usafltg

Hey guys,

So kind of new to the forums, have never really accumulated a lot of points, have never done any international flying etc.... yet.... I made EXP on segments alone doing domestic travel back and forth last year due to how much I traveled for work.

The problem I have this year, is that there's no way on God's green Earth I'm going to be able to re-qualify for EXP, let alone Platinum this year due to the fact that I took a new position at my company whereby my travel has reduced significantly. It's August, and I've only flown a total of 17 segments this year (not even Gold qualified). Granted, I have travel to Boston next week, and houston the following week, and some additional vacation travel to Grand Cayman at the end of the year....

Is there a relatively "economical friendly" way I can make EXP this year? If I'm going on my own dollar, how can i get to 100,000 miles or 100 segments the cheapest and easiest so I can requalify? I'm in Chicago, so my flight options must start and end at ORD. How do other people do this feat?

Since I've always just qualified based on domestic segments through company paid travel; when it comes to ransacking the system, I'm a newb! Is it possible for me to earn enough mileage by the EOY without breaking the bank?

Help Appreciated!

brp

What are your monetary constraints for this? You've given little concrete information, so it's harder to help. If you want to do it for $100, no way. If you can spend $10K, pretty easy. Where you fall in between these extremes will help the answers.

Cheers.

fieldeng

Mileage run. There's a forum dedicated to that. Before posting there, look at the sticky at the top of the forum first otherwise you'll feel the wrath.

I would focus on miles (not segments) to re-up EXP.

On the flip side, you'll likely slide down to Plat next year as AA has been known to do Soft landings. It's no guarantee but I know I've been softlanded before and my friend was last year. If this is a risk you are willing to take and flying the required mileage to EXP isn't worth the trouble, then you can go with that option.

george 3

To get most from EQMs based on your location, perhaps work the corners on weekends - ORD to SFO to LAX to MIA to LGA to ORD.

Science Goy

The Mileage Run Deals forum. Check it daily. Sometimes amazing (but ephemeral) deals pop up.

supergrandslam

Why OP wants to make EXP

Boston,Houston,Grand Cayman...all don't require eVIP to get upgraded.

If OP doesn't have a chance to use eVIPs for long-haul international flights,
PLT seems just fine for OP.

fieldeng

He may want UDU instead of buying/using e500's.

Pucnit

I would give up on this year, remember you will only drop to PLT next year. So, I would look to use some of your SWUs (if any are left) in Jan/Feb to see some of the world. You should be able to get 30k miles for a max of $1500 and see some new places.

Then that starts you off really well for traveling in 2013 to get EXP. You should be able to qualify next year just on sales that are good deals and then make EXP based on miles for about $5,000 total. Not a fantastic deal for those of us used to doing it for $3,000 but then you don't have to really "work" to make EXP.

usafltg

No real monetary constraints, but I'd prefer to do it as quickly as possible with the least amount of personal funds necessary. IMO EXP far outweighs the benefits of PLT, and I'd like to do some travel to Europe next year with my wife and use system wide upgrades where possible. I'd prefer to spend no more than $5000 to make this happen, and less is better. I do realize of course, that airfare isn't extremely cheap anymore....

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Again I'm confused. If the OP is not traveling significantly for work and does not expect to travel significant on his own (unlike people such as myself and brp) what good does going out and spending $10K to get EXP status for another year really do? And it sounds like the OP is low in EQMs this year so not only will it be big dollars but time as well. Can the OP spend every weekend between now and year end doing MRs and/or take time off from work to do so?

usafltg

I'm already EXP, I don't want to drop to PLT.... When I do travel for business or for pleasure, I want the almost assuredness of the free upgrade. When I DO travel to IAH, BOS (for work primarily) it's typically first flight out on a monday morning and last flight back on a thursday.... very busy days, lots of EXPs.... PLT won't suffice on those.

On another note though, I want to continue to have the SWUs because I plan to make travel to Europe sometime the end of this year or next year. I've already used up my 8 SWUs for this year.

See my note about traveling to europe and travel next year. It DOES make sense for EXP because a single business class ticket and / or a first class ticket usually costs insanely more than a deep discount economy seat that can be upgraded for free with EXP. On long distance flights that require 6+ 500 mile upgrades, that's at least $240 worth of upgrades per person, and I usually always travel with my wife. With international travel, the cost savings to be upgraded to business or first if a business seat is acquired, is almost a no brainer IMO.

gemac

If you want to requalify on segments, look for flights out of MKE to places that AA doesn't fly to out of ORD or DFW, or places where routing rules allow you to go through both ORD and DFW. For example, I found MKE-ORD-DFW-GKC for $171 each way, less than $60 per segment. These days, that's pretty good for a segment run, and would bring you in around $5,000.

supergrandslam

OP's 1st post made an impression on me that he was infrequent domestic(or North America) only flyer as he even mentioned he didn't requalify GLD(by segment though). Also judging from OP's qualification for EXP by segment last year, I guessed large part of his flights were short, even non-upgradable flights(i.e. AE).
This was a main reason I cound't find a rationale for OP's trying to re-qualifying EXP.

How many EQM you do need for requalifying EXP?

In general, qualifying by EQM is easier/less expensive than by EQS.
As OP already used 8 eVIPs this year, if OP used them effectively, Op should have earned EQM close enough to requalifying EXP.

clark_addison

I was in a similar spot last year. I recognized I had no long haul travel and would be seriously short, but in 2012 I would likely have a new travel requirement. I projected a ~30 segment shortfall. I followed the Bears to Denver ORD-STL-DFW-DEN-DFW-STL-ORD. Then I did a bunch of these. Saturday morning 7am ORD-STL-LGA-STL-ORD. Not a lot of layover time as the ORD-STL flight lands right next to the gate for STL-LGA, then the same plane comes right back to STL from LGA. You get a lot of strange looks from the FA's, but they get it. Those 7am flights were just over $200 RT last year. GoGo on those flights, so you can kill a lot of time and get some reading done. And have a few cocktails on the way back.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Ok OP I'm still confused. Will you be traveling enough every year starting in 2013 that you would make EXP each year. If not, you will likely be spending thousands of dollars not to mention hours of your free time on MRs between now and year end just to make EXP for another year and then you are faced with the same situation next year.

If the OP is not going to requalify for EXP an ongoing basis would it not be more economical and better time wise to take that thousands spent on MRs and do a copay with miles or even hunt for a cheap J International fare instead. The OP can buy stickers for any domestic travel.

OP, how many EQMs/EQPs/EQS do you have now. If not much, you do realize that you would need to be MRs just about every weekend between now and year end and some of that (any flying in the next few weeks and around holidays) will not come cheap.