MikeFly

I have just started booking AA/OW for my intl. trips. Called AA and spoke to some incredibly nice AAdvantage customer service person. She comp'd me Platinum over the phone! (I had not been flying AA for over 6 years but had reached million mile status with them at that time.

M question now is - based on some of the posts in this forum no one has been comp'd Exec. Plat. Is there anyone out there who has had it happen since those posts? I will be mailing in statements and asking in any case, plus a copy of my ticket which shows over 40,000 points in one trip.

LAX/EXP

I have never seen it happen. A couple of friends who are UA 1K are trying real hard right now ...

0524

I'm a lifetime million-miler with AA and have flown AA 85,000-90,000 miles each of the past three years. I recently requested complimentary Executive Platinum status. AA politely declined, stating their objective to preserve exclusivity. As long as AA is consist in this position, I applaud their steadfastness.

DrHowser

I will also have to back 0524 on this. No one, from what I have seen, has ever received a comp to Executive Platinum.

I also applaud AA on not doing this. I got here by one thing and one thing only -- flying AA. Since this is the 'cream of the crop' in status, I think it is only fair that you have to at least fly them to get the status.

I don't want to put you off, MikeFly...but if you are, indeed, flying international, it should not take you long to get Executive Plat. Of course, that depends on the destination, fare class and where you are sitting.

You mentioned 40,000 points in one trip...I am curous on the breakdown. Just FYI, status is counted by the base-miles/points and does not include any bonus, etc.

Of course, if you give us some routing details and fare classes, we will help you figure out how long it will take you to get here.

[This message has been edited by DrHowser (edited 09-03-2000).]

MikeFly

The routing I used to come up with that approx. number is YYZ-ORD-MSY-ORD-LHR-DUS-LHR-HKG-SYD-MEL-SYD-LAX-ORD. On a paid F fare.

I do see your point on keeping the top tier exclusive and have no problem with that. Based on what I have found out and what I read on these posts it won't happen, but for the price of a fax I'm willing to try!

I'm curious what you feel are the benefits of Exec. Plat. that are not in black and white, if any?

jAAck

I do know one person who was comped to EXP status, a colleague of mine. He's a consultant and had been EXP for two years, but didn't qualify the third year because he worked on an assignment near his home city for about 10 months. He barely qualified for PLT that year. But as the March 1 roll-over date to new status came near, he was nearly 1/2 way to EXP for the new year. His first letter to AA was politely rebuffed with the standard form letter, and his second letter was never answered. After several persistent calls to the Executive Offices he was contacted by an AAdvantage supervisor who immediately granted him EXP status.

I think this situation is a bit different, though, than most cases. First, he was a million-miler and current EXP member, which showed that he had been committed to AA for some time. Second, through February he had already logged 45K miles with the help of two trans-Atlantic trips and weekly transcons. Third, he was able to show that his future flight plans would get him to EXP by May at the latest, so AA was really only comping him for March and April.

He's the only instance I've heard of where EXP was comped, and in my opinion it was a wise move on AA's part. But I definitely agree with AA not granting top-tier status to those moving from other airlines. EXPs have gotten there the hard way and the program should remain exclusive to make it worthwhile.

DrHowser

There are numerous perks to Exec Plat....just to name a few:
[*]100 hour domestic upgrade window[*]Complementary domestic upgrades on full-Y fares[*]Waived expedite fee on award travel[*]Guaranteed seat on any AA flight with 48 (might be 24, can't remember) hours notice, regardless of whether it is oversold or not.[*]Dedicated phone line that goes way above and beyond the call of duty every time you call.[*]4 VIP2s. These permit an automatic upgrade by one cabin at time of ticketing on any AA flight(including international). Upgrades are not based on specific inventory. If there is a seat, you get it.[*]Very easy to book award travel. I have never had a problem booking my first choice. It's amazing what happens when the agent says "It looks pretty full, but let me see what I can do...."

Those are the perks I use a lot. There are others, I just can't think of any right now.

outoftown

I understand any airline's reluctance to grant comp to the highest elite status. I was AA Platinum for three years prior to Exec. Platinum coming into existence and could not get comped. I even tried to get comped AA platinum last year even though I had given up on AA since the pilot strike in Feb. 99. I was eventually comped gold. By nature, I am, to put it bluntly, cheap, and I could not continue to believe in or support a ff program which rewarded members based on how much they spent. I bill all my air expenses to my clients and it would bother me to wear the Exec Plat tag on my laptop bag when the clients know they are paying for that privilege. I understand the airline's need for high revenue per passenger mile, but I give my airlines of choice the volume (200,000 miles/year) even tho I am not one of their best revenue per mile passengers. 7/5/00 -> Maybe I spoke too soon...by coincidence, an AA service rep called me at home one day after I originally posted this message for a problem I had getting credit for an AA flight I had in July and after a discussion of the UA 1Ks getting comped platinum, offered the same to me due to my status on DL and US. Maybe I'll give them another try...

[This message has been edited by outoftown (edited 09-05-2000).]