sggolf

Has anyone heard about the American Elite
Challenge? Its the fast track to Gold or
Platinum status after 8,000 miles?

neyoisles

Here is the deal with the Gold and Platinum Challenge:

Gold Challenge: Fly 8000 miles in 3 Months and they will bump you up to Gold

Platinum Challenge: Fly 16000 miles in 3 Months and they will make you Platinum. However, you must be a Gold Aadvantage member to qualify for this Challenge.

starvinartist

actually you no longer have to be a gold mbr to get the platinum challenge. You can also qualify by flying a certain number of segments within the 90 period of time. The challenges start on the first and 16th of each month and it is a ONCE IN A LIFE time offer. That means that you can't get a gold challenge and then a year later a plat challenge. It also doesn't matter if you complete the challege; that was your one time, so make it count. When deciding whether or not to start on the 1st or the 16th, look at the flights that you have coming up. If you call on the 5th and ask about it they can sign you up for the challenge that started on the 1st, but anything that has posted between the 1st and 5th before you called would not count. But, if set up on the challenge on the 5th then anything posted from the call on would count. If you're not sure how many miles will be earned on a route you can call 1-800-882-8880 and they can tell you.

Merry Flyer

This sounds great. I always rise to a challenge!
MF

JIMBOLIGUY

Another note -- the Reg to Gold is 9,000 (or so I was told) and they DO NOT allow retroactive credit. (I asked as I had met the Plat challenge twice and they would not grant the status retro.)

timfucius

Check the postings under "AA Service to Brazil"-

I signed up about a month ago and I just qualified to Platinum. Go for it.

Tim

timfucius

I just checked my statement online and i noticed that not only I qualified for the Platinum level but also got the miles over the 16,000 added as bonuses. And that's in addition to the miles I already earned with my actual flight miles. Would it be that whatever miles I got on top of the 16,000 miles I get them as bonuses too? Hmm. Can't complain to that.

tedhl

I don't know much about the AAdvantage program...but is that true that Platinum got 100% elite bonus ?? maybe that's why timchen got miles over 16000 added as bonus...because once you passed that 16000-mile point you're a Platinum and are entitled to the elite bonus...

neyoisles

I dont believe they are supposed to give you the additional 100% on the flights that you took after you enrolled in the Platinum challenge. They are only supposed to give it to you for those flights after you qualify as Platinum. I did not get that when I did the Platinum challenge last year. Shhh...I wont say anything though....

mritchie

I have not seen any information about this on their website. Is there a URL or phone number for this offer, or is it invitation only? Thanks!

timfucius

The AA challenge program is not advertised anywhere. I found out by calling them several times to see if I could get a Platinum by being a United Premier Executive. One account representative presented me with the offer. I took it and now I'm Platinum.

Tim

mritchie

This is rather puzzling ... why would they want to keep a program a secret? Unless it is invitation-only. I remember the hassles my father had trying to get a gas furnace to replace his old oil furnace. The gas company wouldn't tell him about any of their promotional sales until he told them the specific name of the program he wanted!

JGill

Does anyone know if any of the other airlines have a similar program ??

John

timfucius

If AA advertises this challenge program openly, they'd have a whole lot of people qualifying for Platinum (and Gold). And that costs them money- Bonus miles and whatever resources they need to allocate to accomodate a larger pool of qualified elite members.

I was never invited personally, nor contacted directly by any agent. It wasn't until I dug for more information that I was told about it.

I don't know if other airlines have a similar program, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

JIMBOLIGUY

I agree that the program should go unadvertised unless people know about it. The enhanced levels (Exec Plat, Plat and Gold on American and their peers on the other airlines) are meant for people who actually fly an airline -- I worked hard this year to earn my 50,000 flight miles (including a trip to JFK-LAX-DFW-LGA all in one night to ensure that I qualified for Plat) and have been rewarded for my loyalty.

I dont agree that there should be a program that automatically rewards someone with "premier" status from a competing airline to switch to AA. That means there is one more person I have to "compete" with to get an upgrade or award travel. If they want to switch -- let them switch and earn their status the way the rest of us did -- by sitting on a plane and flying. Fly 50,000 on American and I will welcome you to the Platnium club. Dont -- and all you will do is piss off those of us who have flown 50,000 on AA.