to AA and partner airlines miles and points earning charts
FT: AA GLD & PLT Elite Status Challenges (trailing thread) - Older posts from this thread
FT: Upfaring an AA Reservation (consolidated) (and additional info on pricing specific fare classes)
FT: Status Matches on American Airlines (consolidated)
Great Circle Mapper (to calculate mileage / base miles flown / earned)
Additional Information on AAdvantage Elite Status:AA.com: Page leading to AA and partner airlines miles and points earning charts
FT: AA GLD & PLT Elite Status Challenges (trailing thread) - Older posts from this thread
FT: Upfaring an AA Reservation (consolidated) (and additional info on pricing specific fare classes)
FT: Status Matches on American Airlines (consolidated)
Great Circle Mapper (to calculate mileage / base miles flown / earned)
There are three elite levels, Gold (GLD), Platinum (PLT), and Executive Platinum (EXP or EP), with increasing benefits at each level, including preferred seating, check-in, security lines, and boarding; bonus miles; and various free upgrade instruments, discounts, and fee waivers.
June 11 2013 e-mail to new Challenger beginning 16 June 2013:
Dear MRS. FREQUENT FLYER,
This is to confirm your registration for the American Airlines AAdvantage PLATINUM® Quick Qualification Challenge. We have charged your credit card a non-refundable fee of $240.00. Remember that Challenges are based on points, not miles. If you earn 10,000 points in the three months ending 09/15/2013, you will enjoy AAdvantage PLATINUM status through February 2015.
And now you have more opportunities to complete your Challenge because points earned on qualifying flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, the AmericanConnection® carrier, British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and their eligible codeshare flights count toward your Challenge.*
Learn more about point accrual and qualifying fares for each airline: (links to each Challenge airline page on aa.com follow)
We hope that you successfully complete your Challenge so you can begin enjoying all the benefits of AAdvantage PLATINUM status.
Sincerely,
Judy S. B.
Manager, Member Services
AAdvantage® Customer Service
Note: US flights qualify now as well.
This is to confirm your registration for the American Airlines AAdvantage PLATINUM® Quick Qualification Challenge. We have charged your credit card a non-refundable fee of $240.00. Remember that Challenges are based on points, not miles. If you earn 10,000 points in the three months ending 09/15/2013, you will enjoy AAdvantage PLATINUM status through February 2015.
And now you have more opportunities to complete your Challenge because points earned on qualifying flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, the AmericanConnection® carrier, British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and their eligible codeshare flights count toward your Challenge.*
Learn more about point accrual and qualifying fares for each airline: (links to each Challenge airline page on aa.com follow)
We hope that you successfully complete your Challenge so you can begin enjoying all the benefits of AAdvantage PLATINUM status.
Sincerely,
Judy S. B.
Manager, Member Services
AAdvantage® Customer Service
Note: US flights qualify now as well.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AA Challenge Help Desk
To assist members with questions about Elite Status Challenges that they have not been able to answer on their own using the above resources, the AA Moderator team has established a new type of thread in the forum, designated as "Help Desk". The previous thread on this topic has effectively worked this way for several years, and based on how things go with this first thread, we will consider similar threads on other commonly broached topics in the future.
New threads on this topic will be merged into this one and bumped by the moderators as necessary. As such, we do not expect that this thread will develop into a searchable database, but that it will nonetheless provide a valuable resource to members. Accordingly, we may shed / pare down posts from time to time to a trailing thread or similar device.
Our goal is to provide a place where members can feel welcome to post such questions and expect helpful, accurate responses. In this way, we hope to accommodate the needs and desires of both new and veteran members - those who aren't sure they are interpreting the available resources correctly can ask for help without fear of snarky responses; those who do not wish to participate in such threads are invited and, indeed, encouraged, to ignore this thread.
Please be forewarned: This thread will be subject to heavy moderation. Posts that are incorrect will be subject to deletion without notice - DO NOT POST answers unless you are 100% sure your answer is complete and correct. Posts that are unhelpful or off-topic will also be subject to deletion without notice - DO NOT POST unless you can be friendly, helpful, concise, and salient.
Finally, a few guidelines for members posting queries to this thread:
Sincerely,
The AA Moderator Team
P.S. Our thanks to Moderator dstan, who did much of the conceptual and design work on this idea.
Please use PM or RBP for comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc.
To assist members with questions about Elite Status Challenges that they have not been able to answer on their own using the above resources, the AA Moderator team has established a new type of thread in the forum, designated as "Help Desk". The previous thread on this topic has effectively worked this way for several years, and based on how things go with this first thread, we will consider similar threads on other commonly broached topics in the future.
New threads on this topic will be merged into this one and bumped by the moderators as necessary. As such, we do not expect that this thread will develop into a searchable database, but that it will nonetheless provide a valuable resource to members. Accordingly, we may shed / pare down posts from time to time to a trailing thread or similar device.
Our goal is to provide a place where members can feel welcome to post such questions and expect helpful, accurate responses. In this way, we hope to accommodate the needs and desires of both new and veteran members - those who aren't sure they are interpreting the available resources correctly can ask for help without fear of snarky responses; those who do not wish to participate in such threads are invited and, indeed, encouraged, to ignore this thread.
Please be forewarned: This thread will be subject to heavy moderation. Posts that are incorrect will be subject to deletion without notice - DO NOT POST answers unless you are 100% sure your answer is complete and correct. Posts that are unhelpful or off-topic will also be subject to deletion without notice - DO NOT POST unless you can be friendly, helpful, concise, and salient.
Finally, a few guidelines for members posting queries to this thread:
- Please DO make an effort to review the above resources before posting here.
- Please DO try to give as much information as possible related to your Challenge plans, flights, etc.
- Please DO understand it could take some time for answers (especially on holidays and weekends.)
- Please DO thank helpful members volunteering to reply to your questions.
The AA Moderator Team
P.S. Our thanks to Moderator dstan, who did much of the conceptual and design work on this idea.
Please use PM or RBP for comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc.
Last edited by JDiver; Oct 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm Reason: update
Dec 16, 2013, 5:35 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Programs: OWEmerald; STARGold; BonvoyPlat; IHGPlat/Amb; HiltonGold; A|ClubPat; AirMilesPlat
Posts: 38,186
Yes, just show your US Silver card at check in and when using Priority Access lanes. Just don't put it on your booking. Also, if you're TSA PreCheck eligible, add your Trusted Traveler number to your new AA account. (Also make sure that your fare classes comply with the Challenge requirements or you could come up short. Most discounted fares only earn 50% points credit vs 100% mileage credit and Challenges generally require points not miles as the measure. You may only be hitting 5,222 points toward the Challenge, and thus not hit the 10K required for Platinum. And IIRC you have applied for the Platinum Challenge and fall short, you won't get Gold even if you hit that 5K points requirement.)
Dec 17, 2013, 2:08 am
#3
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London, England
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, National Exec, AA EXP Emeritus
Posts: 9,765
I've slightly updated the thread title to clarify its contents.
~Moderator
~Moderator
Dec 17, 2013, 10:09 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 352
You can probably swing it to get priority security and maybe priority boarding by flashing your US card, but I can't see how you would be able to check bags for free.
Dec 17, 2013, 4:11 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tulsa, OK
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, SPG Plat, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,264
The free bags/priority security and boarding won't work until after January 7th or whenever reciprocal recognition is finally in the system.
Dec 18, 2013, 10:27 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: PBI/FLL/MIA
Programs: DL DM/2MM, MR Ambassador, National EE
Posts: 1,614
Yes, just show your US Silver card at check in and when using Priority Access lanes. Just don't put it on your booking. Also, if you're TSA PreCheck eligible, add your Trusted Traveler number to your new AA account. (Also make sure that your fare classes comply with the Challenge requirements or you could come up short. Most discounted fares only earn 50% points credit vs 100% mileage credit and Challenges generally require points not miles as the measure. You may only be hitting 5,222 points toward the Challenge, and thus not hit the 10K required for Platinum. And IIRC you have applied for the Platinum Challenge and fall short, you won't get Gold even if you hit that 5K points requirement.)
Dec 18, 2013, 12:43 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Programs: OWEmerald; STARGold; BonvoyPlat; IHGPlat/Amb; HiltonGold; A|ClubPat; AirMilesPlat
Posts: 38,186
Thanks for the clarification as I overlooked the fact that some of OPs flights would be prior to the new year. And to krlcomm for the specifics of fare codes and points earnings.
Dec 18, 2013, 12:51 pm
#8
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: A3, AA. Plasticy things! That give me, y'know, Stuff!
Posts: 6,293
Jan 10, 2014, 4:54 am
#9
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: AA Plat, QF Silver
Posts: 288
Hi all,
Firstly, my partner rang up and signed up for the plat challenge. She just said, i am gold with qantas, could I get gold with aa while I do the challenge, the answer was "of course, no problem, you are now gold". No proof was required so Mmight be a good way for people to get gold.
So to my question, she has 6,000 points following a ba flight and now has just over a 4,000 miles flight on qantas with a booking code of M, according to the chart the base miles is 50% but the elite qualifying points is 100%. Does this mean she will get 2,000 points or 4,000 points towards the challenge?
Thanks!
Firstly, my partner rang up and signed up for the plat challenge. She just said, i am gold with qantas, could I get gold with aa while I do the challenge, the answer was "of course, no problem, you are now gold". No proof was required so Mmight be a good way for people to get gold.
So to my question, she has 6,000 points following a ba flight and now has just over a 4,000 miles flight on qantas with a booking code of M, according to the chart the base miles is 50% but the elite qualifying points is 100%. Does this mean she will get 2,000 points or 4,000 points towards the challenge?
Thanks!
Jan 10, 2014, 9:04 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,342
Hi all,
Firstly, my partner rang up and signed up for the plat challenge. She just said, i am gold with qantas, could I get gold with aa while I do the challenge, the answer was "of course, no problem, you are now gold". No proof was required so Mmight be a good way for people to get gold.
So to my question, she has 6,000 points following a ba flight and now has just over a 4,000 miles flight on qantas with a booking code of M, according to the chart the base miles is 50% but the elite qualifying points is 100%. Does this mean she will get 2,000 points or 4,000 points towards the challenge?
Thanks!
Firstly, my partner rang up and signed up for the plat challenge. She just said, i am gold with qantas, could I get gold with aa while I do the challenge, the answer was "of course, no problem, you are now gold". No proof was required so Mmight be a good way for people to get gold.
So to my question, she has 6,000 points following a ba flight and now has just over a 4,000 miles flight on qantas with a booking code of M, according to the chart the base miles is 50% but the elite qualifying points is 100%. Does this mean she will get 2,000 points or 4,000 points towards the challenge?
Thanks!
Jan 10, 2014, 3:02 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SNA
Posts: 410
For those of you who signed up recently, did you get a confirmation email with the begin and end date, points required, etc.? I got a credit card receipt, and my temporary Gold showed up online right away, but I didn't receive anything else in writing regarding the terms of the challenge (which I think I understand pretty well from my reading here, but it's nice to have official confirmation).
Jan 10, 2014, 5:40 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SNA
Posts: 410
I can confirm, mine is also starting on a non-1st/15th date. They said they could do any date I want (which is part of why I was hoping to get a confirmation letter -- I wasn't sure if I should believe that or not).
Jan 10, 2014, 9:31 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 71
For those of you who signed up recently, did you get a confirmation email with the begin and end date, points required, etc.? I got a credit card receipt, and my temporary Gold showed up online right away, but I didn't receive anything else in writing regarding the terms of the challenge (which I think I understand pretty well from my reading here, but it's nice to have official confirmation).
Jan 12, 2014, 7:39 pm
#15
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Alexandria, Va - National Airport (DCA)
Programs: AA Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, CBP Global Entry, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 336
US Airways flights count now?
Started a Plat challenge on Jan 1. At that time, US EQPs were of course not included.
Does anyone know if US EQPs (credited to AAdvantage) now count toward challenges?
Does anyone know if US EQPs (credited to AAdvantage) now count toward challenges?
