Fog627

Why get rid of the CitiCard? Unless, you're sole aim is to use it to reach 1MM miles. It is still good for the Advantage program for earning and retaining miles. Unless, I am mistaken this change only affects the criteria for reaching the million mile milestones and thus permanent statuses. I don't believe that it affects the Advantage program.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

$450

NealScoones

Any thoughts on timing re activities if we want to qualify under the "old" system to get SWUs with an international address? I have heard it can take a few weeks after flying the millionth mile to receive "million miler" status. If my last flight to get me over the 1 million mark is over Thanksiving (e.g. November 27th) do you think I will qualify under the old system or the new system (since status may not be awarded until some time in December)? I have emailed AA to ask and will update if I get a coherent reply but thoughts are welcome.

jamflyer

Before or after the 25% bonus per 20k transferred? If before you would be 50,000 closer.

Mark_T

If you are located outside the USA and are close to your first MM then it is worth a little expense to get the current SWU offering rather than the replacement 35,000 miles on offer.

2tall4economy

Was going to wait until I achieved my lifetime status (started May 31st of this year and expect to hit it before D-day) but might as well share now in case it helps anyone. Here's what I did and what it cost. Most of this is still available for anyone < 1MM today.

Total cost on CPM basis is 1.6 cpm, which is worse than I'd like, but way, way better than the 6.4 cpm I redeem at

Apologize that it's hard to read. Thank Excel:

Miles $ CPM
BIS for Work (+elite bns+cls bns) 31.8 0.00 0.0
Points.com xfers / "Share" points 100.0 3,958.45 4.0
Husband - Pers AA Citi Select Amex 75k 80.0 0.00 0.0
Husband - Pers AA Citi Platinum Visa 75k 80.0 0.00 0.0
BIS for Personal (+elite bns+cls bns+mil acc) 62.9 2,627.73 4.2
Husband - Pers SPG 30k (+5k referal) 62.5 0.00 0.0
USO donation 50.0 1,666.70 3.3
Wife - Pers SPG 25k 50.0 0.00 0.0
Husband - Pers Amex Plat 100k 7.1 450.00 6.4
Komen for the Cure donation 45.0 1,500.00 3.3
Wife - Biz Amex Plat 100k 43.7 175.00 0.4
Husband - Biz Amex Plat 100k 43.7 175.00 0.4
Wife - Biz SPG 30k 43.1 75.00 0.2
Husband - Biz SPG 30k 43.1 75.00 0.2
Husband - Biz Gold 100k 42.5 125.00 0.3
Wife - Biz Amex Gold 100k 42.5 125.00 0.3
Buy Miles 40.0 1,105.00 2.8
Wife - Pers Amex Gold PR 75k 31.2 175.00 0.6
Staying at Starwood Hotels bonus 19.7 0.00 0.0
Husband - Starwood Buy & Convert 25.9 700.00 2.7
Wife - Starwood Buy, Share & Convert 25.9 700.00 2.7
Buy & Convert USAir 23.3 1,375.00 5.9
Buy & Convert Priority Club 23.1 1,104.00 4.8
Pay Mortgage 21.1 539.16 2.6
Buy & Convert IcelandAir 16.6 825.60 5.0
Husband - Pers CO OnePass 50k 15.4 0.00 0.0
Husband - Pers UA Select Visa 50k 15.4 0.00 0.0
Husband - Pers Aeroplan World MC 25k 9.7 60.00 0.6
Husband - Pers AS Visa 40k 7.1 75.00 1.1
Citi AA Spending 7.0 0.00 0.0
Husband - Pers US World Prem MC 30k 6.8 89.00 1.3
Buy & Convert Hilton 6.4 400.00 6.3
Starwood Spending 6.3 0.00 0.0
Buy & Convert Choice Hotels 4.2 209.00 5.0
Download Insite toolbar 4.2 0.00 0.0
Buy & Convert La Quinta 3.6 220.00 6.2
Buy Vinesse sampler pack 3.2 41.94 1.3
Convert existing CO via points.com 3.0 0.00 0.0
Insurance quote 0.5 0.00 0.0
2011 Total 1,147.2 18,571.58 1.6

trach500

I have over 1M SPG points. Do you think it's worth it to transfer approximately 600K SPG into 800K AA to get to Plat? Is there a major difference between gold & Plat? What do you guys think? I very rarely purchase tickets because I have a ton of miles through business spend. I spend a lot on my SPG AMEX for business, I can get back to those SPG points quickly.

Phasers

I would.

Wish I could borrow some of your SPG to cross the threshold myself... I'm at 1.25MM, only get about 5k SPG/month though

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Unless my life changes, my goal is to hit EXP ever year and enjoy those benefits. Rather than 2 or so years to hit 2MM it will now take me 4 maybe 5 years. If I hit EXP each year eventually I'll make it to LT PLT.

Million Mile Secrets

I will be about 60K miles short of lifetime gold after transferring lots of cheaply acquired Wyndham points to AA. But I should be able to apply for a Citi business card and cross over to lifetime gold with the sign up bonus.

I've listed 18 different ways to acquire AA miles on my blog, but a lot of them are too expensive for me to consider.

It was nice of AA to be so generous for so long, but all good things have to end.

rmc1

For me I am at about 1,725,000 today. I have 25k in flights left this year before Dec which will be 50k miles with Plat bonus miles. I am then going to buy 50k miles (40k+10k bonus) by 31 Aug 2011 for $1030. I have about $75k in BankDirect that I may put into a 2 year CD to get 75k miles but won't do this until Oct as want to get monthly miles for Aug/Sep first.

Doing all of that will put me at 1,900,000. I will have spending on my Citi AA AMEX which currently has 1.5 miles per dollar. I will make sure I give to charities in October instead of December this year so that is probably $5k so another 7.5k miles.

I am going to call Citi and see if I can switch over my Citi AA World MC to the Citi AA Exec one for $495 that gives Admiral Club. This will give 25k bonus miles after $1k spend and then all miles in next year will count for MM status. Some people have had success with this while others have not. If not, I am tempted to ask to cancel and see if I get bonus miles offer.

With all of that I am hoping that by Dec 2012 I can hit 2MM.

Also, earlier this year they had a special where you could transfer up to 100k miles between accounts so I did that from wife's account to mine since the threads here indicated this change was coming soon.

nall

I could be wrong on this, but I thought it said there was a limit to how many SPG points you could transfer a year (say, 80,000 or so).

jaf

Yesterday when I looked, the SPG website said there is a limit of 74,999 points (not including the bonus) you can transfer per 24 hour period, not per year.

jaf

Sorry, I'm slow - but how does the amex gift cards work?

oldpenny16

Don't forget ValueMags via AA eshopping! 23 AA miles per $. Do your magazine renews and order holiday gifts now.

ValueMags does NOT do auto-renewals.

My goal is to get close enough to 2mm AA miles that I can fly the rest with no worries. Likely that will take a couple years.

I'm out to maximize my situation prior to 12/01.

Thanks for all the suggestions!